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The World Cup is finally here.
Mexico and South Africa kicked off the planet’s most popular sporting event this afternoon at famed Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, where the home team had a 1-0 lead over South Africa at our publish time. Tonight at 10 p.m. ET, South Korea plays Czechia in Guadalajara.
Canada’s big moment arrives tomorrow when it faces Bosnia and Herzegovina at 3 p.m. ET in Toronto. It will be the first men’s World Cup match ever played on Canadian soil. Canada will then travel to Vancouver to finish out Group B play against Qatar next Thursday and Switzerland on Wednesday, June 24.
Here are a few things to know about the Canadian team ahead of Friday’s historic game.
Canada has come a long way…
In 2022, the Canadian men ended their 36-year World Cup drought by finishing first in qualifying for the CONCACAF region, which encompasses North and Central America and the Caribbean. This time, they were spared the rigours of qualifying, receiving an automatic entry as a co-host along with the United States and Mexico.
Since returning to the World Cup stage, Canada has continued to make strides under American head coach Jesse Marsch, who took over in May 2024 after Englishman John Herdman left for Toronto FC of Major League Soccer.
On this episode of Soccer North, we break down Canada’s upcoming World Cup game against Bosnia and Herzegovina and discuss what Jesse Marsch and the Canadian men’s national team need to accomplish before the tournament begins. Plus, Canadian star Olivia Smith joins the show to reflect on her historic first season with Arsenal.
That summer, Marsch led his new team on an impressive run to the semifinals of the Copa America, the highly competitive South American championship hosted by the United States that year. After falling to Lionel Messi’s World Cup champion Argentina, the Canadians nearly upset two-time World Cup winner Uruguay in the third-place match before giving up the tying goal in stoppage time and then losing the ensuing penalty shootout.
Ranked 49th in the world when Marsch took over, Canada reached an all-time-high 26th this past September and now sits at No. 30 heading into its third World Cup appearance.
… But there’s still a long way to go.
In its first trip to the World Cup, in 1986 in Mexico, Canada lost all three of its matches and was outscored 5-0 against France, Hungary and the Soviet Union. Canada finally scored its first World Cup goal in 2022 in Qatar when young star Alphonso Davies headed one home early in its second match, but the team once again finished 0-3 and was outscored 7-2 by Belgium, Croatia and Morocco (including an own goal by the Moroccans).
Now that the first goal is out of the way, Canada can focus on some more ambitious objectives: picking up its first point, earning its first win, and advancing out of the group stage.
It’s official, Canada Soccer’s national team is off to the FIFA World Cup. So how is the team feeling? CBC’s Dale Manucdoc caught up with them before the celebrations in Toronto’s harbourfront Monday evening.
The Canadians are in a good position to check all those boxes. Along with enjoying home-field advantage for all three of their round-robin games (plus maybe a knockout-round game or two, if they make it that far), they landed in one of the easiest groups with 64th-ranked Bosnia and Herzegovina, No. 57 Qatar and No. 19 Switzerland.
Partly because host teams receive favourable treatment in the draw for groups, only two have failed to reach the knockout stage in the history of the World Cup. And the knockouts are much easier to reach now that the tournament has expanded from 32 teams to 48. In the past, only the top two teams from each of the eight groups made it to the 16-team single-elimination stage. Now, the top two in each group plus the eight best third-place teams move on to the new round of 32. It won’t take much. Four points (the equivalent of a win and a draw) will almost certainly be enough to advance, and even three points is likely to do the job, assuming a decent goal differential.
However, some key players could be missing.
With the World Cup taking place shortly after the end of the long and gruelling European club season, many teams are dealing with injuries. To name just a few, Messi and Spain’s 18-year-old star Lamine Yamal and both nursing sore hamstrings, while Brazil’s Neymar Jr., has been out since mid-May with a calf issue and is expected to miss at least the first game.
But Canada’s injury concerns are especially troubling. Davies, the team’s captain and best player, hasn’t played for Canada since tearing his ACL in March 2025 and is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury — the latest in a series of leg problems that have had him in and out of the lineup for his club team, Bayern Munich, since coming back from the knee injury. Though the 25-year-old hasn’t been ruled out for Friday, he’s considered doubtful and it’s unclear when he’ll be ready to return.
Key central defender Moïse Bombito has not fully recovered from the broken leg he suffered in October, putting his availability for the tournament in question as well. Reports last weekend indicated that Bombito would be dropped from the team, but Marsch said he would give him “up until the last minute” to show he can play, and today’s 3 p.m. ET deadline to make an injury replacement passed with Bombito still on the roster. If he can’t play on Friday, 20-year-old Luc de Fougerolles would likely start at centre-back next to Derek Cornelius.
At midfield, Canada lost Marcelo Flores to a torn ACL a couple weeks ago (Jayden Nelson was called up Monday to replace him) while speedy Jacob Shaffelburg, a revelation at the 2024 Copa America, and Ali Ahmed are both dealing with hamstring problems. Another health concern popped up yesterday when Ismaël Koné missed practice, reportedly due to an illness.
For more on the Canadian team ahead of its opening match, read today’s dispatch from CBC Sports’ World Cup reporter Chris Jones.
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