Canada lost its Copa America qualifier. Now what?
The Canadian men can still get in despite Tuesday's awful defeat
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A bad year for Canadian soccer got worse last night when the men's national team blew a two-goal lead and lost its CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal matchup against Jamaica on its own turf in Toronto.
Canada had won the opening leg of the home-and-home, total-score series 2-1 on Saturday in Jamaica. So it needed only a draw last night at a cold and damp BMO Field to advance to the four-team Nations League Finals and, more importantly, earn a coveted spot in next year's Copa America.
The always hotly contested South American championship tournament — featuring World Cup champ Argentina, powerhouse Brazil and other strong teams from one of soccer's most robust continents — is being hosted by the United States next summer. Six teams from the CONCACAF region, which covers North and Central American and the Caribbean, will be invited, with four of those spots going to the winners of the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinals.
For the Canadian team, which (rightly) complains about cash-strapped Canada Soccer's inability to schedule quality exhibition matches, this presented a rare opportunity to secure some games against top-flight teams from other parts of the globe in preparation for the 2026 World Cup, which Canada is co-hosting with the U.S. and Mexico.
The Canadian men seemed to have their hands around a Copa ticket last night after Alphonso Davies' goal gave them a 1-0 edge in the match (and a 3-1 lead on aggregate) heading into the final half. But they blew it as Jamaica outscored them 3-1 the rest of the way to make the total score 4-4 and take the series on the away-goals tiebreaker.
The fact that the decisive goal came on a penalty kick that probably should not have been called (a Jamaican player's cross grazed Stephen Eustaquio's arm near the outer limit of the box) did not make this defeat to a lower-ranked team any less devastating. Canada not only failed to clinch a spot in the Copa America but will also miss the Nations League Finals (a decent competition in its own right) after reaching the title match last season in Las Vegas. It's a step backward for a team that made its first World Cup appearance in 36 years exactly one year ago tomorrow.
"I can't believe what just happened,' said Canadian midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye. "We have too much quality on this team to find ourselves in this position."
However, not all is lost. Canada can still get into the Copa. All it needs to do is defeat Trinidad and Tobago in a one-match playoff on March 23 to grab one of the two remaining spots. That will take place in Frisco, Texas (along with the other playoff between Costa Rica and Honduras) while Jamaica, the U.S., Mexico and Panama compete in the Nations League Finals at the Dallas Cowboys' stadium in nearby Arlington.
Canada, currently ranked 45th in the world, should be favoured to beat 99th-ranked Trinidad and Tobago. But it's no lock. The Soca Warriors upset the U.S. 2-1 in the second leg of their Nations League quarterfinal on Monday, though the Americans were intent on simply protecting the 3-0 lead they built in the opening leg.
It's unclear who will be coaching the Canadians by the time the playoff rolls around. Longtime assistant Mauro Biello has served as interim head coach since John Herdman quit in August to take over Toronto FC, and the 51-year-old Canadian has made no secret of his desire to lead his country into its home World Cup in 2026. But Biello is now a tepid 1-1-1 at the helm, including a humbling 4-1 loss at Japan last month, and it's fair to wonder whether someone whose biggest previous job was coaching the Montreal Impact is the right guy to replace the charismatic Herdman.
Whoever is on the sidelines, the pressure on the players will be immense. Many fans of the Canadian men's and women's national teams have blamed their recent failures on Canada Soccer's inability to book top-flight friendlies. And it's true — the federation is too broke and/or too dysfunctional to provide these teams with the tournament prep (and other perks) they deserve. But Canada Soccer wasn't exactly flush with cash when the women won Olympic gold in 2021 or when the men qualified for the World Cup in 2022.
The players overcame their obstacles then. Now they'll have to do it again.
Read more about last night's crushing defeat and where the Canadian men's team goes from here in this piece by CBC Sports soccer contributor Chris Jones.
