By Elias Laradi
On Saturday, the Canadian Men’s National Team will have one goal in mind: to beat Trinidad and Tobago, for qualification for the 2024 Copa America tournament, and confirm an opening match with Argentina this summer.
“It’s a very important match.”, Canada’s head coach Mauro Biello told the media Friday.
“We know what is at stake and coming out of the disappointment against Jamaica and we get another opportunity here to win and perform well and to qualify for Copa America and we are super excited.” - Interim Canada Head Coach, Mauro Biello
Canada comes into this matchup ranked 50th in the world while the Soca Warriors are ranked 93rd. Still, upsets have happened before, and in the lead up to 2006, Trinidad and Tobago beat Canada 4-0 and ended up qualifying for the World Cup.
“To be honest we will have a tough time tomorrow”, Stephen Eustaquio said.
“It’s a team that is very hungry and they want to qualify as well but they will have to face a strong Canadian team and I think we have everything to go through." - Canadian midfielder, Stephen Estaquio
Overall, Canada is 7-2-2 against Trinidad and Tobago and the CanMNT are confident they will secure their eighth win on Saturday afternoon at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.
Canada is reeling after losing to Jamaica back in November which put them in this situation and Eustaquio was asked how eye-opening the loss was for him and his team.
“It was an eye-opener and we thought we had them, especially after the first half which went well and to be honest they were more hungry than us and they wanted to qualify first and we need to be more hungry.”
There was a bit of drama at the training camp this week as it was confirmed by TSN that Alphonso Davies had asked Biello to be the captain but he opted to go with Eustaquio and he was questioned on his decision.
“Steph checks all the boxes”, Biello answered. “I think when you look at his career and what he has gone through and he joined the team 4-5 years ago and has been able to grow in this team and he has experienced the World Cup and playing at the highest level in Champions League and there is a calmness with him that I like and will be extremely important.”
Trinidad and Tobago were able to get a win against the US which caught the eye of Biello.
“We have seen their performances”, he responded. “Playing the US is always a tough game and they were able to frustrate an American team so you are going to see that fighting spirit from the players that are hungry.”
With a win, Canada will be slotted in Group A with Argentina, Chile, and Peru and will face Lionel Messi and Argentina in the opening game of the tournament on June 20th in front of a hyped crowd at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
“It will be a tricky game”, Biello said when asked about the team's tactics against their CONCACAF opponents. “ We have to be ready to break a low block and spread them out then exploit the gaps and be ready for the counter-attacks.”
Both Biello and Eustaquio were asked up front what it would mean if Canada didn’t win tomorrow and lost another opportunity to qualify for a major international tournament.
“To be honest we need to make sure that doesn’t happen”, Eustaquio answered. “There’s no room for disappointment, there is just room for improvement and we are going to qualify tomorrow.”
Biello added. “That loss to Jamaica meant a lot and speaking to the players about how disappointed and how hurt they felt with that performance and at the end of the day football is football and anything can happen but we have to be ready.”
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