Canada is one of just 15 countries to never win a match at FIFA World Cup

Dec 2 2022, 7:51 pm

Canada has made serious progress on the FIFA World Cup stage.

But the lack of wins shows there’s plenty of runway left for the Canadian contingent to improve to a more competitive standing after a last-place finish in Group F that featured back-to-back-to-back losses to Belgium, Croatia, and Morocco for an early tournament exit.

ā€œIā€™m proud,” coach John HerdmanĀ told TSN after Canada’s finale. “Iā€™m proud of what these lads have shown here. I think youā€™re always going to walk away from this… and itā€™s going to sting. But there isnā€™t a game we arenā€™t proud of. I think we competed in every match here. Itā€™s the first time weā€™ve been here in 36 years. Thereā€™s a quality gap at all levels and weā€™re trying to close that. Thatā€™s what weā€™ll be doing and thatā€™s where weā€™ll go.”

Still, a winless effort is less than ideal.

Even more so when put into perspective.

Canada, which played in its first World Cup since 1986, is just one of 15 countries to participate in a FIFA World Cup but never come away with a single-game victory. That puts them in company with the likes of Qatar, Haiti, Kuwait, Trinidad & Tobago, and another dozen or so competitors, according to worldfootball.net.

What makes it worse — only Canada and El Salvador have come away empty-handed after participating in two World Cups with each going winless in six total matches.

Four countries — Iceland, Kuwait, Trinidad & Tobago, and Bolivia — may not have won a match on the World Cup stage, but they have come away with a draw to earn a single point.

That leaves Canada among the 11 remaining countries to go pointless. Again, only the Canadian crew and El Salvador have had six cracks only to come away empty-handed.

Among those 11 teams, Canada has the fourth-worst goals differential at -10. Only Haiti (-12), Congo DR (-14), and El Salvador (-21) have lower marks.

Canada has been outscored 12-2 at the tournament, with both goals coming in Qatar — one off the head of sensation Alphonso Davies in Canada’s first-ever strikeĀ and the other an own-goal by Moroccan Nayef Aguerd on Thursday.

Two goals. No wins.

But it’s a start for a Canadian team that finished atop the CONCACAF table in World Cup qualifying over the likes of Mexico, the United States, Costa Rica, and others.

And something to build on.

The 2026 tournament, after all, is only four years away.

“Weā€™ll keep learning as an organization, as a coach, and as a player group,” Herdman said. “Weā€™ll be back stronger. Weā€™ve got four years to build, but this is our first step into the big unknown and we found a lot of things out and that this team has got a lot of quality, we can compete, and we were close.ā€

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