And he turned it down ultimately In a statement, John Herdman says "I've received several opportunities in recent months, all of which I've turned down, including an offer from New Zealand Football."Herdman reiterates his commitment to coach Canada's men's team through 2026. #CanMNT— Joshua Kloke (@joshuakloke) February 1, 2023 New Zealand really thought they had him though 🇳🇿⚽️ CEO Andrew Pragnell told Newshub John Herdman has agreed terms & was "100 percent" on board to coach the All Whites before a personal situation put a hold on the process making him unavailable to coach games in March. Herdman currently remains under contract to Canada. https://t.co/7AoSel0GSO— Kristian Jack (@KristianJack) February 1, 2023
Lucas Cavallini returns to Liga MX with Tijuana Lucas Cavallini 🇨🇦 joins Liga MX 🇲🇽 side Xolos de Tijuana. #CanMNT #Xolos #TijuanaRojinegra pic.twitter.com/kPlJVKZtTW— Giuseppe Campanelli (@giuseppecam22) February 2, 2023
IMO that move would've been to Canada's benefit. And probably NZ's as well, as it's likely that they will be the minnowiest minnow of the tournament, and Herdman at least has WC experience. I'm really not sure just how much one could expect him to successfully evolve his approach with Canada...
Cyle Larin proving he belongs in La Liga. 2nd goal in 2 games off the bench Cyle Larin 🇨🇦 scores once again off the bench! #CanMNThttps://t.co/GuOWg9Sb52— Giuseppe Campanelli (@giuseppecam22) February 5, 2023
I think if Canada had lost Herdman to New Zealand specifically, that would have been a very poor indictment of Canada Soccer given he'd be leaving for what's clearly a worse job. In that situation I'd be concerned about their ability to adequately replace him. There are some rumors that Leeds have him on their list. Him going there would make sense and not something I'd blame the Canadian Soccer Association for. If he were to leave, there's not an obvious clear cut replacement and CSA if also not as well funded as USSF and there'd be question of what they could afford to pay a new coach. Too early. He's not leaving Real Madrid to coach anyone, but once he leaves Real Madrid (contract is up in 2024), that's when he might have actual interest.
I'm happy Herdman is staying. While he was outcoached in the World Cup, he's been a revelation in all other aspects. I doubt we could afford a decent replacement. It's like trading an established star for a draft pick, with no guarantee it would have turned into a better situation.
🚨DEAL IMMINENT🚨#TFCLive & #CanMNT prospect Jayden Nelson is set to join Norwegian powerhouse #Rosenborg #RBK @ManuelVeth has all the details 👇— Transfermarkt.co.uk (@TMuk_news) February 8, 2023
Canada has enough talent that they'd have been able to attract another top coach. I'd have had no concerns if Herdman left. Herdman isn't Arsene Wenger In fact, I thought his tactics were naive at best at the World Cup. Thought he could play against those nations like he could against Curacao. People have Berhalter on FULL BLAST on these boards as an apparent moron and buffoon. He's holding the Gold Cup and Nations League trophies, and led the USMNT to the Round of 16. Meanwhile in 2022 Herdman and Canada lost to Panama, Costa Rica, and Honduras, and finished as one of the worst teams at the World Cup. When you look at their results in 2022..............they weren't particularly good. I guess Herdman gets a total pass. Yes, he had a tough group at the World Cup. Guess what? There are no easy groups at the World Cup. Let's see if they can actually advance to the knockout round of the Nations League. That would be a new development for him. If I was the CSA and Herdman came to me with a "Pay me or I'm going to New Zealand" ultimatum..................I'd drive him to the airport myself. Sorry, I'm not negative about the Canada's position right now. I'm very positive about the future. But this nonsense of "what would they do without Herdman?!" is ridiculous.
Done deal Look who's here! 🥰🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/GIdAg8BnVK— Rosenborg Ballklub (@RBKfotball) February 8, 2023
But can they afford to pay a top coach and possibly pay out Herdman's contract if they decided to dump him? Nope. We're broke.
Frustrating player. Hopefully he can figure out how to use his brain more than 50% of the time next season.
Jesse Marsch did once want to be Canada’s coach and sent them an unsolicited plan on how to turn around Canadian soccer. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/taking-red-bulls-job-jesse-marsch-wanted-be-canadas-coach
I can see why Montagliani wouldn't meet with him. He already had a plan for Canadian Soccer (CPL and League 1 Canada) and Marsch seemed like he wanted to make the MLS academies the central point of his plan.
Loans from non-top 5 leagues to the top 5 leagues don 't happen often do they? I guess Brugge being a regular CL attendee and Vallalodid being relegation fodder makes sense.
To bring in a new coach with a new philosophy and expect to elevate their game in a World Cup even at home may be a bit tricky. Having the guy who built up the team to try and just tweak things and build upon what he established is probably better for Canada.
Herdman's a good coach. He made a rookie mistake. The Canadian Federation should be able to figure out pretty quick if he's learned from it.
Copa America seems like it’ll be a good test of it. More broadly I’d want to see Canada consistently be in the top 3 for Gold Cup and Nations League between now and then.
A one off game is hard to judge too much if you lose. More concerning would be if Canada were to stumble and not make the Nations League finals or not make at least the semis of the Gold Cup. If they made the final of either and say lose to Mexico, it's hard to be too upset about that.
It isn't backed up by counting stats but its more than reasonable to argue that this past cycle it was: #1. USA #2. Canada #3. Mexico #4. Costa Rica and at the World Cup I'd put Mexico dead last. Yes, they were second by virtue of points, and goal difference but when you look at performance. Group difficulty rankings: #1 Canada #2 Costa Rica #3 USA #4 Mexico Canada out xG'd Belgium and Morocco (performed better in my view too), and imploded against Croatia playing too aggressively after the early lead. Not a successful tournament, but a group with two WC semifinalists and a Semifinalist from WC '18 and they out XG'd 2 of 3 opponents? I know nobody is gonna agree but that's more impressive than Mexico ----ing the bed against Poland, getting soundly beaten by Argentina, and then struggling with the Saudi's until they finally took control of the match. Costa Rica got the piss beaten out of them by Spain, but then beat a Japanese team that did not lose in regulation in any other match in the tournament despite playing Spain, Germany and semifinalist Croatia. Then they actually took a 2-1 lead on Germany and were 30 minutes away from making the knockouts before the roof caved in. Again, WAY better than Mexico. The US ---- the bed against Netherlands, but were dominant oddly in all of the first halves of their games and were the only side to make the knockouts. To me, the US won the regional competitions in the cycle, Canada won the qualifying, and Mexico were the worst of the 4 sides at the World Cup in terms of performance, if not results. They stink. I don't get it (beyond the old and conservative approach angle, and stubborness of Tata), but for whatever reason, the team has clearly fallen off badly this cycle and it does make you wonder based on the hex, if not the WC, if there's something fundamentally going wrong with Mexican development from teenagers to professionals because they have plenty of U17/U20/U23 silverware going back to the aughts, but they have turned very few of those players into relevant national team talent. You compare that to how many of our current young stars left footprints at the U17 and U20 and U23 level and it's night and day. If Canada can get some depth and stay healthy, they'll be #2. I don't know what to think of Costa Rica. They were utter ----- in 2021, hot garbage, Honduras was much better that summer, then the second half of qualifying and the WC they made a legit run of outstanding performances but there has been so little turnover of a very old roster one can't help but think they're due to fall off badly and would've missed the '26 WC like they missed '10 and '98 if not for the fact that that so many concacaf teams will have tickets.