Canada has received a favourable opening-round draw for this summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup, matched with Guatemala, Cuba and a qualifier.
Group D should be a safe landing spot for the 47th-ranked Canadian men given Guatemala is ranked No. 116 and Cuba is No. 165.
The qualifying team in Canada's group will be one of Guadeloupe, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Grenada. Unranked Guadeloupe plays No. 104 Trinidad and Tobago while No. 170 Guyana meets No. 175 Grenada with the two winners facing off to see who joins Group D.
Coach John Herdman knows the opening-round draw was kind to Canada. But he is taking nothing for granted, knowing underdog teams often "find that extra gear."
"No matter how you think football's going to play out, it doesn't always follow the script," he said after Friday's draw at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., which will host the final.
And the degree of difficulty will be ratcheted up in the knockout round with the defending champion U.S. and likely Jamaica waiting to greet the two teams advancing out of Group D.
"Our quarterfinal match will be an absolute challenge," said Herdman. "It will be a big game."
While the full schedule has yet to be announced, Canada will play its opening game at Toronto's BMO Field with the next two games in Houston.
"To have a game at home and to see 30,000 in the summer, it's going to be amazing," said Herdman.
BMO Field is one of 15 host stadiums for the Gold Cup, with the other 14 all south of the border.
The 17th edition of the Gold Cup is scheduled for June 24 through July 16. It will be preceded by a 12-team qualifying competition June 16-20 that will fill the final three berths in the 16-country tournament.
Canada was one of four seeded teams in the draw, meaning it was kept away from the 13th-ranked U.S., No. 15 Mexico and No. 39 Costa Rica.
The U.S. is in Group A along with Jamaica (No. 63), Nicaragua (No. 140) and a qualifier. Group B consists of Mexico, Honduras (No. 80), Haiti (No. 87) and invitational side Qatar (No. 61) while Group C is made up of Costa Rica, Panama (No. 58), El Salvador (No. 75) and a qualifier.
"Mexico got a tough group and the U.S.A. got Jamaica," said Herdman. "But we can't look ahead of what's in front of us. Every team in CONCACAF, they sort of pose a different challenge. Even the teams that look like underdogs, they seem to rise to those underdog challenges."
Canada is 9-2-3 all-time against Cuba and has won the last six meetings, outscoring the Cubans 20-1 during that run.
But their most recent encounter, a CONCACAF Nations League game in September 2019 in the Cayman Islands, was only a 1-0 decision decided by a ninth-minute Alphonso Davies goal. Canada played with 10 men for the last 35 minutes after defender Doneil Henry was shown a second yellow card.
Cuba's last win against Canada was a 2-0 decision at the 2003 Gold Cup in Foxborough, Mass., that prevented the Canadians from advancing out of the group round.
Canada is 10-2-1 against Guatemala. They last met in March 2015 when Canada won 1-0 in a friendly at Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Guatemala's last win was in August 2004 in a World Cup qualifier in Burnaby, B.C.
The Gold Cup is the flagship men's competition in CONCACAF, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Mexico has won the Gold Cup eight times, compared to seven for the defending champion U.S.
Canada won in 2000, defeating Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago in the knockout rounds before dispatching Colombia 2-0 in the final at Los Angeles' Memorial Coliseum.
The Canadian men will take part in the CONCACAF Nations League final four June 15-18 in Las Vegas ahead of the Gold Cup. They take on Panama in one semifinal while the U.S. faces Mexico in the other.
Herdman says he will call up one squad for both competitions, likely keeping an extended roster ready to go given some players may need time off after their club seasons.
"We will deal with the typical squad realities that players may not be able to do both (competitions) but the intention and certainly speaking to the players, their intention is to go after both trophies this year," said Herdman.
The Nations League winner will earn US$1 million in prize money while the Gold Cup title comes with some US$1.9 million.
The three-tiered CONCACAF Nations League served as a Gold Cup qualifier, with the top two teams in each of the four League A groups booking their ticket to the 16-country tournament.
Canada qualified as Group C winner, along with Honduras, joining the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Jamaica.
Haiti, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Cuba qualified by winning their pools in League B.
Twelve other CONCACAF sides — Curaçao, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Sint Maarten, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago — will take part in the qualifying tournament.
The Canadian men finished tied for third with Qatar at the 2021 tournament after losing 2-1 to Mexico in the semifinal in Houston on a 99th-minute Hector Herrera goal.
Canada has staged Gold Cup games just once before — in 2015 when BMO Field hosted a group-stage doubleheader that saw Canada tie Costa Rica 0-0 and Jamaica edge El Salvador 1-0.
The Canadian men have not lost at BMO Field since September 2010 when they were beaten 2-0 by Peru. Canada has gone 15-0-6 at the lakefront stadium since, outscoring the opposition 54-6.
The other Gold Cup host stadiums are AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas; Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, N.C.; Soldier Field, Chicago; TQL Stadium, Cincinnati; DRV PNK Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Ariz.; Red Bull Arena, Harrison, N.J.; NRG Stadium, Houston; Shell Energy Stadium, Houston; Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas; Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego; Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, Calif.; and CITYPARK Stadium, St. Louis.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2023
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
