TORONTO 鈥� A little over a year ahead of the World Cup, Toronto gets a taste of tournament soccer Saturday when the four-team Canadian Shield competition kicks off.
A crowd of some 20,000, likely many with Ukrainian ties, is expected to see No. 30 Canada take on No. 25 Ukraine before No. 41 Ivory Coast faces No. 86 New Zealand in the second half of the BMO Field doubleheader.
On Tuesday, Canada plays Ivory Coast after New Zealand faces Ukraine.
There will be a trophy awarded after the two competition days, with games going straight to a penalty shootout if tied after 90 minutes.
(A regulation-time win will be worth three points, with a penalty shootout victory two points and shootout loss one point.)
For New Zealand, it's the first step since qualifying for the 2026 soccer showcase by defeating No. 151 New Caledonia 3-0 in the March 24 Oceania qualifying final.
"We've spent a lot of time playing locally in Oceania against lower-ranked teams where we were the favourites," All Whites coach Darren Bazeley told a Friday news conference featuring the four coaches. "Now, for us, it's a new chapter 鈥� to play against teams ranked (No.) 41 and 25 for us. Cote d'Ivoire and Ukraine are a good challenge.
"The rest of the year, we'll be doing similar 鈥� playing against really high-ranked teams, testing ourselves, making sure that by the time we get to the World Cup, we've got this experience of playing regularly against better teams. But we're in a really good place at the moment."
For Ukraine and Ivory Coast, it's both a chance to experience a World Cup venue and a tune-up ahead of a return to qualifying in September.
It is yet another away game for Ukraine coach Serhiy Rebrov, whose team has not played at home since Russia invaded in February 2022.
"For me personally it was very important to come to Canada after (getting) the invitation because Canada is a big supporter, is a big partner of Ukraine," the former star striker said of his country's predicament.
For Canada coach Jesse Marsch, the tournament is a rare outing in front of home fans 鈥� only two of his 15 games at the helm to date have been on home soil, both in Toronto 鈥� and an opportunity to test his team's mettle against elite opposition.
"We know that we will need to use a real breadth of our squad for both matches because both will be physically demanding and also tactically demanding," he said. "And for me, this is exactly what we wanted out of this year, this calendar year, and this tournament 鈥� to try to get as many opponents that will challenge who we are, what we do.
"You can grow from these situations," he added. "I know we're on home soil and this is sort of our tournament, but we know that we are playing two very good opponents that will be difficult and we are really excited for the challenge."
Marsch has seven players in camp who have three caps or less (as well as Vancouver winger Jayden Nelson who has five).
"We're going to start a team (Saturday) that has a lot of guys that don't even have three caps yet and it's a really good team," said Marsch. "But so what? We need them to understand what this is."
Striker Promise David could collect his first cap with defenders Luc de Fougerolles (two caps), Zorhan Bassong (two) and Jamie Knight-Lebel (one), midfielders Niko Sigur (three) and Nathan Saliba (two) and forward Daniel Jebbison (one) also expected to get playing time.
Marsch said some of his roster selection was enforced, given Nelson, Sam Adekugbe and Ali Ahmed missed training after arriving sick in the Canadian camp in Halifax following the Vancouver Whitecaps' trip to Mexico for last Sunday's CONCACAF Champions Cup final loss to Cruz Azul.
Noting that the Columbus Crew also fell ill during its trip to Mexico for last year's Champions Cup final, Marsch suggested the repeat bout of food poisoning was no coincidence.
"If I were the Vancouver Whitecaps, if I was the Columbus Crew, if I was MLS, I would be angry. I would be absolutely angry that this had been allowed to happen," Marsch said.
Ivory Coast coach Emerse Fa茅 will be without rising star Amad Diallo at the Toronto tournament. The Manchester United winger and midfielder Mario Dorgeles (FC Nordsjaelland, Denmark) have been replaced by Emmanuel Latte (Atlanta United) and Mory Gbane (Stade de Reims, France).
Earlier Friday, Canada announced Toronto FC captain Jonathan Osorio had been added to its Shield roster.
The 32-year-old midfielder was sidelined with a shoulder injury April 30 in a Canadian Championship loss to CF Montreal, returning May 24 off the bench in an MLS game against Nashville SC. Osorio has made two starts since.
Marsch had initially opted to leave Osorio off the Canadian Shield roster, calling him up instead for the CONCACAF Gold Cup later this month. But now the veteran, who has won 84 caps for Canada, is back in the fold.
After the Canadian Shield, the Canadian men shift their attention to the Gold Cup with Group B games June 17 against No. 75 Honduras in Vancouver and June 21 and 24 in Houston against No. 90 Cura莽ao and No. 81 El Salvador, respectively.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2025
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
