CANADIAN SOCCER NATIONAL TEAM NOTES: Star power headlines Uruguay lineup

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Defence was a strength for the Canadian men’s national soccer team during its 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, but without disrespecting strikers in Concacaf, they have yet to face anything the likes Uruguay will throw at them here Tuesday.

Even without Edison Cavani, who is out injured, the two-time World Cup champions and 15-time South American champions still possess some of the best striking talent in the world led by Luis Suarez, who is expected to be in the lineup.

“They’re one of the top footballing nations and you look at their lineup and see the clubs where they all play, and it is pretty impressive,” said Canadian fullback Alistair Johnston. “For us, it is a really exciting game and it is a good test to see how we matchup against them. Against Qatar we came out flying and showed we do belong, but at the same time, we want to show we can compete with the best.”

Along with Suarez, Uruguay will feature Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez, Facundo Pellistri of Manchester United, Federico Valverde of Real Madrid, and Rodrigo Bentancur of Tottenham Hotspur.

Canada beat Qatar 2-0 in Vienna on Friday, but the game revealed more about the World Cup host than it did about Canada. The game against Uruguay should give Canada a good indication of where they stand among top tier opponents.

“Obviously, those names jump off the page and it is bit of a bummer Cavani is not here,” Johnston said. “He is one of the players that I really like to watch and Suarez is another unbelievable player.

“Growing up watching him in the Premier League, and now you see a new crop like Valverde; I am pretty sure he has three lungs with the ground he covers, he is everywhere. He is constant and there is world class talent and that is something super exciting for all of us and the opportunity to go up against Suarez. If you can handle him you can basically handle anyone in the world.”

Canada had not played a game outside of its region since defeating New Zealand in March 2018, and in all honesty, neither they nor Qatar is a step up from what Concacaf provides. Uruguay will be a massive jump in weight class.

“We can only beat the teams that are in front of us so far in the past twelve-to-24 months we have done a good job of that,” Johnston said. “But at the same time, we need to ramp up going into a World Cup. Qatar is a World Cup opponent, but Uruguay is one of those opponents you look back as a football historian from the very get-go of World Cups. This is going to be a team that can make a deep run at the tournament and it will be good to go out there and see how we stack up against them.”

Qatar would not be at a World Cup if it wasn’t hosting and Canada desperately did not want to be in the same boat four years from now as a co-host of the 2026 tournament with the United States and Mexico.

Canada qualified impressively topping the final Concacaf qualifying group ahead of Mexico and the United States.

Uruguay will go into the game having been upset by Iran 1-0 on Friday despite dominating the contest. Iran scored with 11 minutes to go after Uruguayan head coach Diego Alonso made six substitutions.

“It is not just the pace and intensity of these Uruguayan strikers or their front five, it is the smarts of being able to doing things that we are not used to so far,” said Canada head coach John Herdman. “I think we need to think clean sheets and that is a important start for the group and then looking at our quality in transition to hopefully hurt Uruguay and show we can play at this level.”

CHECKING OUT OPPOSITION

Herdman said he sent a contingent to scout World Cup opponent Croatia, who were playing a UEFA Nations League match against Austria in Vienna on Sunday.

Croatia, the 2018 World Cup finalists, look a lot more daunting in person than they do on television.

Luka Modric, Marko Livaja and Dejan Lovren scored in a 3-1 victory with half of the 44,700 fans at the Ernst-Happel Stadium cheering for the visitors.

Modric, 37, is still a force in midfield for Croatia and pulls all the strings.

The Real Madrid star had no interest in talking to Canadian journalists waiting for him after the game in the media mix zone, but head coach Zlatko Dalic did share some thoughts on his Concacaf opponent at the World Cup.

“We just finished our job in the Nations League, and tomorrow we start thinking about Canada, about Morocco and about Belgium,” Dalic said. “We know Canada is playing a friendly game against Uruguay and we will go check to see this game and then prepare our team.”

Dalic said he took in the Canada game against Qatar in Vienna on Friday.

“I know Canada will be a difficult opponent, it will be a hard job for us,” Dalic said. “We’ll have to be very well prepared for this game. I know they are a very good team and they finished first in qualifying ahead of Mexico and the United States. But tomorrow, we’ll start preparing for them.”
final kicks

Alphonso Davies, who limped off the field in the 60th minute against Qatar is fine and fully fit for the game against Uruguay … Canada slugged it out in the driving rain Sunday in training, but had another good session according to Herdman. They will practice again Monday at the MOL Football Academy in Dunajska Streda, Slovakia, roughly 50 kilometres east of Bratislava.