World Cup notebook: Davies seems OK, Hutchinson returns, off-field tensions rise

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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.