Canada to face Suriname in CONCACAF Nations League quarters

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We knew the venue, then we knew the date, and now we know the opponent. Canada will face Suriname in their CONCACAF Nations League quarter-final next month, with the second leg being played at BMO Field.

After CanMNT beat Panama 2-1 by the lake on Tuesday night and the USMNT lost Dos a Cero to Mexico, Canada secured second place in the CONCACAF rankings.

Suriname thrashed Guyana 5-1 to finish second in the CNL League A Group A, pipping Guatemala on goal difference to reach November’s quarter-finals and set up a two-legged clash with Jesse Marsch’s men. Canada will travel to northern South America for the first leg before returning to BMO Field for the second leg on November 19.

“We are really looking forward to getting back into tournament competition, and this time in front of a supportive home crowd,” Marsch said in a Canada Soccer statement. “Coming off the success of this summer’s Copa America, I know our squad will be hungry to line up against some of our region’s best and compete for some silverware.”

CanMNT, along with Mexico, the USA, and Panama, automatically qualified for the quarter-finals as the top four seeded teams in CONCACAF and will be joined by four group-stage progressors. The winners of each two-legged last-eight matchup will progress to the 2025 Nations League Finals, which CanMNT missed last year in Dallas, in March 2025 at Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles. Victory over Suriname would also secure Canada’s 2025 Gold Cup berth.

Canada have played Suriname only twice before, 44 years apart. CanMNT beat them 2-1 in World Cup qualifying in 1977 and won 4-0 in June 2021 in the lead-up to the Qatar World Cup. In the latter game, under John Herdman in the 2022 qualifying cycle, Alphonso Davies opened the scoring before Jonathan David scored a hat-trick in the space of 20 second-half minutes.

In the other Nations League quarter-finals, Mexico will play Honduras, USMNT will face Jamaica, and Panama will battle Costa Rica. So while Honduras are actually seeded eighth, one below Suriname, it’s fair to say CanaMNT have on paper the easiest opponent.

Canada’s run of unbeaten results post-Copa América against the USMNT, Mexico, and Panama have reaped reward.

In last year’s edition of the competition, the semi-final bracket was determined by the results in the quarter-finals, meaning CanMNT’s motivation to beat Suriname heavily would theoretically be an easier final-four clash.

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