World Cup notebook: Davies seems OK, Hutchinson returns, off-field tensions rise
CBC
This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports' daily email newsletter. Stay up to speed on what's happening in sports by subscribing here.
Exactly two weeks from today, Canada will play its first men's World Cup match in 36 years when it takes on second-ranked Belgium in Qatar. As the anticipation for the world's most popular sporting event builds, there's been a bunch of World Cup-related news in recent days — some of it involving the Canadian team. Here's what you should know:It sounds like Alphonso Davies should be OK for Canada's opener.
More fuel for the LGBTQ rights controversy came yesterday when a former Qatari national team player working as an ambassador for this World Cup described homosexuality as a "damage in the mind" and said that gay visitors "will have to accept our rules," which include a ban on homosexuality and public displays of affection. Also, former FIFA president Sepp Blatter said awarding the World Cup to Qatar was "a bad choice." Meanwhile, calls for Iran to be removed from the tournament are coming from both inside and outside that country. Some want Iran banned over its treatment of women, while Ukraine officials have asked FIFA to boot Iran for human rights violations and supplying weapons to the Russian military. Here in Canada, a new CBC News report shed more light on the flawed decision-making that led to Canada Soccer scheduling a friendly vs. Iran despite being concerned about the reaction from families of the Canadians killed when Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down a passenger plane in 2020. Read that story here.
Watch the new CBC Sports show Soccer North airing weekly on CBC Gem and CBC Sports' YouTube channel. Hosted by Andi Petrillo, Soccer North brings Canadians closer to the most interesting soccer headlines happening on and off the pitch.
This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, CBC Sports' daily email newsletter. Get up to speed on what's happening in sports by subscribing here.
Raphaëlle Tousignant has spent her life beating the odds, first as a survivor of childhood bone cancer and later as a trailblazing Para hockey player.
Sarah Fillier spent her first two seasons with the New York Sirens accustomed to staring at empty blocks of seats across the bench during home games.
Canadian Paralympic Committee CEO Karen O'Neill acknowledges the team’s showing at the Milano-Cortina Winter Games wasn't the same as past years.
Canadian Para alpine skier Kalle Eriksson and guide Sierra Smith capped their memorable Paralympic debut with bronze in the men's visually impaired slalom on Sunday at the Milano-Cortina Games.
Canadian skip Kerri Einarson looked up Saturday and saw real people, instead of cardboard cut-outs, in the stands at Calgary's WinSport Event Centre. She heard the roar of the crowd instead of the sound of flushing toilets piercing the silence.
Aaron Judge doubled and Pete Crow-Armstrong and Brice Turang each had two hits as the United States beat Canada 5-3 on Friday night in Houston to reach the World Baseball Classic semifinals.
Canada's Natalie Wilkie captured her second biathlon gold of the Milano-Cortina Paralympics on Friday, winning the women's standing sprint pursuit for her fourth medal in as many events.
Canada made wheelchair curling history on Thursday as the first team at any Paralympics to complete round-robin play without a loss.
The winningest men's ski cross racer in history added to his total on Thursday.
Canada's Mark Arendz collected his 14th career Paralympic medal while teammate Brittany Hudak earned her fourth in Wednesday's standing cross-country skiing races at Milano Cortina.
Alphonso Davies covered his face with his shirt as he left the field with an injury in Bayern Munich's game against Atalanta in the Champions League on Tuesday in Bergamo, Italy, raising questions about the Canadian star's availability for the World Cup.