Cancelling friendly 'tough decision' for Canadian soccer team, captain says

Refusing to play a friendly game against Panama on Sunday was a decision the Canadian men's soccer team didn't take lightly, says Atiba Hutchinson.

Locked in a prolonged contract dispute with Canada Soccer, the sport's national governing body, the players felt withholding their services was a must, the Canadian captain said Wednesday.

"It was a tough decision for us on the team," Hutchinson said. "It took a lot for us, but in our eyes, we felt like we needed to make a stance. And we felt that we truly believe that was the right thing for us to do as a group."

The players and Canada Soccer have not reached an agreement on a new contract, but the team will still kickoff CONCACAF Nations League play Thursday when they host Curacao at B.C. Place.

WATCH | Canada Soccer's 'poor timing' led to cancellation of friendly against Panama:

After scrapping a pair of sessions on Friday and Saturday, the team returned to training at the University of B.C. on Monday and Tuesday before moving to B.C. Place on Wednesday.

Though there's no new deal, Canada Soccer's acting general secretary, Earl Cochrane, characterized conversations between the two sides as "positive — perhaps even more than positive.

No deadline has been set for the negotiations to be completed, Chochrane added.

"I think how the conversations go will determine how long it takes," he said. "But I don't envision it's going to take too long. I don't think we're going to be bouncing up against the World Cup."

Ranked 38th in the world, the Canadians clinched a spot in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with a 4-0 win over Jamaica on March 27. They'll be making their first World Cup appearance since 1986.

But at a time when the squad's popularity is at an all-time high, there have been