The last time Canada played in a World Cup, we saw some amazing football moments. It was the tournament remembered for Maradona’s incredible performances, including his solo goal against England in the quarter-finals, as well as his ‘Hand of God’, as he helped Argentina on their way to lifting their second title.

Having watched him play every game of the tournament on TV as a young man I saw Maradona score five and assist five goals in a tournament that cemented himself as one of the all-time greats. Back then if you did something amazing playing football in the streets you would always call yourself Maradona.

It was also the tournament that saw the Mexican Wave for the first time ever. This was back in 1986, and 36 years later Canada have qualified for the World Cup for a second time.

Canada finished bottom of their group without scoring a goal back in ’86, so this time they will feel they have to go further and make it out of the group stages. They have some great talented players, such as Alphonso Davies who stars for Bayern and has proved himself as one of the best and quickest full-backs in the world. 

Davies is largely considered to be the star man, but players like Jonathan David who has been firing for Lille and helped them win the French league last season, including scoring a winner against PSG, will also cause problems for opponents.

Besiktas forward Cyle Larin is the country’s all-time top scorer with 24 goals and he will also looking to add to his tally in Qatar. His club teammate and captain Atiba Hutchinson also captain Canada, and at the age of 39 he is the most experienced player in the squad which will be important at the big tournament later this year.

We usually have a surprise package at every major international tournament and this year Canada will be hoping it is them. It’s going to be an exciting time for the fans who have been waiting so long, with the younger fans never seeing their country represented at the World Cup until now.

It might depend on the draw and who they face in the group stage but we could see this Canada side progress to the knockouts, and then anything can happen as we’ve seen in recent tournaments with underdogs knocking out the giants. #mmlove