Triste nouvelle : Je m’en fiche de ce que vous avez dit, c’est mieux. Je termine ma carrière de cette façon. “Jonathan David” a arrêté pendant qu’il avait Misun…Voir Plus
The thought of representing his country at a World Cup never seemed plausible to Jonathan David when he was growing up. “I just wanted to play,” the Canada striker says. “Have fun. I was nowhere near thinking: ‘One day I’m going to be playing in a World Cup with my country.’ All this was just a dream.”
Not any more. For Canada’s men, this is their first appearance on the global stage since 1986. Football’s popularity has grown thanks to the emergence of an exciting generation of players who reached Qatar after excelling during qualifying, and David is buzzing. “I’ve thought about that first game,” he says. “What it will feel like to walk on the pitch for the first time. To see the fans, the stadium and to see the big team you’re facing.”
The draw has not been kind to Canada. Group F contains Croatia, who were beaten finalists at the 2018 World Cup, and an ageing but dangerous Belgium. Morocco are also an awkward proposition and yet, as David thinks about the prospect of taking on Luka Modric and Kevin De Bruyne, he is keen not to leave the impression Canada will be suffering from an inferiority complex.
The message is that Canada have no intention of making up the numbers. They have made rapid progress since appointing John Herdman as head coach in 2018. Herdman had performed well with the women’s team, guiding them to bronze medals at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, and the 47-year-old Englishman has had a similarly galvanising effect on the men.
Canada, who face Belgium on Wednesday, will back themselves. They value possession, fly forward on the break and, in David, possess a forward key to Lille stunning French football by winning Ligue 1 in 2021.
“We haven’t been to a World Cup for 36 years, but I don’t think teams are thinking we’re not a good team,” David says. “I don’t think they’ll underestimate us. It would be a mistake to do so. It’s going to be very hard because our group is very tough. But we have the belief we can get out of the group.”
