Canada 16th in Guardian World Cup 2022 Power Rankings

The World Cup 2022 Power Rankings from the UK’s Guardian newspaper, published on Wednesday, June 15th, 2022 dropped a bit of a bomb on quite a few World Cup mainstays by ranking Canada at 16th out of the 32 participating teams.

Canada’s CONCACAF neighbours may also be feeling slightly disregarded as the Guardian ranked all 3 beneath Canada in their World Cup 2022 Power Rankings. Mexico finding themselves at 19th, unsurprisingly considering how both Canada and the United States handled them. On the topic of the United States, they’re ranked 20th, immediately behind Mexico. Lastly, Costa Rica bring up the tail end of the CONCACAF quartet ranked at 29th.

Such a high ranking is a gigantic nod of recognition for the Canadian Men’s National Team and their recent technical and tactical displays in World Cup 2022 Qualifying. Being ranked above some World Cup regulars like Poland, Mexico, Japan, Ecuador and Ghana, all teams featuring players with worldwide renown, is no small feat and speaks volumes for the sort of potential this young team has.

Come November one hopes that Canada can use their pace and attacking verve to upset one of Belgium or Croatia and not get carried away or over-confident against Morocco. Simply qualifying into the round of 16 would be a big deal and perhaps the last step in this particular tournament as their opponents in the round of 16, barring any crazy upsets, would be either Spain or Germany.

16) Canada – World Cup 2022 Power Rankings

A little-known quantity at this level having previously qualified in 1986, Canada will fancy letting their clutch of top-class talent loose on ageing Belgium and Croatia sides in Qatar. Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David and Cyle Larin are capable of troubling anyone. A dispute about prize money has caused ructions this month and John Herdman, their excellent English manager, will hope distractions are kept to a minimum.

Nick Ames and Ed Aarons for The Guardian – Read the full article here.