The Canada men’s national team will head to Toronto FC’s BMO Field for their home World Cup Qualifiers in September, Canada Soccer announced Monday.
Les Rouges will host Honduras on Sept. 2 and then El Salvador on Sept. 8. Sandwiched in between, the three-match window also includes travel to Nashville SC’s Nissan Stadium to face the US men’s national team on Sept. 5.
All matches held in Canada are subject to Government of Canada authorization with fans permitted pending relevant public health approvals from the City of Toronto and Province of Ontario. Ticket sales information will be shared within the coming days.
“We really want to sing that anthem at home in Canada with our fans, there’s no better sound in sport,” head coach John Herdman said in a release. “We’ve shown in recent times that we are ready to have a real push for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. With the fans behind us at home, it will bring us to another level."
Canada, seeking their first World Cup appearance since 1986, reached the Octagonal after winning their First Round group against Aruba, Bermuda, Cayman Islands and Suriname. They then eliminated Haiti in a two-legged Second Round series, marking the first time since 1997 that they’ve reached Concacaf’s Final Round of qualifying.
Canada, due to travel limitations around the COVID-19 pandemic, previously played home qualifiers in Florida and then Chicago. Now, they’re making a home return after last competing in July with a Gold Cup run that ended in the semifinals against Mexico.
“The last qualification process in June was really important for this group of men to build a resilience and camaraderie in games where you knew if you slipped up, our FIFA World Cup dream would have been up in smoke,” Herdman said. “That sort of pressure, the expectation, scrutiny and consequences has just hardened the group. With those moments, confidence has grown and in the Concacaf Gold Cup it continued to build.”
Locations for Canada’s additional World Cup Qualifiers will be announced in the coming months. All Octagonal nations will compete 14 times while chasing one of Concacaf’s three automatic berths for Qatar 2022.
