Canada's World Cup run is already reshaping soccer at home

On a sweltering Canada Day morning in Houston, Canada’s men arrived for training at the Dynamo�’s practice facilities and stepped on grass so perfect, it might have been carpet. It wasn’t lost on them that a Major League Soccer team in Texas has arguably better fields than anywhere in their home country.

Their historic run at this summer’s World Cup—Canada will play its first Round of 16 match against Morocco on Saturday—might change that. If a newly proposed National Training Centre is built, it will be a monument to this team’s glories as much as an incubator for future stars.

“I always knew the best thing I could do for the sport was to help this team be successful,” head coach Jesse Marsch said Wednesday. “The biggest thing we’re dying for in this country is infrastructure… [We] have an opportunity, and have a financial opportunity, to actually create change… We can actually build something.”

The knockout rounds will have a measurable impact on Canada Soccer’s bottom line, although it won’t be the windfall that FIFA’s exorbitant ticket prices might lead strapped-feeling fans to believe.

Every qualifying team received a $10-million U.S. base payment, as well as $2.5 million U.S. to offset the costs of participation, including travel, accommodation, and operations. FIFA was shamed into increasing those amounts before April’s congress in Vancouver, after some teams, including Canada’s, risked losing money by taking part.

In a collective bargaining agreement signed in March, Canada’s men accepted a $25,000 base wage for each group stage match, or about $2 million in combined salary. They also received a $20,000 allotment to help friends and family follow them and four tickets to each game.

Canada Soccer, which had to