England’s Championship weekend could prove a springboard for key members of Canada’s World Cup squad

Saturday’s end of the Championship season will be pivotal for several members of Canada’s men’s soccer team, less a finish than a launch into this summer’s World Cup and, potentially, the Premier League.

The English second division has become arguably the most fertile proving ground for Canadian talent. Three national team players remain in the hunt for promotion, with Southampton’s Cyle Larin and Middlesbrough’s Alfie Jones guaranteed at least a place in the four-team playoff that will decide the third and final upraised side.

Hull’s Liam Millar might also join them, if he and his team can beat Norwich, where another Canadian, Ali Ahmed, could play a deciding role.

Coventry has already claimed the Championship title and the first of two automatic promotion berths. Middlesbrough might yet take the second with a win over Wrexham (famously co-owned by Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds) coupled with a loss from Ipswich and a loss or draw for Millwall.

Unfortunately, Jones won’t feature. He remains sidelined after his longer-than-expected recovery from ankle surgery in January. Only a playoff might give him a slim chance to return to league action.

“You never want to say 100 per cent, but I think it will be difficult for him to participate in the rest of the season,” Middlesbrough manager Kim Hellberg said last week.

That also leaves Jones questionable for the World Cup, which begins for Canada on June 12 with its crucial opener against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto.

The towering, English-born centre back entered the national frame in November, when he was pressed into surprise service thanks to a thin claim to Canadian ancestry through one of his grandmothers and injuries to several defenders.

He proved a robust addition and a likely inclusion in Jesse Marsch’s World Cup squad until he was injured against Blackburn on Boxing Day.

Larin is on a far more optimistic trajectory. The 31-year-old joined Southampton on loan from Mallorca in February after a dispiriting stint at Dutch outfit Feyenoord. He somehow hasn’t lost a Championship game since, with six goals in his last 10 appearances, including one during Tuesday’s frenzied 2-2 draw with Ipswich.

His gorgeous finish in the 80th minute put the Saints ahead and gave them a temporary window to automatic promotion, before a late equalizer left Ipswich in second instead and Southampton consigned the playoffs.

“I’ve rarely ever seen someone with that much experience and presence on the pitch combined with so much humility off the pitch,” Tonda Eckert, his admiring manager, told CBC recently. “He’s only getting better and better.”

Eckert seems set on making Larin’s loan permanent, which, if the Saints win promotion, will at last see another Canadian in England’s top tier.

Daniel Jebbison is the only Canadian player currently with Premier League ties. He’s with Bournemouth, although he’s also spent the season in the Championship, on loan to middle-of-the-pack Preston North End.

Larin’s stunning return to form will almost certainly change his status with the national team, too. He’d fallen out of favour with Marsch, who openly questioned his veteran forward’s focus and desire. But scoring is a confidence game, and Larin’s emphatic reclamation of his touch could see him return to the starting 11. 

Millar’s fate, and Hull’s, is the more immediate drama. To prevent shenanigans, Saturday’s matches start at the same time with a chorus of opening whistles, meaning that entire seasons can turn within seconds of each other, in the dying minutes of a dozen simultaneous games.

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Wrexham has continued its remarkable ascent and currently holds the sixth and final playoff spot, but Hull is level on points. The two sides are separated on goal difference by a single goal, with Derby County, in eighth, only a point behind each.

Given how much Middlesbrough will have to play for against Reynolds’s darlings, Hull has a real chance to write its own Hollywood ending — all the sweeter for Millar, who’s made a triumphant return from a torn ACL to score three goals this season.

One more against Norwich might settle everything, including whether Millar overtakes Ahmed in their individual battle to be Canada’s starting left midfielder.

Both players are among Marsch’s favourites, but Ahmed’s form has cooled a little since his Championship arrival in January, and Millar’s blade-sharp mentality might give him the edge, especially against Bosnia-Hercegovina’s no doubt crunching tactics.

“Obviously, I want to be a key figure in this team,” Millar said in a recent interview with CBC. “The good thing is, Ali and I are both very competitive, and we both push each other every day, but there is no bad blood between either one of us. We want the best for each other.”

That won’t be true — that can’t be true — for 90 searing minutes on Saturday, when club takes precedence over country, and soccer will be a zero-sum game.