Canadian men’s soccer team has become a winning band of brothers under John Herdman

Speak to any member of the team these days and they talk of a brotherhood. And they show that on the pitch. Take on one Canadian and chances are 10 more will come your way.

John Herdman inherited a men’s team ranked 94th in the world when he took over from the fired Octavio Zambrano in January 2018.

And the extent of the challenge facing him became clear at his first camp with the men, in March 2018 in Murcia, Spain, when there were two fights in training.

“I was blown away,” Herdman recalled. “And people were saying ‘Oh this is men’s football.’ And I stood against it. I told the guys it’s not men’s football. You can fight with your opponent but you don’t fight internally. I’ll never see that again.”

Herdman says he inherited a dysfunctional team split into cliques.

“I said unless you’re willing to change this, this team’s going nowhere,” he said. “And over time, you’ve seen a shift. The leaders, for me, brought the culture together. Now we can have fractious moments, where people are competing and pushing each other’s levels where it doesn’t end up in a complete split in the environment.

“And I think over time the leadership group have understood the importance of shared purpose. They’ve understood the importance of their own humility in the environment and they’ve understood the importance of connecting every man and making every man feel part of this, regardless of what their race, their religion, their ages.”

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Speak to any member of the team these days and they talk of a brotherhood. And they show that on the pitch. Take on one Canadian and chances are 10 more will come your way.