'We're finally a soccer country': Canada's historic World Cup run now brings real expectations

Success takes on many shapes and forms at the FIFA World Cup.

Teams will have their own internal goals, but from the outside, expectations determine what success really looks and feels like. There are the "happy to be there" teams like Canada was four years ago, and the likes of Iraq and Curaçao here in 2026. Scoring a goal feels like history in and of itself.

You progress from there to earning a point and winning a match, then getting out of the group and succeeding in a knockout match. Canada made a quantum leap in accomplishing all of those things in one fell swoop at this World Cup. In turn, the nation came together for this team, and genuinely felt every up and down, every missed chance or full-blooded tackle.

"We felt always the love back home from the Canadians," Stephen Eustáquio said after Saturday's match against Morocco. "I think we're finally a soccer country, man, we need this support to go forward. We're gonna enter another cycle of four years, the youngsters here need your support throughout the four years so that we make sure we can go even further in the next World Cup."

Some will say the greatest team this country has produced — playing at home with the benefit of being in the highest group tier and thereby an easier group, with an expansion from 32 to 48 teams — ought to have achieved these things.

But that ignores that Canada missed the best player its ever produced in Alphonso Davies for all but 17 minutes of this campaign. It missed rising star midfielder Ismaël Koné for its three most important matches. Jesse Marsch would've loved to turn to the creative spark that Marcelo Flores can provide but he tore his ACL less than two weeks before Canada's opening match. Moïse Bombito raced against time in recovery from a broken leg to heroically play 58 minutes against South Africa and then a full 90 against Morocco. Promise David, Canada's most acute finisher, got just fit enough for a few cameos.

There was a genuine recipe for disaster but the preparation, resilience and much improved depth of this team ensured it was far from it. Tempering what Canada achieved here also completely dismisses the past.

Over the course of the many historic achievements of this team, my mind has repeatedly gone back to mid-October in 2012. In a do-or-die match just to qualify for the final stage of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup from the CONCACAF region, Canada lost 8-1 to Honduras. Julian de Guzman, who played that match and now works as an analyst for TSN, said the players embarrassed themselves.

For soccer fans during that generation, it was as bleak as it gets. But now, many of us are filled with hope.

A hockey nation had Wayne Gretzky cheering them on at Houston Stadium. Steve Nash delivered a video message to inspire them. Ryan Reynolds was cheering them on just like the rest of us. It wasn't to be, Canada couldn't take their chances just as they haven't been able to for some time now. A final scoreline of 3-0 reads very harsh.

Canada was by far the better team in the first half and ought to have scored. But this isn't boxing, winning rounds doesn't count for anything on the scoreboard. Morocco delivered a sucker punch and, when Canada got desperate, a pair of knockout punches. Great teams can tease you, lure you in, then swallow you whole.

Canada learned the hard way, but it is so great that they put themselves in position to learn.

"I think I was saying the smallest details make the difference when you're on top of the match and the ability to be the one that makes those plays and on top of those details is the difference," Marsch said when asked what he told the team in their customary post-match huddle.

"There's real excitement, with that excitement comes expectation. Next World Cup, everyone's going to say that anything less than the Round of 16 is a failure."

Now comes the hard part, to show that they can grow from it and keep fans invested. The next four-year cycle Eustáquio spoke of includes competitions such as the Nations League, the Gold Cup, a Copa America and World Cup qualifiers. Without host status for the next World Cup set to take place across Spain, Portugal and Morocco, Canada will indeed have to earn their place through CONCACAF (North and Central America plus the Caribbean) qualification rounds beginning in September 2027.

With six guaranteed spots up for grabs, Canada will more than likely make its way to the 2030 World Cup. But as alluded to earlier, they were a Pot 1 team (top 12 status) in this World Cup by virtue of being hosts which meant they couldn't be grouped with the likes of Argentina or France. That won't be true in four years, meaning it's imperative that they find their way from their current 30th slot to the top 24 of the FIFA rankings to be at least a Pot 2 team in 2030.

Improving from here starts with getting players healthy, but it also means continuing to build the depth out through not just improved infrastructure and academies but also recruitment. Eustáquio chose Canada instead of Portugal. Flores chose Canada instead of Mexico. Alfie Jones, despite not being fit enough to play, got an opportunity with Canada he'd unlikely get with England. Luc de Fougerolles, only 20 years old, may have had England as an option down the line but is with Canada for the long haul now.

Looking back on the past, the likes of Owen Hargreaves who chose England, Jonathan de Guzman who chose the Netherlands and, more recently, Fikayo Tomori who also chose England may have done it differently with the Canada of today. That is a reality of international soccer and can't be underestimated in what Canada's accomplishments at this World Cup can mean moving forward.

Morocco has many players with ties to other countries, including goalkeeper Yassine Bounou who was born in Montreal. France is a powerhouse footballing nation built on immigrants and refugees.

The belief that this set of Canadian heroes had in themselves will be at the core of others — both inside and outside the country — dreaming they can take this program further. All those kids who watched Cyle Larin come up clutch in earning Canada's first point, Jonathan David score a hat trick and Eustáquio score that goal against South Africa are going to want to find their feet in this game.

"I think it was a very good sign that the gap isn't that big," Eustáquio said of the match against Morocco. "We just have to believe and we just have to keep pushing.

"It starts tomorrow, the fact that we need to prepare [for] the next World Cup with everything."