Canada look to cap unbeaten journey to World Cup with win in Costa Rica

TORONTO : Canada can complete phase one of a remarkable rebuild when they visit Costa Rica in a World Cup qualifier on Thursday knowing a victory would see the country secure a place at the global showcase for the second time.

Canada's World Cup history so far makes dreadful reading.

Only once have they qualified for the World Cup - in 1986 when they lost all three group games and failed to score.

The nearly four decades since have been filled with cringe-worthy displays and epic failures.

But with three matches remaining in qualifying, Canada sit unbeaten atop the CONCACAF standings with a four-point cushion over regional powerhouses Mexico and the United States.

The top three automatically earn spots in November's World Cup in Qatar with the fourth-place finisher facing an Oceania team in an intercontinental playoff for another berth.

With a win in San Jose on Thursday Canada will achieve their prime goal of securing a place at the finalsr but for head coach John Herdman that would be just another step towards a greater objective - establishing the country as a soccer nation.

"When we first got together as a group it was pretty clear that we wanted to pioneer in so many ways and I think part of that was creating a new Canada as a football nation," he said in a virtual news conference on Tuesday.

"We know qualifying for a World Cup is the most important part of that but there are other things, other goals that are important to us.

"It comes back to one game at a time. We have Costa Rica sitting right in front of us. That match is everything in this moment."

COMPETITIVE SQUAD

After a successful run with Canada's national women's team, guiding them to bronze medals at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, Herdman moved to the men's programme