Today, on June 7, the Ukraine national team will play their first match of the Canadian Shield tournament in Toronto — against Canada. Here is information about our opponent.

Canada

General Information

As of April 2025, Canada held the 30th place in the official FIFA ranking. The national team of Canada played its first match in history on June 7, 1924 against Australia (2:3), their biggest win came on March 29, 2021 over the Cayman Islands (11:0), and their worst defeat was on June 18, 1993 to Mexico (0:8). The team is nicknamed "Kenax" and "Reds."

The Canada national team is the champion of the Olympic Games in St. Louis (1904) and a two-time winner of the CONCACAF Gold Cup (1985, 2000), as well as the silver medalist of the CONCACAF Nations League (2023).

Squad

In their first match of the Canadian Shield tournament against Ukraine, head coach Jesse Marsch will have 23 players at his disposal.

Goalkeepers: Maxime Crepeau ("Portland Timbers", USA), Deane Sainte-Claire ("Minnesota United", USA).

Defenders: Zoran Boskovic ("Sporting Kansas City", USA), Derek Cornelius ("Marseille", France), Lucas de Fugere ("Fulham", England), Jamie Knight-Labell ("Crewe Alexandra", England), Richie Laryea ("Toronto"), Josh Johnson ("Montreal"), Sem De Knight ("Vancouver Whitecaps").

Midfielders: Tyson Breukelen ("Villarreal", Spain), Jacob Shaffner ("Nashville", USA), Nico Siguera ("Hajduk Split", Croatia), Mathieu Chouinard ("Grasshoppers", Switzerland), Steven Eustaquio ("Porto", Portugal), Ismael Koné ("Rennes", France), Nathan Saliba ("Montreal"), Ali Ahmed, Jaden Nelson (both — "Vancouver Whitecaps").

Forwards: Jonathan David ("Lille", France), Promysl Faubert ("Union Saint-Gilloise", Belgium), Daniel Jebbison ("Bournemouth", England), Kyle Larin ("Mallorca", Spain), Tanielo Oluwaseyi ("Minnesota United", USA).

Head Coach

51-year-old American Jesse Marsch has been coaching the national team of Canada since May 13, 2024. He replaced Canadian specialist Mauricio Belló in this position.

Previously, he worked with the Canadian "Montreal Impact" (2010-2011), American "Princeton Tigers" (2013-2014) and "New York Red Bulls" (2015-2018), German "RB Leipzig" (2018-2019, 2021), Austrian "Red Bull Salzburg" (2019-2021), and English "Leeds United" (2022-2023).

With the "New York Red Bulls," he twice won the regular MLS championship (2015, 2018). With "Red Bull Salzburg," he was a two-time Austrian champion (2019/2020, 2020/2021) and a two-time winner of the Austrian Cup (2019/2020, 2020/2021). He was named MLS Coach of the Year in 2015.

Under Jesse Marsch's leadership, Canada's national team has played 15 matches — with 6 wins, 5 draws and 4 losses. The main tactical formation used by the American specialist is 4-2-3-1.

Captain

The current captain of Canada's national team is forward Jonathan David from French "Lille."

At 25 years old, David has played 59 matches for the national team, scoring 31 goals. In his club career, besides "Lille," he also played for Belgian "Gent."

With Lille, David won the French championship (2020/2021) and the French Super Cup (2021). He is also the top scorer of the CONCACAF Gold Cup (2019), and the Canadian Footballer of the Year in 2019.

A versatile forward capable of finding gaps in the opponent's defense, Jonathan stands out for his high speed. He is very effective on counterattacks. 

The match between Canada and Ukraine national teams at the Canadian Shield tournament will take place today in Toronto at BMO Field (kickoff — 10:30 PM).