How Canada's Stars Performed Leading Up to the World Cup
In just over five months, Canada will play in its first World Cup since 1986 and it enters the finals this November with a plethora of top talent.
Now, with the best players plying their trade in Europe and with European seasons finished until August, we take a look at how well Canadian stars performed this year ahead of the World Cup.
Jonathan David (Lille, France)
One year after scoring 13 league goals in Lille’s stunning surprise win of the Ligue 1 title, David continued to showcase how excellent he really is.
This season, the 23-year-old scored 15 league goals, and considering Lille finished nine places lower in the table, it’s arguably even more impressive.
David is already third on the all-time goalscorer list for his country from just 32 caps, and with him needing only four goals to be the greatest goalscorer Canada has ever seen, he could get that title this year.
Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich, Germany)
As the main man for Canada and arguably the best talent coming out of North America today, Davies has taken Europe by storm the past few years and put himself in the bracket of the world's best left-backs. In fact, after winning everything in sight for Bayern Munich two seasons ago, he was named in the FIFPro World XI. This season, however, injuries were once again an issue.
Davies missed 11 of the 34 scheduled Bundesliga games with Bayern this campaign, and for the first time since 2017, he ended the season without a goal scored at club level in professional soccer.
Nevertheless, the 21-year-old didn’t play poorly; he has simply set the standard so high so early on in his career that we expected more.
Atiba Hutchinson (Besiktas, Turkey)
Hutchinson, a winner of the first six Canadian Player of the Year awards, has been putting the work in within the European soccer scene for the past 19 years.
Now, after his ninth season in Turkey with Besiktas, Hutchinson is coming off a season that he has played the fewest amount of league games since 2011/12. Nevertheless, with 25 Super Lig appearances and one goal, the 39-year-old remains an integral part of Canada’s setup heading into the World Cup.
Hutchinson and Besiktas also finished sixth in their attempts to defend the league title and overall, it was an underwhelming season for him and his team. On the other hand, playing 33 times in all competitions at his age is very impressive.
Junior Hoilett (Reading, England)
Hoilett is another well-known name on the European scene. After a tough final season with Cardiff City in the Championship, he moved to Reading in the same league for this campaign
It was a very poor season for him, and with only three goals across 27 appearances, Hoillet ended up missing more than half the season through both injuries and by simply not being good enough to play in the eyes of the manager.
Reading was also dreadful from start to finish in the Championship, and the Ontario native might need to reconsider his future given the state of that club right now.
Cyle Larin (Besiktas, Turkey)
Canada's all-time leading goalscorer, Larin already has 24 goals in 52 caps for his country and has been making his name known over in Europe for a few seasons now.
Larin was also with his compatriot Hutchinson at Besiktas this season, which means it was another poor season for a Canadian star.
The striker scored eight goals in 38 appearances for the Turkish giants, and off the back of 23 goals in 45 games the season before, his form was so poor this past campaign that Besiktas have recently sold him to Belgian Pro League side, Club Brugge.
Milan Borjan (Red Star Belgrade, Serbia)
Borjan remains the country’s main goalkeeper and he is coming off another excellent season with Red Star Belgrade in Serbia.
Red Star wins the Serbian SuperLiga most seasons, but with him playing every minute of the league campaign and conceding only 17 goals in 30 appearances along the way, he is perhaps the most in-form star on this list.
What's more incredible is how Borjan even scored a goal this season. Now, after another title win with Red Star and a fantastic season in goal, he’s put himself in there with USMNT heroes, Brad Friedel and Tim Howard, as one of the few North American goalscoring keepers to ever live.
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