Canadian soccer success stories at the men’s national team level have been few and far between over the last three decades.
But the recent achievements of Canada’s under-20 side do offer a glimmer of hope for the future
Coach Rob Gale’s team completed a successful tour of Europe last month that saw the Reds earn a 2-2 draw with England in Bournemouth, and wins over the United States and Russia’s under-21 team in Marbella, Spain.
Toronto FC striker Jordan Hamilton, currently on loan in Portugal, scored twice for Canada on the tour. Michael Petrasso of Notts County and Marco Bustos of the Vancouver Whitecaps also scored for the Reds. Dundee FC’s Dylan Carreiro, one of Canada’s brightest prospects, had a strong tour and scored the winner against the Americans.
The European sojourn gave Gale a final chance to spend time with the majority of his players before January’s CONCACAF Under-20 Championship in Jamaica where Canada will look to secure one of four berths for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand next May.
The Reds’ unbeaten run against two quality European opponents and a traditional CONCACAF power caused a bit of a stir within the Canadian soccer community. The team also garnered plenty of media attention, with a number of major newspaper articles and segments on sports talk radio stations.
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With success comes expectation, though. All eyes are on the U-20 side as they prepare for next month’s CONCACAF tournament in Jamaica, and anything less than claiming a World Cup berth would be a major letdown. The pressure is on the team after its recent string of positive results in Europe.
But Gale wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We’ve always had an inner belief in ourselves so it’s not a bad thing to have this added pressure. It’s part of the development procedure for these boys,” Gale told Sportsnet. “When you’re successful, you’re going to get praise and more media coverage, so they need to be able to deal with that if they’re going to go into professional football and play for Canada at the senior level.”
The Canadian team’s European tour, which saw them play three quality opponents in seven days, was designed to replicate the experience of playing a group stage at the World Cup.
“When we were drawing up the tour, we looked at it as having the potential to play three high-level games that would mimic what we would have to face in World Cup competition. The theme throughout was that we have to go out and get results, build momentum and treat it like it was a World Cup,” Gale says.
While results matter, Gale used the tour to further establish the team’s “possession-based” style of play. It’s a major departure from how previous Canadian sides, both at the youth and senior level, have operated in the past.
“We’re trying to play through the final third of the pitch, have players who are brave enough and confident enough to get on the ball and express themselves,” Gale says. “We just don’t want to be competitive by being resilient and hanging on and being a physical team—those characteristics that have defined previous Canadian teams.”
Gale is trying to mould his youngsters into different kinds of players—ones who can think quickly on their feet, and who rely on tactical acumen rather than raw power and strength.
“We want them to be independent decision makers. We’re trying to breed footballers who will be adept at going into any situation, any system of play, face any kind of tactical challenge, and have the confidence and the technical ability to do succeed,” Gale says.
Gale, obviously, wants to win next year’s U-20 World Cup, a tournament Canada hasn’t qualified for since hosting the competition in 2007.
But his main focus is to help develop his crop of youngsters into players who could one day earn a place in Canada’s senior side. It’s a job he takes very seriously, and he doesn’t believe player development should be tied to how the current senior coach, in Canada’s case Benito Floro, likes to play. Instead, young players should learn how to play within a number of tactical systems.
“What you want is to be able to create players who can deal with pressure situations, and give them a technical foundation that they can go express themselves regardless of who’s in charge of the men’s team,” Gale says.
Canada’s senior side has been in rebuilding mode in the aftermath of that that infamous 8-1 World Cup qualifying loss to Honduras. Since taking over the managerial reigns last summer, Floro has focused on calling up young players in order to give them valuable international experience so that they’ll be better prepared by the time the next round of World Cup qualifiers begin.
Gale warns, though, that fans and media clamouring for his players to be included in the senior team based on the U-20 team’s European success need to be more patient. He also stressed the importance of his youngsters seeing action with their pro clubs before getting regular calls up to the Canadian senior team.
“You’ve seen over the last year or so that some of U-20 players have been called up, and to be to fair to them they got the opportunity when it was probably too early for them,” Gale says. “Benito rightly had a look at them, but they need first team football at club level. Guys who are getting marginal minutes—that in no way is good enough if they’re going to step into CONCACAF qualifying and Gold Cup games.”