“We fought every single minute”: Davies, Herdman reflect on Canada’s elimination from FIFA World Cup

Canada’s time at the 2022 FIFA World Cup won’t soon be forgotten.

But it definitely could’ve ultimately been a heck of a lot more memorable than the glimpses of joy Canadian fans got to experience in its opening group stage matches.

Through two matches, Canada fell 1-0 to Belgium and 4-1 to Croatia, effectively ending any chances they had of advancing to the knockout round of 16.

“We fought every single minute,” Alphonso Davies said in a post-match interview with TSN following Sunday’s loss to Croatia. “I’m disappointed in the results. You know, it’s not easy. It’s not easy to take defeat and today we lost the game.”

The 22-year-old Davies has been a staple of the Canadian roster since making his national team debut at age 16 way back in 2017.

“We did our best, we fought every single minute,” he added. “But I guess, this game is about, winning, especially in this tournament, and we needed those three points.”

Just 68 seconds into Sunday’s match, Davies scored Canada’s lone goal through two matches so far, which was the country’s first ever at a men’s FIFA World Cup.

“I’m very happy for the moment to get the first-ever World Cup goal for Canada,” Davies said of the goal. “For me, it’s just I keep dreaming, and keep believing and I keep pushing.”

Canada took the early lead, but four Croatia goals — two on either side of halftime —  far out of reach.

Up next for Canada is Morocco on Thursday, a match that has no formal implication for the Canadians other than pride and a spot in the FIFA World ranking.

But for Canada’s players, don’t tell them it’s a meaningless match.

“We have to get three points,” Davies said.

Canadian head coach John Herdman also spoke to TSN following the defeat, saying he had “a lot of pride in that performance.”

“In moments, they showed they could compete on the world stage. In order to score our first goal and have that moment with the fans, knowing that people back home [from east to west] were celebrating somewhere, it was a great moment,” Herdman said.

Herdman also showed love to the thousands of Canadian fans who travelled to the match, as he did after the team’s opening match against Belgium, calling them “brilliant.”

“I’m proud we fought until the end, I thought we had good chances. And you know, there was a little bit of luck in some of their goals and a thought out we could have had a goal, another one,” he added.

Like Davies, Herdman is focusing on a strong result come Thursday against Morocco.

“We wanted to be that team that that could progress out of a group stage,” Herdman said. “But now, you know, we’re focusing on being that team getting the first result and hopefully the first win [at the men’s World Cup] for this country.”