Canada’s men’s national soccer team gets one last tune-up before the 2026 FIFA World Cup gets underway on home soil next week as Les Rouges host the Republic of Ireland in a friendly from Montreal’s Saputo Stadium on Friday night.
Jesse Marsch’s side was victorious last time out with a 2-0 win over Uzbekistan in a friendly on Monday in Edmonton and now look to keep their good form heading into their World Cup opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12.
Canadian midfielder Jonathan Osorio opened the scoring in the 58th minute against Uzbekistan after coming on at halftime, before Jayden Nelson, who was also subbed on in the second half, added an insurance marker in the first minute of stoppage time. Villarreal winger Tani Oluwaseyi assisted on both of his side’s goals as Canada would go onto secure the clean sheet in the first of their two pre-World Cup international friendlies.
For Nelson, it was his third goal in a Canada shirt and first in nearly three years. It comes at an opportune time for the Austin FC man, as he looks to secure his spot on the roster in place of Marcelo Flores, who sustained a ruptured ACL while playing for Mexican side Tigres in the CONCACAF Champions Cup last Saturday.
Nelson’s performance against Uzbekistan was enough for TSN’s Steven Caldwell to include him in the latest edition of Race for the Roster, but time will tell if he has done enough to earn his spot with Canada for the World Cup.
“Marcelo’s replacement, we are waiting until after this match,” Marsch told the media on Thursday. “We just want to use all of the information we have because we still are evaluating all of our players coming back from injury to make sure where they are at.
“That being said, I think Jayden played very well against Uzbekistan and certainly I think he’s made a good case for himself, but we just need to really use all of time we have to evaluate all of the different situations to put the best squad together.”
Marsch also put to bed the months-long debate about which goalkeeper would start for Canada at the World Cup, confirming Maxime Crepeau as his first choice in net over Dayne St. Clair during Thursday’s availability.
“The decision was made based on the fact that with Max’s maturity and experience, I think that’s exactly what we need in the goal, along with all of his goalkeeping qualities,” Marsch said. “But I think that security we get with Max, along with his overall talents and intelligence, really makes us a better team right now.”
Crepeau, of Greenfield Park, Que., now gets to live out his World Cup dreams after a broken leg forced him out of the squad in 2022 just weeks before kick-off in Qatar. He is expected to play all 90 minutes against Ireland after he and St. Clair each played a half against Uzbekistan.
Canada skipper Alphonso Davies is set to miss Friday’s match as he continues to work his way back from a hamstring injury suffered with Bayern Munich last month.
Davies trained on his own on Wednesday and is getting closer to full fitness. While there remains no firm timeline for the all-world wingback, he has yet to be ruled out of Canada’s opening match of the World Cup next week.
“The first game is coming up pretty quickly,” Davies told reporters after the training session. “We understand how important the first game is, but we understand recovery is always an important thing. If I’m recovering as good as possible, let’s see. If not, then there’s no need to rush. Just keep continuing the recovery.”
“Anything is possible in life,” he added. “For me, it’s [all] depending on how the recovery is going, how these next few days or this week leading up to the game goes.”
Canada’s back line took another hit on Monday after top centre-back Moïse Bombito walked off the pitch gingerly after just 30 minutes of action with sensitivity in his surgically repaired left tibia.
Marsch said the coaching staff would be “patient” with the defender and would be giving him “every opportunity to rebound from this to show that he can be ready to play.”
Bombito did not train with the team on Wednesday, but Marsch did not offer an update on his status against Ireland. The coaching staff will likely want to test his fitness one last time before he’s expected to feature in Canada’s starting XI for their World Cup opener.
