Soccer-Canada look to secure top spot in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada have already secured their spot at this year's World Cup in Qatar but head coach John Herdman said on Tuesday the team are not resting on their laurels and want to close out CONCACAF qualifying in style.

A win or draw for Canada against hosts Panama on Wednesday would not only secure first place in the group but also give them a better chance of obtaining a higher seeding for the World Cup draw taking place on Friday in Doha.

Herdman said he gave his players a day off after securing Canada's first World Cup berth in 36 years on Sunday when they beat Jamaica 4-0 but everyone was already back to business with more work still to be done against already-eliminated Panama.

"It's a really critical match," Herdman told an online media availability. "We're scouting, we're putting the subs plans together, we're making sure we got the right information so we can execute in Panama and it's clear we are finishing strong."

Canada sit top of the CONCACAF standings with 28 points and enjoy a three-point lead over both the United States and Mexico going into the final day of regional qualifying on Wednesday.

Costa Rica (22 points) are also in the hunt for one of the two remaining automatic World Cup spots on offer and are assured of at least a fourth-placed finish that would put them in an intercontinental playoff against an Oceania team for another berth.

With four matches being held concurrently on Wednesday, Herdman said his squad will be playing to finish on top rather than let other matches determine where they finish in the table.

"When we came into this we said we'd qualify, but qualifying was only one of the goals that we set to really define a new Canada and that was finishing on top of CONCACAF,"