Liam Millar cut celebrations with his Hull City teammates short to shift his focus to preparation for Canada's final training camp ahead of the World Cup.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
There was a lighthearted mood around the Atrium Health Performance Park in Charlotte Tuesday as Canada began to turn up the heat around its World Cup preparations.
On the luxuriously manicured practice pitches of Major League Soccer side Charlotte FC, Jesse Marsch and his fellow coaches passed the ball around in a casual rondo while waiting for the players, seemingly oblivious to their power to make or break World Cup dreams later this week.
Liam Millar – wearing a black Team Canada hoody despite the balmy 28 C temperatures and accompanying humidity – chatted with the assembled media about his weekend for the ages.
Millar takes part in a drill during Team Canada's World Cup roster selection camp in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
The 26-year-old helped Hull City reach the English Premier League with a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough in the Championship playoff final at London’s Wembley Stadium.
But Millar, who described it as “the highest high” that he’s had in the sport, added that though he took time to enjoy the moment, he had to miss out on the celebratory bus parade through Kingston upon Hull, as well as the team trip to Las Vegas.
With all due respect to the Yorkshire city – and its traditional deep-sea trawling industry – there are bigger fish to fry.
Coach Jesse Marsch will name his World Cup roster on Friday.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
“I had my moment,” he said of taking the chance to savour the achievement. “But you know what? A home World Cup is a once-a-lifetime opportunity, so I made sure I switched my focus very quick to this moment.”
This moment involves making sure he’s one of the 26 names that Marsch calls out on Friday night when the final World Cup roster is announced. With 32 players named to the weeklong camp – although captain Alphonso Davies is still in Germany getting treatment on his injured hamstring, and Marcelo Flores is preparing for Saturday’s CONCACAF Champions League final with his club side Tigres – there are six players on course for World Cup heartbreak.
The fact that players like Sam Adekugbe and Kamal Miller, both part of Canada’s roster four years ago in Qatar, didn’t even make the extended squad this time shows how fine those margins can be.
Defender Richie Laryea warms up. Despite the high stakes, Laryea says there hasn't been much tension in the camp, something he credits to the strong brotherhood this group of players has built.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
“There’s quite a few core guys that feel pretty confident that they’re obviously going to be on that final squad, but at the same time, you feel for all the guys,” said Alistair Johnston, who recently recovered from a hamstring injury to help Celtic win a league and cup double in Scotland.
“You know what they’re going through. You know how difficult it is if you’re on that kind of bubble, and how much the guys have not only just put in these past couple weeks, but years now to be on this squad in a home World Cup.”
Despite the high stakes, Richie Laryea said it’s partly testament to the brotherhood that has been developed amongst this group of players that he hasn’t felt a whole lot of tension in the camp so far. However, he added that it’s still early days.
“I think everyone’s just excited to get together,” he said. “We’ve been together for maybe just over 24 hours, so I think the excitement levels to be back at camp to be competing, and guys know that they still have an opportunity to showcase themselves.”
Team Canada players dealt with a thunderstorm on Tuesday in the opening day of their training camp. 'All the real work needs to get done this week, so that we’re fully prepared for June 12 and beyond,' Marsch said.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
The first full day of training in Charlotte was disrupted by a thunderstorm that saw everyone having to seek shelter when lightning was detected in the area. Though Marsch shrugged off the inconvenience of ultimately having to cut the session a little shorter than originally planned, he emphasized the importance of this week to lay the fitness foundations for the tournament.
“All the real work needs to get done this week, so that we’re fully prepared for June 12 and beyond,” he said.
While he admitted Monday that Davies, his injured captain, won’t be ready for that first game, he added that getting other players healthy will have an impact on the final makeup of his roster. Players like speedy winger Jacob Shaffelburg, who has been out with a leg muscle injury, fall into this category.
Winger Tajon Buchanan controls the ball during training.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
So Marsch admitting that other injured players like Alfie Jones, Ali Ahmed and Promise David getting healthier is a fillip for his chances.
“A lot of the injured guys, I think, are progressing ahead of schedule and better than we had hoped,” Marsch said, “which I think then gives us a little bit more of flexibility to think, all right, maybe then can we take Shaff with us, especially if he looks like he’s having an initial good two weeks.”
Marsch also managed to shine a little light on the long-running battle between Dayne St. Clair and Max Crépeau to be Canada’s starting goalkeeper for the World Cup. Both players will get one half each in Monday’s friendly in Edmonton against Uzbekistan, and “then we’ll see what we do after that,” he said.