Postmedia’s soccer expert Derek Van Diest is on the ground in Qatar to cover every kickoff of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Subscribe today and get access to all his coverage.
DOHA, Qatar — Reduced to a spoiler role, Canada can leave the 2022 FIFA World Cup with its head held high.
Fortunately, it won’t take another 36 years to come back as Canada will get an automatic berth in the 2026 tournament as co-hosts with the United States and Mexico.
Hopefully, it can take the lessons learned in this tournament into the next one, which will be expanded to 48 teams and likely give teams just two group games.
Canada concluded the 2022 tournament with a 2-1 loss to Morocco here at the deafening 45,000-seat Al Thumama Stadium, which was packed with supporters of the North African team that advanced to the next round of the World Cup for the first time since 1986, surprisingly finishing at top of Group F ahead of Croatia and Belgium.
“It’s been the first time in a long time being here,” Canada head coach John Herdman said. “We would have liked to have been here a little longer, that’s for sure, but we’ve enjoyed the ride. I think our players have turned up here to compete and I think we’ve showed that we’ve been fearless across the three games and in each of the three games, I’ve think we’ve had something to celebrate, from either the performance, the goals, or just our pride in how resilient and gritty this group is.”
Canada put in a valiant effort against Morocco and came close to tying the game in the second half, but as had been a theme in the tournament, didn’t get the ball to bounce in its favour.
Overall, Canada deserved better than to walk away with three losses as its predecessors in 1986 had but, unlike that team in Mexico, they were able to score. Baby steps.
Going into the game against Morocco having already been eliminated, Canada was hoping to achieve internal goals, such as earning its first point or perhaps its first win. But it got off on the wrong foot, gifting a goal to Morocco and had to fight an uphill battle all the way.
“It’s always tough to lose, soccer is also about results,” Canada centre back Steven Vitoria said. “We fell a little bit short, but we came here to close the gap against the world’s best and I thought we did. One thing I’m sure of – one thing I’m proud of – we’re leaving this World Cup a lot stronger than we came in.
“This experience is going to pay a lot of dividends to this group. We came out here and faced the world’s best and we never back down. We high-pressed every team in our group, it was a great experience, but now the next step is attaching points to these performances.
“I know the country is proud and is excited for the future of this team, because we left this world cup a lot stronger than we came into.”
Canada goalkeeper Milan Borjan literally handed Morocco its first goal just four minutes into the contest, when he misplayed a ball passed back to him by Vitoria.
The pass back was short, just outside the Canadian penalty area, but Borjan got there in plenty of time to put his foot through the ball. Instead, he tried to play it and it popped off his foot and right to Morocco striker Hakim Ziyech, who easily played it over the goalkeeper into the empty net.
Canada was understandably rattled after the goal and was in survival mode for the next few minutes as Morocco threatened to overwhelm them.
It took a while, but Canada settled in and Tajon Buchanan, playing on his off wing, nearly got a toe to a cross from Cyle Larin.
Moments later, Morocco scored a second, when fullback Achraf Hakimi played a ball over the top, which Youssef En Nesyri ran on to, blowing past both Kamal Miller and Vitoria and getting off a low shot which slipped in under Borjan.
Canada was unable to generate much as Morocco dominated play in midfield. Without Stephen Eustaquio available, Canada relied on Jonathan Osorio and Mark-Anthony Kaye to be distributers, but they had trouble getting on the ball.
Canada was handed a lifeline in the 40th minute, however, when Sam Adekugbe skipped past Morocco fullback Noussair Mazraoui and whipped in a low cross into the penalty area, which Morocco centre back Nayef Aguerd deflected into his own net.
Adekugbe was originally awarded the goal, but unfortunately for the Calgary product, there wasn’t a snowbank to leap into like he had during a qualifying game against Mexico in Edmonton a year ago.
Morocco thought it had scored a third goal three minutes into first-half injury time when En Nesyri hammered a shot in past Borjan on a ball cleared to him at the top of the penalty area.
Unfortunately for Nesyri, who ran to the corner to celebrate on his own, the goal was called back on an offside as Aguerd was impeding Borjan’s line of sight while standing in an offside position. It was a tough 10 minutes for the Morocco centre back.
“That first goal was just a tough moment to take so early and you feel the intensity of the environment. They came out with their blood boiling and you really did feel their intensity,” Herdman said. “When you look at our tactics, I thought we started with a similar structure and a similar approach, looking for the same sort of outcomes with the plans to adapt tactically through the half.”
Canada started the second half with Davies moved up to an out-and-out striker and Buchanan still on the right side, where he had been ineffective for most of the first half.
Davies had an early chance 12 minutes into the half when he reached out and poked his foot at a cross, which rolled wide.
Herdman changed his midfield bringing on Atiba Hutchinson, Ismael Kone and also Richie Laryea. The moves seem to pay off as Canada was able to keep better possession of the ball.
Hutchinson came inches from tying the game when he headed a corner kick off the bottom of the cross bar in the 71st minute, but the ball bounced down and caught the back of the goal line.
Herdman’s last roll of the dice was brining on midfielder David Wotherspoon, which meant loyal Canadian national team member Samuel Piette didn’t get to see the field at the World Cup.
Canada pushed forward with all they had to try and get the tying goal and had a number of corner kicks to try and generate the second goal. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful and ran out of time.
“I think we can feel very proud of what we’ve done,” Wotherspoon said. “Obviously the results didn’t go our way, but performance-wise, our togetherness and attitude; the support for our country back home, everyone involved back home and show we’re a soccer nation.”