Canadians competing in Champions League bodes well for future of men's national team
CBC
In another sign of just how far Canadian soccer has come, four members of Canada's men's team will be competing in the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League that kicks off this week with the 32-team group stage.
Never before has Canada had so many players on the men's side featuring in world soccer's biggest and most prestigious club competition in a single season, which is a testament to the amazing evolution that the national team has made from CONCACAF door mats to legitimate contenders to qualify for next year's FIFA World in Qatar. Having so many Canadians in the Champions League would have been unimaginable five years ago. Today, it's a reality, and it bodes well for the future of the men's team to have so many Canadians rubbing shoulders and testing their skills against the sport's best players. Canada is in the middle of a gruelling CONCACAF campaign to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, and the more of its players who are playing at this elite club level the better. Leading the Canadian pack is Bayern Munich's Alphonso Davies, the 20-year-old from Edmonton. Davies is considered one of the best fullbacks in the world today, and he played a starring role in helping Bayern win its sixth Champions League title two years ago. In doing so, the lightning quick Davies became the first member of the Canadian men's team to win the Champions League. With nine goals and 12 assists in 25 international appearances, Davies has become an integral member of Canada's national team, especially in attack, where his probing runs down the flanks and fearlessness in taking on defenders has been invaluable to coach John Herdman's side. WATCH | Signa Butler, John Molinaro analyze Canada's peformance: Hutchinson's previous Champions League experience includes a season with Danish side FC Copenhagen in 2006-07, and back-to-back runs from 2016 to 2018 with current team Besiktas. Hutchinson is an icon at Besiktas, helping the Istanbul-based club win last season's Turkish Super Lig and Turkish Cup. But European success has eluded Besiktas, and at age 38, this could be Hutchinson's last crack at it.
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