Canada announces 26-man squad for 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar

2022-11-13

Charlie O’Connor-Clarke, Digital Content Editor (@charliejclarke)

CanMNT News World Cup 2022

Canada Soccer announced on Sunday morning the final men’s national team roster that will compete for the country this month at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Head coach John Herdman’s 26-man squad includes almost all of the familiar faces from Canada’s World Cup Qualifying campaign, including Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies, Lille OSC striker Jonathan David, and FC Porto midfielder Stephen Eustáquio.

Also included in the squad are a number of key Major League Soccer-based players, including Jonathan Osorio and Mark-Anthony Kaye of Toronto FC, and Kamal Miller and Alistair Johnston of CF Montréal, among a few others.

All-time caps leader Atiba Hutchinson, who recently returned from a lengthy injury for Turkish club Beşiktaş, is in line to become the second-oldest outfield player to compete at a World Cup at 39 years, nine months, and 15 days when Canada kick off their tournament — behind Cameroonian striker Roger Milla.

Canada’s notable omissions due to injury are defenders Doneil Henry and Scott Kennedy, and goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau. Called into the squad in Crépeau’s place is CF Montréal’s James Pantemis, and replacing Kennedy is Montréal defender Joel Waterman — both of whom make history simultaneously by becoming the first ever former Canadian Premier League players to appear on a World Cup roster.

Waterman made his professional debut for Cavalry FC in 2019 before signing in MLS with Montréal after a successful first campaign. Pantemis, meanwhile, spent the 2020 season on loan at Valour FC before returning to his parent club and also succeeding at the MLS level.

The full roster will convene this week in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where they will participate in pre-World Cup training and play one final friendly match against Japan on Thursday, Nov. 17 (8:40 a.m. ET, available on OneSoccer).

Following that, the Canada squad will fly to Doha, Qatar to compete at the men’s World Cup for the first time since 1986. Canada — 41st in the FIFA World Rankings — have been drawn into Group F for the 32-team tournament, and they will begin their competition against the world’s second-ranked team, Belgium, on Wednesday, Nov. 23 at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium (2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT).

After that, they play 12th-ranked Croatia on Sunday, Nov. 27 at Khalifa International Stadium (11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT), followed by 22nd-ranked Morocco on Thursday, Dec. 1 (10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT).

Canada’s full 26-man roster for the World Cup is below.

Canada’s Squad