The 70th-ranked Canadian men can move into the so-called Octagonal, the eight-country final round in CONCACAF, with a win or draw against No. 83 Haiti on Tuesday
at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Ill. Canada took the upper hand in the second-round playoff with a 1-0 victory Saturday in Port-au-Prince.
For coach John Herdman, making the Octagonal means meaningful games against the region’s top teams, which translates into valuable experience for his young squad. “From the outside looking in, there’s probably more pressure from guys like you guys in the media, who expect like ‘Wow, this is a really big thing in Canadian soccer to potentially make it here .’ But for us, as a younger group I’d say, obviously with some veteran leadership, we feel like this is a great opportunity. I don’t think there’s any added pressure just because we haven’t been there in over 20 years.
Striker Lucas Cavallini says the Canadian team, which has won all five qualifying games to date, is growing together on the road to the Octagonal. While the Canadians didn’t see much of Haiti other than the airport, hotel and stadium, Johnston said just looking out the window was instructive. “When we were out there on the field, you could see everyone was knackered, even in the warm-up,” he said. “The humidity’s hitting, it’s 30-something degrees out there and the turf is burning.
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Canada defeats Haiti in first leg of second-round World Cup qualifierThe two countries will face off Tuesday to decide who advances to the final round of qualifying in the region
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