Canada: How far can they make it in the World Cup?
By Jim James
With a new batch of interntional fixtures coming right up that could see Canada essentially secure a spot in the World Cup 2022, I have got a question from one of our readers, to see that if they qualify, how far they would make it. Challenge accepted.
There are a few questions we need to take into consideration before we make an opinion. Firstly, this is one that we don’t know yet; how tough is our group? Now usually in groups there is one big team, one mid level team and two meh teams. Canada, as we are right now, would classify as one of the meh teams. For us to stand any reasonable chance to go through as a meh team, we need to hope for a few things.
- That we don’t have a big team in our group
This is an unlikely one, but it happens in every world cup. 1 or 2 groups get 2-3 mid level and 1-2 meh teams without a big team. However, if this is our game plan, it’s not a very good one. It only happens in about 25% of groups in the world cup if that, and that leaves a lot of room for failure.
- That we have a manageable mid level team
Now this IS an option that is more likely. In the 2018 World Cup, we would put up a good fight against about half of the teams in Pot 2, in my opinion, and considering that we’ll probably be in Pot 4, I looked at the Pot 3 teams, and we could do well against 2/3rds of the teams. Again, that shouldn’t be our #1 gameplan, we should hope for it. It would definitely help.
- Hope that everyone is fit, healthy, and motivated
This is something that should be obvious, every team that wants to achieve something, especially when they’d be overachieving in the biggest tournament in world sports. They just need to keep doing what they have been for the 8 qualifiers so far. Be a scrappy team that works well together and really wants to win. That brings us to the last thing we will be covering in this post.
- That Alphonso Davies is back to full strength
It was very sad when Alphonso Davies was diagnosed with Mild Myocarditis, but he should be back to playing and to full strength by February-March. However, I’m not taking any chances after seeing what happened to Sergio Aguero and Christian Eriksen in 2021. Again, though, I’m pretty sure that he will be back to full strength by the end of the qualifiers, never mind November.
The Verdict.
After considering all options, Here is my final Verdict
Chance to go out in the groups: 66%
Chance to make it to the RO16: 33%
Chance to make it to the Quarters: 16.5%
Chance to Make it to the Semis: 6.1%
Chance to Make it to the Final: 1.5%
Chance of Winning: 0.75%
There you have it. I hope you liked it, as a Canada fan, it is sort of sad to see our chances so low. Please note that I made these odds myself, and didn’t take them off any website. Again, thank you for reading, and until next time.