Player strike, canceled matches… Canada has a difficult preparation before the World Cup

Canada’s friendly against Panama was canceled just hours before kick-off on Sunday due to a strike by Canadian players. The teammates of Lille Jonathan David are dissatisfied with the salary conditions proposed by their Federation in a new collective agreement. “Canada Soccer waited until the evening of June 2 to present an archaic offer,” explained the players.

“For these reasons, we have reluctantly decided not to play today’s game against Panama. It’s time we took a stand for the future of football in Canada,” they concluded. Among other things, players from the men’s team have called for ‘fair terms with our women’s national team’, in terms of game-related income, the percentage of winnings at FIFA World Cups and the development of a league. women’s national.

Second match canceled in a few weeks

The national team finally says it hopes to have resolved the dispute by Canada’s game against Curacao on Thursday in the Concacaf Nations League. Later, Canada Soccer, through its president, Nick Bontis, said he was “very disappointed with the decision of the men’s national team to refuse to play. Canada Soccer has worked in good faith with the players to find a solution that is fair to everyone. We believe we have presented a fair offer to the players. »

This is the second game in a row to be played by Canada to be canceled in recent weeks, after the game against Iran, another country qualified for the World Cup. This followed an outcry against the scheduling of this match, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

He called the meeting a “bad idea” for the families of passengers who died when Iranian armed forces shot down Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 after taking off from Tehran on January 8, 2020. 85 Canadian citizens and residents were among the 176 people who perished in this tragedy, resulting from a mistake according to Iran.