Canada’s World Cup soccer quest was dipped in ink and forged by fire

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This article was published 28/03/2022 (1649 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

John Herdman’s tactics to ensure the Canadian men’s soccer team reached the World Cup went well beyond the playing field.

The head coach, whose squad clinched its spot in Qatar with Sunday’s 4-0 victory over Jamaica at BMO Field, is known for finding creative ways to help players visualize what the team stands for, and what it hopes to achieve.

Inspirational videos, aspirational front pages, field trips, even a custom-made sword — Herdman has used them all.

Last year, early in the final round of qualifying, he handed players and staff copies of a mock front page of the Toronto Star. It was dated March 31, 2022 — the day after Wednesday’s final qualifier in Panama. The headline, over photos of celebrating players and fans: “We did it! The world is on notice as Canada Qualifies for Qatar.”

He wanted them to get a sense of what the coverage would look like when, not if, they advanced to the World Cup — starting in November — for the first time since 1986.

Mantras from their 13-game qualifying run were also worked into the faux front page: Band of brothers make history. Fearless in the pursuit of glory. A force. The first Canadian team to be truly respected on the global stage. What Canadian soccer fans have been waiting for.

“Everything in that front page is everything we were chasing, everything we were going after,” Herdman said in February. “And everything on that front page was everything that this leadership group had said that this qualifying campaign had to be.”

Around the same time the page was commissioned, a member of Herdman’s camp contacted Toronto-based swordsmith Steve Karakostas. The owner of Winterborn Blades received a vague email about a custom project intended “as a symbol of brotherhood on a significant international quest.” The design was to be inspired by the Latin phrase “Nihil timendum est” or “Fear nothing.”

He said he didn’t really believe the request had come from the soccer team until a visit to their meeting room at a Toronto hotel last September.

Karakostas delivered the sword by Oct. 2, shortly before the second set of three qualifiers. He said he essentially had free rein over the final design, but was told the team would be “going to war” with it every game. Laser-engraved into it are the words “Qatar 2022,” “nihil timendum est” and “qualify.”

“It turned out to be a really big inspiration for the team,” Karakostas said. “The feedback I have got has been amazing.

“Besides my daughter being born, this is the greatest day of my life.”

He said he was told recently that the sword “has become a deeply symbolic part of the quest” and players “treat it with reverence.” It lives in the team meeting room and travels with them to games — except last Thursday in Costa Rica, Canada’s lone defeat, when it didn’t make it through customs in time.

“I’m not a superstitious man, but after this I might be,” Karakostas said. “Their winning streak was unheard of, it was amazing, and they just lost all of the sudden. I’d like to think it’s because of my sword and what it means to them.”

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It was back in Canada’s possession by the time they clinched on Sunday, three days before that mock Star page had predicted.

“The sword’s something that symbolizes new Canada,” Herdman said Sunday. “That’s the swagger we want to play with. And it goes into every stadium to symbolize we’ll own their ground and be new Canada.”

That’s the message Herdman has been trying to instil in a number of ways — including videos highlighting their success since the first training camp of this World Cup cycle back in 2018, and Sunday’s pre-game meeting in the locker room of the Toronto Raptors, 2019 NBA champions.

“These guys are fighting for something way beyond just a three-point game and qualification for Qatar,” Herdman said last month, “and we have been since I took over the team. There’s been a real clarity. It took time for the players to really burn it into their minds and, I think, connect around that shared purpose, and it’s there now. It’s so clear.”

Laura Armstrong is a Star sports reporter based in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @lauraarmy