Group F 🇧🇪🇨🇦🇲🇦🇭🇷#CANMNT #WeCAN #FinalDraw pic.twitter.com/cypz9cTTx0
— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) April 1, 2022
For the first time since 1986, Canada is relevant in a men's World Cup of football (soccer). Canada is in Group F in Qatar, site of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Canada's opponents in order of appearance are Belgium, Croatia, and Morocco. Canada went 0-3 in games and 0-5 in goals in 1986, the only other World Cup appearance for the men's team.
Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich) and Jonathan David (Lille) led the Canada squad.
Midfield stars include Stephen Eustaquio (FC Porto) and Atiba Huchinson. Hutchinson would be the oldest player ever to play at a World Cup at 39 years, 9 months, and 3 days.
Canada will not be at full strength. Goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau fractured his leg while playing for LAFC in the MLS Cup. His team had a better day, pulling off the comeback. Centre back Scott Kennedy suffered a shoulder injury with German club SSV Jahn. Toronto FC centre back Doneil Henry was injured during warmups before a friendly match with Bahrain.
The goalkeepers will be Milan Borjan (Red Star Belgrade) and Dayne St. Clair (Minnesota United) along with CF Montréal goalkeeper James Pantemis, who replaces Crepeau.
John Herdman will lead the way as head coach of the Canadian men's national soccer team.
YOUR #CANMNT WORLD CUP SQUAD. 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/Kzq0auPgJw
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 13, 2022
Here is the Canadian schedule:
| Date | Opponent | Time | Stadium | City | U.S. TV |
| November 23 | Belgium | 2p | Ahmad bin Ali Stadium | Al Rayyan | Fox |
| November 27 | Croatia | 11a | Khalifa International Stadium | Al Rayyan | FS1 |
| December 1 | Morocco | 10a | Al Thumama Stadium | Doha | FS1 |
Times listed are Eastern time. Qatar time is 8 hours ahead of EST.
CTV and TSN have the coverage in Canada with both outlets carrying the Canadian matches. The Bell Media outlets have extensive pregames for the Canada games and coverage starting 15 minutes before the times listed in the above table.
Fox Sports has the coverage of games in the United States. JP Dellacamera, Cobi Jones, and Geoff Shreeves will have the first Canada match on Fox. Dellacamera and Jones call the other Canada matches on Fox Sports 1.
The tournament starts tomorrow though Canada won't play until Wednesday.
Toronto, Vancouver in; Edmonton out for FIFA 2026 World Cup host cities
Canada played Morocco in 2016, a friendly game that Morocco won 4–0. The countries played 2 other matches against each other. The only time Canada played Belgium was a friendly game in 1989. Belgium won 2–0. Canada has never played Croatia.
Canada, ranked at 41, is the lowest seed based on October 2022 FIFA rankings in Group F. Belgium is ranked at 2, Croatia is at 12, and Morocco ranks at 22.
Toronto Life has a bandwagon guide for those catching up on football (aka soccer).
Canada draws Group F for the 2022 World Cup
CanadianCrossing.com soccer coverage
The Canadian women's team in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup learned its opponents: Australia (co-host), Ireland, and Nigeria in Group B.
The women's team has made 8 World Cup appearances since its debut in 1995. The team's best result was 4th in 2003. The women's team is the defending gold medal champions from the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Twitter captures: @CanadaSoccerEN; @Sportsnet
photo credit: FIFA
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