Another international break clumsily interrupts the domestic club season next week, however, this is the last chance to catch Jesse Marsch’s Canada in action until March. That window will be followed by an early June window ahead of that little tournament that will grace Mexico, the United States and Canada. As such, next Wednesday’s encounter with Ecuador in Toronto brings with it some muted excitement.
Muted, because once again injuries are forcing the coach's hand, and Canada will be without some genuine stars in Alphonso Davies, Moise Bombito and Alistair Johnston. Which means there is still some murkiness about exactly how March’s preferred XI will take shape ahead of the World Cup.
Early each month, I will take a look at a starting XI based purely on recent form, with expectations on individual players a non-factor. Who has found form? Who has lost form? Which player is grinding his way into contention for a start? These are the criteria for selection.
Imagine a die-hard football fan from a distant galaxy has landed in Canada, who would they pick after watching some tape from the last few weeks?
Understand?
We will go with the preferred 4-4-2 to start, but we can all agree formations are fluid, not just game to game, but within a game, so let’s not waste time arguing which formation is necessary.
Here we go:
GK — Dayne St. Clair
Marsch has long proclaimed it is a battle between Minnesota Utd’s St. Clair and Portland’s Maxime Crépeau. Considering that on Monday, St. Clair was named MLS goalkeeper of the year, while Crépeau’s last club start came in early October, having lost his job to fellow Canadian James Pantemis, it is clear that St. Clair has a firm “grip” on the gloves. It also adds credence to recent scuttlebutt linking Crépeau to a move to Toronto FC this winter.
RB — Niko Sigur
Fast becoming one of Marsch’s most trusted players. Due to the injury situation at full-back, Sigur is currently favoured at right back for his country, despite regular starting minutes in central midfield for Hajduk Split in Croatia. The 22-year-old will have a strong case to start in the midfield at the World Cup, but for now, Canada is better with him on the pitch than not, so right back it is — at least until Johnston returns.
CB — Kamal Miller
A shocker, I know. However, Miller has continued to put in consistent performances for Portland this season, and now has an unlikely do-or-die tilt versus the favoured San Diego next Sunday in the MLS playoffs. Miller was key to John Herdman’s defence up to and throughout the 2022 World Cup, but fell out of favour with Jesse Marsch. With Moise Bombito sidelined until the spring, Luc De Fougerolles still raw and dropped to the bench this weekend for Dender in Belgium, and Joel Waterman’s Chicago Fire leaking goals, we are giving Miller some respect and an opportunity to remind us once again just what he is capable of in a Canada shirt. He’s even shown some goal-scoring chops, with a worldie against Vancouver last month.
Stay tuned for next month's edition, with Alfie Jones reportedly committing to Canada. The Middlesbrough man adds great depth to the defence. Don’t let me down, Kamal.
CB — Derek Cornelius
Speaking of worldies, we still remember DC’s dead-ball beauty for his country against Wales in September, right? Well, that’s not why he makes this XI… but it helps. Cornelius made a transfer deadline move to Glasgow Rangers, who were in a tailspin. Within weeks, they had fired head coach Russell Martin, but even as Kevin Muscat replaced him, Cornelius retained his place and the results — although not good — have not been as bad. The Canadian has impressed and even scored his first for the club against Kilmarnock a week ago. And hey, we know how much the Brits enjoy their player ratings, right? Well, they do. This is how Cornelius was judged following Sunday’s extra-time Cup loss to rivals Celtic: “Once again the pick of the Rangers defence. Strong, astute and happy with the ball at his feet.”
LB — Richie Laryea
Laryea is well rested — given that Toronto FC are as far away from the MLS playoffs as is almost humanely possible — so he retains his spot in the absence of both Alphonso Davies and Sam Adekugbe. Another contender for the spot, Zorhan Bassong, is also on the outside looking in with Sporting KC, so this is a relatively straightforward selection. Laryea has excelled at times for Canada at left back, and although many have perhaps drunk the Laryea kool-aid a little too happily, he is a player who brings a controlled edge to his team that Jesse Marsch absolutely loves.
RW — Tajon Buchanan
To say Tajon Buchanan has resurrected his career with Villarreal is a gross understatement, but what might be forgotten is that he has rarely let his country down and has emerged this summer as arguably Canada’s most dangerous forward. There is, simply put, no competition for Buchanan on the right wing, and despite being rested over the past week in Spain, expect to see him starting again later this week in the Champions League.
CM — Ismaël Koné
Enigmatic might be the best way to describe the former CF Montreal man, but it appears the Serie A suits him superbly. Kone has rediscovered his game at Sassuolo, and that has translated to his international form. He was the standout performer in October’s internationals against Ecuador and Australia and still has perhaps the biggest upside of any Canadian player. Central midfield is a selection battleground at the moment, but another strong window next week, and Kone might be the obvious partner to Stephen Eustáquio.
CM — Justin Smith
Not that Eustaquio makes the first edition of the XI, after all, he is mired in a month-long minutes drought at Porto, with a move elsewhere in January looking more and more likely. Instead, we have gone for a flyer, and why not? Justin Smith can still represent France and has yet to earn his first senior cap for Canada, but this is an exciting prospect who is currently one of the first names on Sporting Gijón’s teamsheet in Spain’s second division. Some excellent recent performances in defensive midfield have surely caught the eye of Marsch. Already a Canada U-20 international, he is well known and highly regarded. Of course, central mid is deep, with Nathan Saliba and Mathieu Choinière well ahead of Smith in the race to the World Cup, but a regular in the Segunda División should not be dismissed.
LW — Ali Ahmed
No player has grown in the coaching staff’s estimation more than Ali Ahmed over the past year. So long as Davies remains out, and so long as Marsch doesn’t consider using him further forward, Ahmed should be Canada’s starting left winger for the foreseeable future. Ahmed is locked in as a starter for the Vancouver Whitecaps, who might well be the best team in Major League Soccer. Any concern over the 25-year-old's physicality has been put to rest once and for all. As tenacious as he is skillful, Ahmed may be the next big name to make the move to Europe. Canada’s best set-piece taker has very little debate in making this team.
CF Promise David and Daniel Jebbison
Now for the controversy, no Jonathan David here. Okay, we are 99 per cent certain he'll be in the starting XI when the matches become really important next year, and there is a strong case that Tani Oluwaseyi will partner him… but neither player is playing enough at the moment to convince our alien visitor they should be in the team. David is enduring a poor start at Juventus, with the team already having fired their coach. The new man in charge, Luciano Spalletti, benched David for his first match at the helm. Oluwaseyi, meanwhile, has impressed — he even scored a hat-trick last week against lowly opposition in the Copa del Rey — but he is still in the “need to prove himself” stage at his new club, Villarreal.
No such problem for Promise David at Union Saint-Gilloise. The Belgian champs gave him a juicy new contract in the summer after a golden boot season. Already with five goals in eleven matches this year, and a scorer in the last two, David is back on form.
Jebbison, meanwhile, is a Marsch favourite (the coach raves about the Preston North End striker's ability in training) and is desperate to see what he can do with some real minutes for this country. In the Championship, Jebbison has become a fan favourite at Preston and just last week had a goal and an assist against Sheffield United.
Both Promise David and Dan Jebbison are still raw and have much to learn, but their club form gets them into this team, at the expense of some bigger names with less to prove.
