No matter which words Mauro Biello used to explain the Canadian men’s national team collapse against Jamaica Tuesday night, they fell short.
“Massive disappointment” is a start, but it still doesn’t quite capture Canada’s defeat.
“Too casual” is too polite a term to describe how his team played, and far too casual to describe how the interim head coach and the organization approached a game in which they only needed a draw to qualify for the 2024 Copa América and the Nations League semifinals.
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“At the end of the day, we put ourselves in trouble,” Biello said, which was as close to someone in Canada Soccer putting their hand up and acknowledging what Tuesday made alarmingly clear: The men’s team simply hasn’t been good enough.
The loss means Canada won’t play again until March; a single game against Trinidad and Tobago represents the team’s final chance to qualify for Copa América.
And if Canada does not qualify for Copa América? For two years, they will essentially be without proper, competitive preparation against world-class opponents ahead of the 2026 World Cup on home soil.
Canada had previously never lost a competitive game at BMO Field in Toronto, where it hosted Jamaica. They had all of their core players available, most of which can be game-breakers. They were also coming into the second leg of the Nations League quarterfinals up 2-1 on aggregate. A draw would have sent them to the tournament’s semifinals, the minimum for this team.
Canada took a 1-0 lead into halftime on Tuesday, only to go down 3-2 on the night and 4-4 on aggregate, conceding the away goal advantage. Canada’s humiliating loss against Jamaica should be considered its worst since its 8-1 loss against Honduras, which eliminated the team from World Cup contention in 2012.
Giving up a 2-0 lead and losing 3-2 to Haiti in the 2019 Gold Cup quarterfinals stung, given the core’s potential, but that team was on the rise and not rich with experience. Not finishing the job after playing Belgium off the park in the 2022 World Cup was a tough pill to swallow. So too was the 4-1 loss against Croatia days later, a loss brought on by self-inflicted wounds. But the quality of each opponent also eased the pain.
None of those defeats inspired much change internally. But if Canada Soccer is serious about the men’s team not embarrassing itself in 2026, the loss against Jamaica must be a catalyst for change from the pitch to the boardroom. It’s not just the result that creates a foul smell. The loss is a reminder that the root of the stench comes from places beyond the team’s dressing room.
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Right now, the most pressing questions should be directed at Biello. His approach since being named interim coach has not inspired confidence.
Looking at the destabilizing loss to the United States in the 2023 Nations League final, one of the lower points in the men’s team’s recent history, it was clear Canada needed a refresh in personnel. That loss was the beginning of the end of former head coach John Herdman’s reign.
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Herdman had his trusted old guard. But when they ran out of steam, Biello was gift-wrapped an opportunity to provide a handshake and thank many players for their years of service. Instead, the lone notable addition was 17-year-old Luc de Fougerolles, who only appeared on Biello’s radar after de Fougerolles’ father reached out to him via LinkedIn to make Biello aware of his son’s eligibility to play for Canada.
De Fougerolles has yet to see the pitch.
Biello has also admitted the center back position was an area of weakness for Canada. And still, he didn’t look outside the player pool to bring in new center backs to challenge the squad, showing a concerning lack of bravery.
His questionable personnel decisions aren’t limited to the back end of the pitch. By continuing to rely on an older group of support players who were present for the defeats, Biello did little to create the necessary sense of accountability throughout the roster.
As much as captain Milan Borjan can profess to be disappointed in the result and call for the team to “sit down all together, look each other in the eyes and see what went wrong,” it was Borjan who played keepie-uppies with the ball ahead of a Jamaica goal. Considering the younger, equally proficient goalkeepers ready for the starting job, Borjan appears to be getting continued call-ups on the strength of his dressing room voice more than his capabilities on the field at 36 years old.
I’m not saying DSC had an amazing 2023. I’d argue it was even a step below 2022, however, Borjan’s continuing to start in net for Canada over the past 18 months has really baffled me. pic.twitter.com/Uau3fRqHZU
— Jacob Schneider (@_jacobschneider) November 22, 2023
It was Biello who chose to empower Borjan with the armband. What message does his casual play before a goal send to the rest of the squad?
The need for change across the squad and beyond has never been more evident. It can be the first step toward holding players accountable for their performances. Because if the organization isn’t thinking towards 2026, what exactly is it thinking about?
Biello’s most telling moment Tuesday came in the 74th minute when he substituted three of the team’s best players, some of whom were playing well on the night: Ismael Kone, Cyle Larin, and Tajon Buchanan. In their place came 31-year-old Jonathan Osorio, who had logged 90 minutes for his club Toronto FC just once since Oct. 8; Mark-Anthony Kaye (28), who played only one half in each of the New England Revolution’s first-round losses; and Junior Hoilett (33), who was a late-season substitute with the Vancouver Whitecaps after hardly playing during the second half of his 2022-23 season at Reading FC in the English Championship.
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Jamaica’s go-ahead goal came off a penalty three minutes after these substitutions. It not only showcased a manager who wanted to eke out a draw on home soil but also revealed the frailty of simply relying on players who had been in this Canadian side for years. Even if you took issue with Herdman’s tactical plans, he could not be accused of lacking the gusto to make necessary changes early in his tenure.
But the blame for Canada’s insipid turn doesn’t lie solely with the man on the touchline.
It’s a bit of the chicken and the egg here, but the players can’t escape responsibility. Tuesday’s second-half capitulation looked like one from a team that thought they had finished the job at halftime. Stephen Eustaquio and Kone, the team’s anchors in midfield, turned over crucial possession that led to Jamaican goals. Jamaica showed the kind of urgency Canada has been bereft of for too long.
Even though the turnovers put a sinking ship under, Canada has been trending the wrong way for some time now, going 8-3-9 since qualifying for the 2022 World Cup. The majority of those wins came against lower-ranked CONCACAF opponents.
Canada Soccer has allowed the men’s team to get to this place and it’s reflective of a painful lack of foresight and attention to building a sustainably successful program. Former President Nick Bontis resigned in February. The former general secretary announced he was leaving his post shortly afterward in April. The writing on the wall regarding Herdman’s interest in leaving had been etched for months before he moved to Toronto FC in August.
None of these people have been replaced full-time. Canada Soccer says it hopes to have a new general secretary in place in the new year with a full-time coach hired afterward. Forgive the glib nature of the question, but: Did the organization simply forget that, between those departures and finally getting the ball rolling on the next stage of the future, there would be crucial games to play?
By failing to create long-term strategies and waiting on important hires, Canada Soccer shouldn’t have expected any other result than a loss. Blaming the federation for failing to hit the mark is becoming a national pastime. That’s why the loss to Jamaica undoubtedly sent longtime fans into a dark place, reminding them of the futility of generations past.
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And yet co-hosting a World Cup eclipses anything past generations of teams have done. Canada Soccer and the men’s team have never had as prime an opportunity to challenge themselves against the best, establish themselves as a legitimate organization, and propel the sport to where it once seemed like it could go.
The stark difference in Canada’s performance from one half to the next was a reminder of how quickly momentum can turn. The difference in Canada’s performances from last year to Tuesday is a painful big-picture reminder that even when you build momentum and it disappears, there’s no guarantee it will return.
(Photo: Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
