As the Canadian men's national team looks to qualify for their first World Cup since 1986, there's plenty of excitement and buzz around the program considering their talent-rich player pool.
There are several storylines to track as Les Rouges get underway against Honduras on Thursday at BMO Field in Toronto (8:05 ET | OneSoccer, Paramount+), chief among them being the lineup decisions facing head coach John Herdman and the degree to which he chooses to rotate his squad during the hectic Octagonal schedule.
Discussing that topic on the latest episode of Extratime, co-host Matt Doyle said it creates an intriguing depth test for Herdman, with differing schools of thought on how he can approach it.
"Canada have a lot of talent in that first 13 or 14 players on the roster," Doyle said. "But with these three-game windows, you’re going to have to see way more rotation than we’ve seen in past World Cup cycles. And I think this is where the US advantage should be telling because even with the injuries that Gregg Berhalter’s dealing with in the pool, you could put together three really good lineups for these games where nobody plays more than 180 minutes.
"Canada can’t do that, so I’m wondering if Herdman’s plan is to go all-in on the two home games that Canada has in this window and then essentially field the B teamers and try to smash and grab, play much less expansively against the US than we saw out of Canada in the Gold Cup a month and a half ago."
Co-host David Gass was higher than that on Canada's depth, noting he's more intrigued by the tactical set-up of the team's first-choice lineup.
"I don’t 100 percent agree with you," Gass said. "I think Canada has more flexibility now that Atiba Hutchinson\] is back in the team, there’s more flexibility at goalkeeper than they’ve had because you can trust [Maxime Crepeau at this level.
"Alistair Johnston gives you a ton of flexibility along the backline. Where do you even play Tajon \[Buchanan]? I think you can rotate Jonathan David out of the team with Cyle Larin there, although we don’t know if \[Lucas\] Cavallini’s healthy. The whole conversation, though, with him, comes down to Alphonso Davies. When and where do you play him?"
These questions aren't unique to Herdman, of course. With the new Octagonal format, all coaches in Concacaf must tackle similar decisions. With that in mind, Doyle said he feels as though USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter and Mexico manager Tata Martino have the upper hand when handling 270-plus minutes of competition across seven days.
"How [Herdman] manages that and really how every manager in the region handles that use of depth over these three-game windows is going to be fascinating," Doyle said. "And it’s where Gregg Berhalter and Tata Martino have a massive advantage over basically every other coach in the region."
For more from Extratime ahead of the upcoming Qualifiers, check out the full episode here.
