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With 17 days until the Canadian men’s national team kicks off its World Cup campaign on home soil for the first time, players have begun flying in from their respective professional clubs in California, England, Belgium and beyond.
But instead of converging in Canada, those invited to the training camp are travelling to a destination roughly 800 kilometres south of the border.
Charlotte, North Carolina’s sprawling Atrium Health Performance Park — the training centre and headquarters for the city’s Major League Soccer club — is hosting the Canadians all week.
Head coach Jesse Marsch is also set to announce his final 26-man roster for this summer’s global soccer showcase from the U.S. city on Friday.
So, with the team guaranteed to play its first three World Cup matches in Canada, why hold the key meetup in the U.S.?
Marsch said it mainly comes down to the weather.
“Our Canadian boys are not used to playing in the high levels of heat,” the Wisconsin-born coach said Monday when asked by CBC News at a news conference.
With World Cup games set to be played in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, “we’re going to see higher temperatures … more humidity, and we’re going to see more national teams that struggle to understand how to manage that in their play,” Marsch told reporters.
He pointed to Canada’s breakout performance at the scorching 2024 Copa América in the U.S., where the team exceeded expectations to reach the semi-finals. Ahead of the tournament, Marsch recalled training in Atlanta, Ga., where he said temperatures hit 38 C.
An outdoor training session in Charlotte initially set for Tuesday morning was rescheduled until later in the afternoon, when forecasters are calling for higher temperatures around 28 C, humid conditions and a chance of rain or thunderstorms.
Canada’s three group stage matches are each set to be played in the afternoon. Marsch’s squad will face Bosnia-Herzegovina at Toronto’s open-air stadium on June 12, before travelling to Vancouver to take on Qatar (June 18) and Switzerland (June 24) at BC Place, which has a retractable roof.
If Canada advances to the knockout stage for the first time, they may play again in Vancouver or face the prospect of competing in the blazing heat at the home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.
The Santa Clara, Calif., stadium was recently found to have the highest solar intensity reading of any open-roof U.S. World Cup venue.
The Canadians could also find themselves playing in Los Angeles’ climate-controlled stadium or in Foxborough, Mass., in the first knockout round.
Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue said “a lot of running, a lot of sprinting” in Charlotte will help players prepare for the team’s “very physical” style of play.
He told CBC News in an interview last week that heat training is “an important part of the preparation.”
Team Canada coach Jesse Marsch said he is optimistic star player Alphonso Davies will be in the lineup during the FIFA World Cup, but he may miss the first game.
Marsch said it would also help to spend time in an “isolated environment” away from the spotlight in Canada to focus on preparations in the lead-up to the tournament.
“Then we’ll have the time to go to Edmonton and Montreal and eventually Toronto and Vancouver,” he said, “where we’ll experience the benefits of a home World Cup and of our fans and the energy.”
The team faces Uzbekistan and Ireland in pre-World Cup friendlies scheduled next week in Edmonton and Montreal.
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