QATAR WORLD CUP 2022
FANS WERE GREETED WITH THREE MATCHES IN A TEN DAY SPAN. 8.) JONATHAN DAVID AND CYLE LARIN LIKE TO SCORE. A LOT. For Canada to advance, they were going to have to find some consistent goalscorers. While the side has had many notable goalscorers through the years, they have always lacked that finishing touch in the key moments. After years of scouting and development, they found two in this window in David and Larin. Of the two, Larin is perhaps the biggest surprise story. After a rocky start at Besiktas, the former Orlando City SC striker found his form through the National Team, scoring 13 goals during qualification. David, meanwhile has been on a tear for both club and country, scoring 9 goals for Canada and 13 for Lille.
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SOCCER360 MAY • JUNE 2022
7.) SNOW QUALIFIERS ARE GREAT… One of the biggest moments of World Cup Qualification was the Canada-Mexico match in Edmonton, Alberta. Taking place during a snowstorm in November, the match at the time was the biggest in Canadian men’s soccer for quite some time. The rowdy Edmonton crowd made the match downright difficult for El Tri. Larin’s brace and subsequent snow angel will live in the minds of Canadian soccer fans for generations. 6.)...BUT PLAYING IN SUBARCTIC TEMPERATURES PROBABLY ISN’T A GREAT IDEA This World Cup Qualification cycle was unique in that as opposed to the typical ‘two games per international window’ fans were greeted with three matches in a ten day span. That condensed schedule caused matches to be played in late November, January, and February. That led to some rather frigid games in the single digits, including a USA-Honudras match in Minnesota that was in the single digits. While this isn’t the first time that a CONCACAF World Cup Qualifier was played in miserable temperatures, that multiple players suffered from frostbite showed how dangerous the match truly was. CONCACAF has to put a stop to the weather shenanigans or someone might get hurt.
ABOVE: Canada's starting eleven in Orlando, on March 25th, 2022 RIGHT: The Qualifier between Canada and Mexico was played with alot of snow, and alot of cold fans LEFT: Cyle Larin has been scoring alot of goals for Canada for quite some time now
5.) NEVER COUNT OUT THE TICAS About midway through the Qualification window, it looked like Costa Rica might be done. The generation of Keylor Navas, Bryan Ruiz, Celso Borges, and Joel Campbell had led the side for so many years to the highest of highs, but in a region that was becoming increasingly younger, they seemed to be out of place. But the side won six of their final seven matches to earn the fourth spot and a chance to qualify for Qatar in an intercontinental playoff against New Zealand.
