Canada's Stephen Eustaquio and David Wotherspoon believe the team’s attacking players can cause plenty of problems for their opposition when their World Cup campaign begins next week.
"We've got the players, we know we've got the players on our team that can hurt [other] teams," midfielder Wotherspoon, who currently plays for St. Johnstone in Scotland and recovered from a torn ACL just in time to make the squad, said. "We can play to our best and give everyone a game. We know we can be out there and perform against the best and this is the stage to do it on."
Canada has plenty of attacking talent in Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David, Cyle Larin, and Tajon Buchanan, among others. Eustaquio will also play a key role in getting the ball to those players in the right areas.
Eustaquio, who has been peaking at the right time with Portuguese club F.C. Porto, puts his recent success down to Canada’s head coach John Herdman.
"I think it's just the belief that the coach had in me," Eustaquio said. "He said that I had really good qualities but I could do even more. The amount of running I do in a game was only translating in a defensive perspective, so, he wanted me to step more in the box. He wanted me to create more chances and that's what I've been trying to do. Back then, I was kind of getting anxious when I was stepping in the box, when the ball was coming, a little bit of fear, always touching to my teammates. Now, I feel confident and I have the ability on the first touch to just be calm and put it inside the net."
When Canada plays its three World Cup group matches against Belgium, Croatia, and Morocco, respectively, it will be the lower-ranked team on each occasion.
However, Canada's current ranking of 41st in the world may not be a true reflection of the team’s quality. Canada has made up a lot of ground from being ranked as low as 94th in the world just five years ago to their current position. When qualifying out of the CONCACAF region, they finished in first place ahead of a Mexico side ranked 12th ahead of the tournament and a U.S. side ranked 16th. Canada scored more goals than those teams and conceded fewer as well.
While Canada will certainly be lacking in experience on the biggest of stages, Eustaquio still believes there will be opportunities to make a name for themselves because of their talent.
"I think at a stage like this, we just have to be smart," Eustaquio said. "We have some of the best players that can play in transition here, I think if we're smart with the ball, we can exploit those areas."
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