John Herdman insists Canada are 'built for' World Cup qualification

Canada Men's National Team head coach John Herdman has praised the mentality of his players, saying they're 'built' to battle their way to World Cup qualification.

The race to make Qatar 2022 continues with games against Honduras, the United States, and El Salvador in the current international break.

Canada head into this latest round of World Cup qualifiers as the only remaining unbeaten team in the Concacaf region, winning and drawing four of their eight matches so far.

During that time, they've had to play far from home due to ongoing Coronavirus measures and absences to key players at one time or another.

But Les Rouges have come through it all to maintain top spot in the group so far - a position they won't now give up lightly.

“I said this to the group, this is what we’re built for,” Herdman said Wednesday (via Edmonton Sun). “We’ve built those experiences; traveling to Florida in March to play those matches in the height of COVID, where at that time it was a real health risk in many people’s minds.

“Then going to places like Haiti and then coming out of that going into the Gold Cup with a roster that, in many people’s eyes, was very depleted.

"We’ve had a lot of experiences that we’ve built on and those experiences have created a foundation where we can enter these windows with confidence.”

Though they've come through a lot already, this latest round of matches may be the toughest yet for Canada. Star man Alphonso Davies is sidelined, as is new Porto midfielder Stephan Eustaquio.

But gone are the days when Canada had to lean so heavily on one or two players. With Davies and Eustaquio out, the likes of Jonathan David, who has scored 18 goals in 24 internationals, Cyle Larin, and Tajon Buchanan (to name a few) will step up.

“Depth is an important part of this, we experienced the two three-game windows in September and October and we had to plan carefully on how to rotate the squad,” Herdman added.

“I think that window in October was probably the trickiest, because we had accumulated so many yellow cards and we’re on that precipice now; I think we have six players carrying yellow cards through this period.

“There is the yellow card factor, there is the COVID time bomb, that I think all coaches are losing some sleep on every night, wondering what message is going to come through from the medical team in the morning. And then you have the realities of the MLS players; some of them haven’t played a competitive match since November and haven’t even participated in scrimmages yet. This is probably as tricky a window as you’re going to face.”

Herdman will rest a little easier knowing just how tough his players have become and how much more quality is left in reserve.