Canadian soccer players, officials and fans are still reeling from the dramatic shift this week at the national team level.
The news that John Herdman is leaving the Canadian women’s team, to take over the national men’s team from the fired Octavio Zambrano, seemed to catch everybody by surprise.
But if Herdman is willing to lead, Canadian defender Adam Straith of Victoria is willing to follow.
“[Herdman] has shown that is he a winner, and has gotten fantastic results with the women over the past number of years,” said Straith, who has 43 caps for Canada.
“Although this is certainly a new challenge for him, he is someone who knows the program well, and I wish him all the best and look forward to working with him in the future.”
Herdman was hired in 2011 and guided Canada to successive women’s bronze medals at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics. The former was the first Canadian medal in a team sport at a Summer Olympics since Victoria basketball players Doug Peden and Art and Chuck Chapman won silver at Berlin in 1936.
But women’s soccer isn’t followed as passionately in the rest of the world, and certainly doesn’t have anywhere near the depth of field of the men’s game, in which Canada is ranked No. 94.
Canada has not qualified for the men’s World Cup since Island players Ian Bridge, George Pakos and Jamie Lowery performed in 1986 at Mexico.
Herdman said he envisions an eight-year plan for the Canadian men’s team, through the 2022 Qatar World Cup and 2026, when Canada is likely to get a host berth. A United Canada-U.S.-Mexico bid is heavily favoured to win the right to co-host the 2026 World Cup.
Straith, 27, is tied for seventh for most career caps among currently active Canadian players. He would certainly be part of that movement, at least up to Qatar 2022. The Bays United and Lower Island Metro product was part of the Canadian World Cup qualifying campaigns for Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018.
“I think John has shown what a long-term plan can do if carried out correctly,” he said.
“Time will tell obviously what kind of plan that is, but I’m excited to see what he has envisioned for us and have only heard good things about him in the past,” added Straith, who is playing pro in Germany for Sportfreunde Lotte.
“I think now it’s extremely important for the program to have some stability. And hopefully, now with John, we have that and can all move forward together.”
Herdman, who said he sees himself as a builder, will run all levels of male soccer in Canada from U-14 on up.
“I am keen to put a lasting mark on a program full of potential as we work toward the ultimate goal of representing Canada on the world’s biggest stage at the FIFA World Cup,” said Herdman, a 42-year-old Englishman, in a statement.
Among the first reactions from the world No. 5 Canadian women’s national side was a tweet by captain Christine Sinclair: “Speechless right now.”
Kenneth Heiner-Moller, Herdman’s assistant since 2015, takes over the Canadian women’s team.
“Herdman is a good coach and can help the men’s team. I just don’t like the way the move was executed and how they went about it,” said Vince Greco, president of the Vancouver Island Soccer League.
Zambrano, who was canned less than a year after his hiring, had instilled some offensive flourish to the men’s team and guided it to the quarter-finals of the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup last summer.
“This,of course, is a part of football, and any professional sport, really,” Straith said.
“Any of us who have been playing for a number of years have experienced coaching changes before. It’s always an unfortunate situation whenever a coach moves on. But now the program has to move forward under John and his staff.”
