Canada-Panama match canceled amid spiraling World Cup bonus dispute

Canada Soccer’s interim general secretary Earl Cochrane looked down upon a sparsely populated ballroom in the foundations of Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium and tried to sum up the past two weeks for the national association.

“What I think it says to the international community,” he observed, “is that we have an unbelievable ability to punch above our weight in everything that we do.”

Everything? Not if everything includes successfully organizing a single friendly. It was 5.15pm, a time at which Canada should have been into the second half of their World Cup warm-up date with Panama, itself a hastily arranged encounter after the association had originally booked Iran and kicked off a firestorm. But the towering BC Place was deathly silent.

John Herdman’s side, who bridged a 36-year gap to qualify for the Qatar World Cup and light a wildfire of interest in the team, had taken a protest against their own governing body to its most drastic point. Having initially refused to train on both Friday and Saturday, on Sunday they refused to play the match itself. Canada Soccer had managed to lose not one but two friendlies in less than a week and a whole lot more besides. Millions of dollars in ticket revenue, oceans of goodwill and positivity that Alphonso Davies and co had brought to the sport here. All of it.

A statement from the players two hours before kickoff made clear that a standoff over World Cup bonuses has now morphed into something much bigger. They blasted the association, saying: “Canada Soccer has disrespected our team and jeopardized our efforts to raise the standards and effectively advance the game in Canada.” They made five significant demands which included Qatar 2022 payments, but also aimed to reshape how