Like many soccer fans, Canada defender Joel Waterman is struggling to cover the costs of World Cup tickets.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
As distractions go, sports have long provided respite from the pressures of everyday life. That applies just as much for those who play them for their day job as it does to those who go to an actual office.
“Habs in seven,” shouted Maxime Crépeau as he took the pitch for practice Wednesday, deep in the heart of Carolina Hurricanes country.
That the suburban Montrealer would be supporting his hometown Canadiens as they battle the ’Canes for a berth in the Stanley Cup final should come as little surprise. But with Crépeau locked into a battle of his own with Dayne St. Clair to be Canada’s starting goalkeeper at the World Cup next month, you might think he’d be too focused on that to pay much attention to what’s going on in the NHL.
He was far from alone in that regard.
“I love hockey, so I try and watch both series – obviously one’s over now – but Montreal has been a great series,” said Joel Waterman, a Surrey, B.C., native who admitted he never played hockey growing up owing to the cost of equipment and early practice times.
To be fair to the centre back, who has won 14 of his 17 Canada caps since Jesse Marsch became head coach, the Stanley Cup playoffs have been a welcome distraction from the financially damaging endeavour of acquiring World Cup tickets.
Canada gets down to business in final training camp ahead of World Cup
Just like millions of disgruntled fans across the globe, the players are at the mercy of the market when it comes to securing access for their friends and families. With two of Canada’s three group games to be played at Vancouver’s BC Place next month, Waterman – whose 2026 salary with the Chicago Fire is just short of US$600,000 – is struggling to keep up with demand.
“Probably close to 20 right now,” he said about how many tickets he’s been asked to get. Canada Soccer gets a pool of tickets to give to players, but for outsized requests – and Waterman’s 20 would certainly fit that bill – they’re on their own.
“Unfortunately, we don’t get to choose the cost. It’s FIFA, right. So I pick and choose, obviously,” he said. “My family members are the most important to get them there, but it’s hard. You got friends that have walked along this journey with you, and family members, and who all want to be a part of it.”
Given the financial commitment, it’s probably fair to say that Waterman knows he isn’t on the bubble and will almost certainly be one of the 26 names called when Marsch announces his final World Cup squad on Friday.
Head coach Jesse Marsch, not pictured, is running his team through workouts in high temperatures in advance of next month's World Cup matches, which will be played under hot summer conditions.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
But for others, including the six members of the training squad who will miss out on what could be a career-defining tournament, the concern was more on what took place on the pitch in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday.
Again, Marsch picked the afternoon to hold practice, putting players through their paces for two hours in 27 C heat, which included a 40-minute fitness session. That concluded with a back-breaking 2½-lap run around the soccer field that had to be completed in under three minutes.
For many players, that required shedding layers. For Ismaël Koné, those layers included shoes as he went barefoot, while for Jonathan David, the program’s record goal scorer who is nicknamed the Iceman, that required losing the black long-sleeved undershirt he had begun practice in.
Niko Sigur, who was so thirsty afterward that he grabbed a reporter’s bottle of Gatorade water lying on the grass and inhaled it, compared it favourably – or not, depending on your perspective – to a typical training session he would do with his club side, Croatia’s Hajduk Split.
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“A Wednesday training session, let’s say out of 10, it would usually be like a six or seven,” he said. “And this is like a nine or 10, I’d say.”
But the 22-year-old Swiss Army knife, who is comfortable playing fullback – either side – as well as midfield, can see the method behind Marsch’s relentless madness.
“If we can get well at playing with the ball, and the fitness is at a really high level in this kind of heat, what if it drops five, 10 degrees without the humidity?” he said. “Then it’s just easier.”
Everyone took part in the test save for Jacob Shaffelburg, who is under rehab protocol as he works his way back from a leg muscle injury.
Canada goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair is battling Maxime Crépeau for the team's starting job. Each will play one half of Monday's friendly against Uzbekistan in Edmonton.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Ali Ahmed, who has only just recovered from a hamstring injury he incurred while playing for England’s Norwich City, was held out of the main practice. He instead took part in a modified, less intense training session alongside defenders Richie Laryea and Luc de Fougerolles.
But he, like many others, feels that maybe he got hurt at the right time, allowing him to go into the World Cup feeling recharged.
“I think these three, four weeks have been really, really refreshing,” Ahmed said of his return-to-play protocol.
“I think not even just physically, also mentally too, just to take a little step from all the intense training and things like that. … I think the next few weeks [I’ll] be really ready to go from all types of aspects.”