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With Canada’s men’s national team 17 days away from the start of its first-ever World Cup campaign, players have already started flying in from their professional clubs in California, England, Belgium and beyond.
But instead of meeting in Canada, those invited to the training camp traveled 800 kilometers south of the border.
Charlotte, North Carolina Atrium Health Performance Park – the training center and headquarters of the city’s Major League Soccer club – hosts Canadians for a week.
Head coach Jesse Marsch will also announce his final 26-man roster for this summer’s football showcase from the American city on Friday.
So, with the team guaranteed to play its first three World Cup games in Canada, why hold an important meeting in the US?
Marsch said it mainly comes down to the weather.
“Our Canadian boys are not used to playing in high temperatures,” said the Wisconsin-born coach when asked by CBC News at a press conference.
As the World Cup games will be played in Canada, the US and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, “we will see higher temperatures … more humidity, and we will see many national teams having trouble understanding how to handle that in their game,” Marsch told reporters.
He pointed to Canada’s impressive performance at the 2024 Copa América in the US, where the team surpassed expectations to reach the semifinals. Before the tournament, Marsch recalled training in Atlanta, Ga., where he said temperatures reached 38 C.
An outdoor training session in Charlotte originally scheduled for Tuesday morning was rescheduled until the afternoon, when forecasters called for high temperatures of around 28 C, humid conditions and a chance of rain or thunderstorms.
Three group matches for each of Canada will be played in the afternoon. Marsch’s team will face Bosnia-Herzegovina at the Toronto Open on June 12, before moving on to Vancouver to face Qatar (June 18) and Switzerland (June 24) at BC Place, which has a retractable roof.
If Canada advances to the playoffs for the first time, it could play again in Vancouver or face the prospect of competing in scorching heat at the home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.
Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., recently found to have the highest solar pressure readings of any US open-roofed area.
The Canadians could also find themselves playing in a climate-controlled stadium in Los Angeles or Foxborough, Mass., in the first knockout round.
Canadian soccer chief Kevin Blue said “a lot of running, a lot of running” in Charlotte will help the 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 preparation.”
Canada coach Jesse Marsch said he hopes star player Alphonso Davies will be on the FIFA World Cup roster, but he may miss the first game.
Marsch said it will also help to spend time in a “secluded” place away from the Canadian spotlight so you can focus on preparations for the tournament.
“We will have time to go to Edmonton and Montreal and finally to Toronto and Vancouver,” he said, “where we will get the benefits of the World Cup at home and our fans and energy.”
The team will face Uzbekistan and Ireland in friendlies ahead of the World Cup scheduled for next week in Edmonton and Montreal.
