Canadian men get another high-profile test this summer with friendly in France
The Canadian males are getting one other high-profile check prematurely of this summer season’s Copa America.
Canada Soccer has confirmed the Forty ninth-ranked Canadians will play No. 2 France on June 9 on the Matmut Atlantique in Bordeaux, a 42,115-capacity stadium that’s residence to Ligue 2’s FC Girondins de Bordeaux. The France recreation comes three days after a beforehand introduced pleasant with the seventh-ranked Netherlands at Stadion Feijenoord in Rotterdam.
“It’s by playing against the best teams, like Les Bleus, that we’ll grow as a soccer nation. France is a nation we want to have strong links with for cultural, historical, and sporting reasons,” Canada Soccer COO Mathieu Chamberland stated in a press release.
Canada is making ready for Copa America, the place it’s certainly one of six CONCACAF visitor groups on the South American championship that runs June 20 to July 14 in 14 U.S. cities. France and the Netherlands are gearing up for Euro 24, which kicks off June 14 in Germany.
“It’s amazing,” stated Toronto FC midfielder Jonathan Osorio, who has received 71 caps for Canada. “These are high high groups on the planet. As a competitor, it what’s you need. It’s the one technique to get higher. It’s the one means to enhance and to essentially attain your potential stage.
“This is what this team needs. This team needs to battle against the best, so that we can really get a taste for how it feels to be in games like that.”
L’Equipe, the French sports activities every day, reported earlier this month {that a} France-Canada pleasant was within the works because the final check for Didier Deschamps’ squad forward of its Euro Group D opener towards No. 25 Austria on June 17.
The Canadian males have confronted France simply as soon as earlier than, of their first-ever recreation on the FIFA World Cup in 1986 in Mexico. A star-studded French facet wanted a 79th-minute aim by Jean-Pierre Papin to win 1-0.
The June video games signify Canada’s highest-ranked opponents because the 2022 World Cup when the Canadian males misplaced 1-0 to then-second-ranked Belgium.
With Canada opening Copa America towards No. 1 Argentina on June 20 in Atlanta, the Canadian males will face three top-10 groups in two weeks.
Canada additionally faces No. 32 Peru and No. 42 Chile in Group A play at Copa America.
After Copa America, the Canadians are set to face No. 14 Mexico throughout the September worldwide window with the Sept. 10 recreation at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Canada Soccer says the Argentina, France and Netherlands video games will carry the variety of present top-20 opponents Canada can have confronted to 9 in slightly greater than 18 months, becoming a member of Belgium (No. 3), Croatia (No. 10), the U.S. (No. 11), Morocco (No. 13), Uruguay (No. 15) and Japan (No. 18).
Canada was crushed 2-0 by Uruguay and edged Japan 2-1 in warm-up matches for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar the place it misplaced to Belgium (1-0), Croatia (4-1) and Morocco (2-1) in group play. The Canadians confronted the U.S. twice in that point interval, dropping a penalty shootout within the 2023 Gold Cup quarterfinal and 2-0 within the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal.
Canada has develop into a extra enticing opponent due to its function as 2026 World Cup co-host and the boys’s spectacular run in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.
“At the end of the day, however it got done is great,” Osorio stated of the star-studded fixture checklist. “What matters is they’re happening.”
The summer season schedule evokes reminiscences of the buildup to the 1994 World Cup within the U.S. Canada, which didn’t qualify for the soccer showcase however was a sexy pre-tournament opponent attributable to geography if nothing else, hosted Brazil, German, Spain and the Netherlands over eight days.
It tied Brazil 1-1 in Edmonton and misplaced to Germany (2-0) and the Netherlands (3-0) in Toronto and Spain (2-0) in Montreal. The Canadians went into the Brazil match ranked 58th on the planet, climbing to No. 54 prematurely of the opposite three video games.
Brazil went on to win the ’94 World Cup, defeating Italy in a storied penalty shootout within the ultimate earlier than 94,000-plus on the Rose Bowl. Germany, the Netherlands and Spain misplaced within the quarterfinals.
