When Jayden Nelson found out that he will replace the injured Marcelo Flores on Canada’s 26-man roster — when he found out his World Cup dream will be the one that will come true — his first call was to his grandfather.
“Just a lot of emotions,” Nelson said Tuesday. “He’s the one who started everything.”
Nelson grew up in Brampton, not far from the Toronto training ground that is once again his, this time to prepare for the tournament of his life. “It’s crazy,” he said, marvelling at the grass at his feet. “The amount of hours I spent here, it’s unbelievable. It’s something I can’t even really explain. It’s the biggest event in the world in your backyard.”
There’s something a little discombobulating about a home World Cup. For better and worse, the men’s tournaments have been staged lately at a string of exotic locales, at least by Western standards: South Africa, Brazil, Russia, Qatar. The cities have been unexplored. The stadiums have been glittering and new.
For Canada’s men, everything about Toronto is familiar, even intimate, especially for the national team members who also play for Toronto FC. Like Nelson, they’ve suffered on the same training ground thousands of times. They will be able to summon the view from their hotel rooms from memory when they are 80 years old.
BMO Field — FIFA wants it called Toronto Stadium for sponsorship reasons — has changed with its temporary expansion and endless security fencing. It looks more like a fortress than it normally does. But the walk from the dressing room will follow the same well-worn path, and the wind will feel the same off the lake.
Nelson was asked if it feels like he’s at a World Cup.
“No,” he said. “Not for me.”
On this episode of Soccer North, we break down Canada’s upcoming World Cup game against Bosnia and Herzegovina and discuss what Jesse Marsch and the Canadian men’s national team need to accomplish before the tournament begins. Plus, Canadian star Olivia Smith joins the show to reflect on her historic first season with Arsenal.
So, how does head coach Jesse Marsch make this tournament feel more special, an extraordinary experience? How does he make Friday’s opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina feel more like the great height that it is?
For now, he seems to be opting for a shift in mentality, a serious tone. That’s natural in some ways. FIFA has taken over the operation from Canada Soccer, and things feel more like a presidential campaign, after the party apparatus has risen around its chosen candidate like scaffolding.
In the months leading up to the tournament, Marsch has been the most open, honest, and accessible national team coach on the planet. He has hosted reporters at his home in Italy. He’s been unabashedly himself.
But pressure does strange things to people. It reduces, and it elevates. Trying to project calm can have the opposite effect; changes in behaviour can also reflect nerves.
Those, too, are understandable. Marsch has had to deal with a lot of uncertainty in the leadup to the most important games of his career. Canada’s injury situation has been close to cataclysmic. With Moise Bombito’s status doubtful, and Alphonso Davies and Ralph Priso still under healing protocols, Marsch will probably have more roster changes to make before Thursday’s deadline.
He’s also been dealing for the first time with the criticism that gets layered on top of expectation: facing questions about his rigid tactical approach, about his frustrations in attack, about his lineup choices and outsized affection for certain players. He’s done a superior job with the program by nearly every reckoning, but pressure does strange things to fans, too.
After Monday’s practice, his unusually short meeting with reporters — it lasted two minutes and 28 seconds — included a bit of a broadside: “I thought it was an effective training session,” he said. “We had a lot of actions around the goal. So, we’re going to score more goals, so I don’t have to put up with any more stupid questions from you guys.”
He said it with a half-smile, which suggested he also half-meant it.
Not long after, Richie Laryea, one of the men most familiar with these surroundings, had a more relaxed brush with the increased attention.
“I’m just going through my regular things that I do on a daily basis,” he said. If he’d noticed a difference in his routine so far, it was in the police escort from the team’s downtown hotel to the training ground. Guided by nearly two dozen motorcycle cops, the bus ride took only 25 minutes.
“Which never happens,” he said.
None of this will ever happen again for these men. Maybe it’s someone like Jayden Nelson, the team’s surprise newest member, who can best become a reminder of how special this tournament should be for all of them. He was told he was off the team, and then he was told he was on it. “I treated every session, every fitness test, as my last,” he said.
If there is a lesson from past World Cups — from Spain’s win in South Africa, from Morocco’s magical run in Qatar — it’s necessary to embrace the surreal nature of the experience, to share the joy of being here with the people you love. The World Cup is not just another tournament. Friday’s home opener will not be just another game. It would be an injustice to the moment to pretend otherwise.
The more unlikely the dream, the more it’s worth celebrating when it finally comes true.
