After a 2-0 win against Trinidad and Tobago, the Canadian men’s national soccer team has qualified for the Copa América, the world’s oldest continental competition still running (yes, older than UEFA’s Euro Cup).
Originally only featuring teams from South America, the competition has invited national teams from North America and Asia to compete since 1993.
This will be Canada’s first appearance in the Copa América. They are in Group A with Argentina, Peru, and Chile. Canada is the lowest-ranked team in its group (50) and the second-lowest in the competition after Costa Rica (54).
Canada will start their Copa América (hosted by the United States) campaign on June 20, facing Argentina, the recent World Cup winners. Argentina is the number one ranked team in the world and the favourites to win the whole competition, with Brazil hot on their heels. The full squads for any of the teams have yet to be released but Argentina boasts talents such as aging superstar, Lionel Messi, who has yet to retire from international duty, and up-and-comers like Alexis Mac Allister, Lautaro Martínes, Alejandro Garnacho, and Enzo Fernández. Their depth chart must read like a horror novel to the coaching staff of some of the nations Argentina faces in any serious competition. It is hard to believe Canada will have any chance of beating Argentina bar any insane miracles.
Peru is ranked 35th in the FIFA World Rankings, but has had a tough go of late. They have only won two games since March 2023. The first one was a narrow win against South Korea on June 16, 2023, and a likely 2-0 win against Nicaragua on March 22, 2024. Both were friendlies. Interestingly enough, Chile beat Peru during the two countries’ 2026 World Cup qualification campaign (where they are in last place) last year as well. Despite being ranked ahead of Canada, Peru also doesn’t have any world-beaters at their disposal. Most of their recent call-ups have been from the Peruvian domestic leagues, MLS or smaller European leagues.
Chile is ranked 10 spots ahead of Canada. Since March of 2023, they have a record of 5-3-3. Two of those losses were expected, as Uruguay and Ecuador have both been powerhouses in South America behind Argentina and Brazil (and Colombia). Only one of those wins was competitive, with the rest being friendlies. Chile (as of March 25, 2024) is currently outside of automatic World Cup qualification, but they still have six more games to play.
Canada may have a chance of beating Peru and Chile but Canada’s journey post-World Cup has been a bit of a doozy. The World Cup qualification has put some unrealistic expectations on the men’s program, with fans believing their pool stage was a letdown, losing all three games, including a 2-1 loss to Morocco, who ended up unexpectedly playing the third place play-off against Croatia. Morocco was considered Canada’s most winnable game by fans and pundits alike, instead, Morocco almost ended up winning the whole thing after beating Spain and Portugal, before France beat them 2-0 in the semi-final.
Luckily, Canada only sort of went into a tailspin on the pitch post-World Cup, getting a record of 6-2-4. All of the wins, however, come against lower-ranked CONCACAF (their continental organization) teams, such as Curaçao and Panama. They did manage to get to the final of the confederation’s Nations League final, a glorified series of finals, but lost to the United States 2-0. While Canada has been almost on par with the United States in recent years, particularly when it comes to CONCACAF games, the latter still has the edge. They have a more established professional league, as opposed to Canada’s very young Premier League (entering its sixth year in April) and more players in European leagues.
The Gold Cup was also played last year, which resulted in another knockout by the United States, this time in the quarter-final after a 2-2 draw went to penalties. Canada was more lacklustre, only winning one (4-2 against Cuba) of their three group games. The two other results were draws against Guadeloupe (2-2) and Guatemala (0-0). However, many of Canada’s players declined to represent the country due to European club commitments.
Off the pitch, Soccer Canada has been a mess, with conflicts over player payments, funding, a deal with the Canadian Soccer Board, and playing opportunities. Head coach John Herdman also left his post on Oct. 1, 2023, to take charge of Toronto FC in MLS, being replaced by interim coach Mauro Biello. Biello led the team to a two-legged quarter-final against Jamaica in the 2023-24 CONCACAF Nationals League A, winning 2-1 in the first league but losing 3-2 in Toronto. Tied 4-4 on aggregate, Jamaica were the winners due to scoring more goals as an away team.
Soccer Canada is yet to hire a new full-time head coach. It is unclear when one will be. Biello might end up leading Canada into the Copa América, but after struggling to organize the team against Jamaica, it might be a short tournament for Canada.