With Spain crowned the winners after Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Argentina in the championship match at the FIFA World Cup, the final tournament standings have been unveiled - with Canada’s men’s national team finishing 14th in the tournament.
That ranking lands Canada, who were eliminated in the Round of 16 in a 3-0 loss to Morocco, ahead of soccer powerhouses including Germany, Netherlands and Croatia, who each entered the tournament ranked in the top 10 in the world.
It’s fitting that a tournament of historic firsts for the Canadian men’s national team ends with the best-ever finish at a World Cup.
Canada co-hosted alongside the United States and Mexico, and some of the historic moments included the first men’s FIFA World Cup game ever played on Canadian soil when Canada played Bosnia & Herzegovina in Toronto on June 12, the first-ever points for the men’s team in a World Cup tournament in that game - a 1-1 draw, and the first-ever victory in a World Cup match six days later when Canada flattened Qatar 6-0 in Vancouver.
From there, Canada earned its first-ever trip to the knockout stage at the FIFA World Cup, and also its first victory in a knockout-stage match, when they defeated South Africa 1-0 on Stephen Eustaquio’s goal in stoppage time.
“We worked a lot to get this victory, we really wanted to give this win to all the Canadians,” Eustaquio said on the field after Canada defeated South Africa.
“We just kept believing, we just kept pushing, and we couldn’t imagine it any other way ... it was an amazing goal, but when I shot, I felt that everybody shot with me.”
Though Canada’s run ended in the following match against a very strong Moroccan side (that ultimately finished seventh in the final standings), the impact of the tournament, and Canada’s success in it, appears to be significant.
“It’s really been an extraordinary journey for all Canadians,” Adam van Koeverden, Canada’s secretary of state for sport, said on Sunday after the World Cup was concluded.
“The World Cup itself, in terms of the sport, was remarkable. It was a huge step forward for Canadian soccer or football or whatever we call it. But what is clear is that Canada is a soccer nation.”
The focus now shifts to the 2030 World Cup which is jointly hosted by Morocco, Spain and Portugal, where Canada’s men’s team will hope to improve upon this showing.
