Canada against France in a friendly: “we need that”

It’s now official: Canada has a meeting with France on June 9 in Bordeaux. A prestigious friendly match which will serve as preparation for the Canadians for both the Copa América and the 2026 World Cup.

Thus, in the space of 11 days, the maple leaf (49^e in the world, according to FIFA) will have the chance to face Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann and the other stars of the Blues (ranked 2^are) on June 9 in France, then will head to Atlanta to take the field against Lionel Messi and Argentina (1^D in the world) on June 20 as part of the Copa. Without forgetting the other friendly match planned, on June 6, against the Netherlands (7^e) in Rotterdam.

“It is a great achievement for our internal team to secure a friendly match against a team from top-5 world,” commented Mathieu Chamberland, head of operations of Canada Soccer, in a press release.

The clash will take place at the Stade Matmut Atlantique des Girondins de Bordeaux, an arena with 42,115 seats. Both France and the Netherlands will prepare for the Euro, which will take place essentially at the same time as the Copa América, from mid-June to mid-July.

“It demonstrates the ambitions we have as an organization for our players and supporters in our preparations for major events such as the 2024 Copa América and the 2026 FIFA World Cup,” Chamberland added.

Interviewed a few hours after the match against France was made official, Canadian international Joel Waterman said he was “super happy” to be able to rub shoulders with these “great teams” before the upcoming international tournaments.

“These are huge matches against incredible opponents. (…) We need that as an organization. We believe in ourselves as a football nation, so we want to play against the best in the world. »

The big question now is whether Mauro Biello will still be the coach in June. Remember that the former Impact striker is still at the head of the men’s team on an interim basis, and has been since last September.

“Mauro was incredible,” Waterman said. He is a guy of great humility. He works very hard and gave himself every chance (to be nominated). It’s not up to me to make the decision, it’s up to the board of directors. But he’s fantastic, we all love him and he did a really good job. »

Canada has only faced France once in its history. It was in 1986, at the World Cup in Mexico. The French won 1-0 on a goal from Jean-Pierre Papin, in the 79th^e minute.