World Cup 2026: Canada created history by reaching the last 16

Following Canada's historic World Cup win, coach Jesse Marsh gathered his players and staff in a large group and gave them inspirational words. "Canadian heroes," he called his team as they won a knockout game for the first time in the tournament and secured a spot in the last 16. "The future of sports in this country is bigger because of you."
These words of Marsh are full of truth – the nature of the game is changing in the country. One fan told BBC Sport before the match, "It's going to be known as football now, not soccer. Canada is becoming a soccer nation."
This was the same objective that Marsh had aimed to achieve when he became Canada's coach two years earlier, a goal that seemed highly unlikely at a time when the country's first choice was generally considered to be ice hockey.This World Cup was inaugurated by Mexico, while the United States will host the final. But Canada quietly went about its business, building interest and passion for the tournament and its national team.
Canada's captain, Alphonso Davies, is accustomed to playing in front of big, soccer-loving crowds at Bayern Munich and in the Champions League. However, he has noticed a change in Canada since the start of the World Cup, and said he was emotional seeing so many fans at his first game. "It was amazing because I've never seen so many Canadians at a football match before," he said before the win against South Africa.Canada's performance in this World Cup has been extremely impressive. Their record before this tournament was 6 matches played and all losses, but they achieved a historic point with a draw against Bosnia-Herzegovina. After this, they defeated Qatar 6–0 to reach the knockouts. The loss against Switzerland cost them the chance to play their final 32 game in Canada, but their fans came out in droves to support them in Los Angeles.
It was the first time a World Cup host played a match away from home, but it felt like they were the home team against South Africa, given their large and enthusiastic support.
Although their opponents attempted to take the game to penalties from the start, the Canadian players maintained control. Stefan Eustaquio provided a moment of quality to win the game in stoppage time."People will say it's performative to meet in the middle of the field," Marsh said of the large group meeting at full-time. "I just care about my team and what we do together. It's hard to be with my team full-time because everyone is drawn to the media, and you don't really have time to take in the moment unless you take it right there. I wanted to let them know how important this moment will be to the game in the country. It's a shame we couldn't do it in front of our fans in Vancouver, but still I think you showed the character, the quality, the mentality of the team." And saw unity."
The next challenging test for Canada will be against the Netherlands or Morocco. But whatever happens now, and no matter how long Marsh remains as national team coach, football in the country may have changed forever.Harry, a fan, said, "I went to Canada matches with my dad in the 1990s and Canadian fans were a minority at their home matches." "It's amazing to see how many fans have come to America, hopefully this energy can help improve our country." Another supporter, Sean, said: "There has always been more support for soccer in places like Toronto, but hopefully it now spreads to some of the cities and provinces outside of the bigger centres, where Canada can be a bigger hockey country."
It will not be easy for Canada to continue its historic run, as Morocco is ranked sixth in the world and the Netherlands seventh. But confidence can take a team very far and, given how Canada has exceeded expectations so far, it would be foolish to rule them out of causing an upset."My aim in this tournament, apart from motivating our country, was to ensure that we make a run at the world giants to watch," said Marsh. "Looking at Morocco's last six years they are a modern giant and the Netherlands team which has had what feels like centuries of success is a traditional giant. I think it is a free opportunity and we will go for it and do as much as possible to win.