Oh Canada! Larin and Buchanan lead team to first men’s World Cup since 1986

Oh? Canada? Yes, Canada.

Almost four decades after their only appearance at a men’s World Cup, Canada are back, the first North American nation to secure passage to Qatar 2022.

In the most fitting style and circumstances John Herdman’s side, who have surprised first their own country and then Concacaf, qualified with an emphatic 4-0 win over Jamaica at a raucous BMO Field it Toronto. The team sent thousands here – and millions more across the country – into delight.

The circumstances were fitting because the weather gods of the great white north scoffed at the idea of spring and sent freezing snow showers and wild winds whipping in off Lake Ontario for this historic Sunday. But the style too was apt because Herdman, the Englishman who has almost single-handled transformed the country into a men’s football nation, saw his side conquer the climate and seal progress with 90 minutes of swashbuckling counter-attacking play.

Just four of a feast of chances were taken but no matter. After so long in exile, all that mattered was the return.

And now, suddenly, bright and bold in brilliant red, here are Canada. How? Because, simply put, this last 12 months were unlike any that came before for Canadian football. First of all, the women’s team won gold at the Tokyo Olympics. And all the while, the men were steering a course to their first World Cup since 1986.

Sunday marked Canada’s 24th game in exactly 12 months, a barely precedented schedule that should have been gruelling, soul-sapping. It could have strained untested bodies and minds. Instead it bound the team together, forging a collective will and spirit that shone through one starry (and snowy) night after the next.

A journey that began with wins over the likes of the