Squad Demographics
Last update: June 18th 2024
Data: June 18th 2024 - transfermarkt.com and canadasoccer.com; *Played for a post-secondary institution
“There is no more reason to expect one graph to ‘tell all’ than to expect one number to do the same.”
(Tukey et al., 1977)
Introduction
The Canadian Men’s National Team Squad
The Canadian Men’s National Team (CanMNT) will make their Copa America debut on Thursday. This marks a new era for the team, as Jesse Marsch takes charge of competitive fixtures for the first time.
The current article serves primarily as a descriptive overview of the selected squad and team staff for the competition. A brief look at pre-tournament formations is also included.
The following R packages were used:
ggplot2tidyverseshowtextggtexthtmltoolsreactablereactablefmtrggimage
(Cheng et al., 2024; Cuilla, 2022; Lin, 2023; Qiu, 2022; Wickham, 2016; Wickham et al., 2019; Wilke & Wiernik, 2022; Yu, 2022).
Tip
Select a table column title to sort in ascending or descending order. For mobile viewing, drag the table from right to left to reveal additional columns.
Table 1
Demographic squad information is presented in Table 1. The mean age of the squad is 25 with a range of 18 to 32. The mean height of the squad is 182.88 cm with a range of 171 to 191. When it comes to footedness, 76.92% of the squad is right dominant. That said, some players may consider themselves as two-footed and be comfortable, in an above average capacity, with both feet. For example, David is a versatile player that may have a dual foot strength, whilst Hiebert is an interesting case where this attribute may speculatively be one of the reasons for his inclusion in the final squad. Most of the squad grew up in Ontario (57.69%) followed by 19.23% in Quebec. Finally, 38.46% of the squad spent some time playing in a post-secondary institution program at some point during their career.
Table 2
Squad National Team Overview
Last update: June 18th 2024
Data: June 18th 2024 - transfermarkt.com and canadasoccer.com; NT: National Team; APPS: Appearances; G: Goals; A: Assists; G + A: Goals & Assists
Descriptive statistics regarding the national team involvement of the squad are presented in Table 2. Jonathan Osorio has the most appearances in the current squad whilst Tom McGill is the only member to have yet to see the pitch for the national team. Larin leads the team with total goals, however David tops the group with overall goal contributions (goals + assists). 42.21% of the team has made fewer than 10 appearances for Les Rouges, whilst slightly over a third of players have made their international debut in the last 2 years.
Table 3 shows club level information for the squad. For details regarding FMInside and Opta Club ratings, see this post from June 5th 2024. Notably, 53.85% of the squad play their club football in Major League Soccer (MLS).
Table 3
Squad Club Team Overview
Data from June 5th 2024; NT: National Team; APPS: Appearances
The Coach
Jesse Marsch grew up in Racine, Wisconsin, many hours from the Canadian border by car, but relatively close in some North American road trip terms. The Voyageurs is the name of the Canadian National Teams supporters group meaning “the travellers” (a name taken from the group of contracted traders who canoed The Great Lakes, including Wisconsin, during the 18th century). Marsch may consider himself a bit of a Voyageur too, having developed most of his coaching credentials outside of his homeland. Much has been said about the American abroad, but there is no doubt that Marsch is usually keen to absorb the cultural surroundings that his coaching journey offers.
Moulded in the philosophy of the “Red Bull style” tactics, Marsch’s teams are often characterized by aggressive out-of-possession approaches based in counter pressing, whilst direct and quick transitions make up the focus of the in-possession principles.
Successful managerial stints at New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Salzburg were followed by largely unprosperous periods at RB Leipzig and Leeds United. Marsch undertakes his first international level head coaching position with the CanMNT.
Marsch may be described as warm and charismatic. He is often an individual who values collaborative, empathetic and data driven approaches to player-management. On the touchline, Marsch is commonly demonstrative and shows emotion overtly. In communication, he leans heavily on information dissemination through visual aids and motivational speeches.
An overview of the current CanMNT coaching staff is presented in Table 4.
Table 4
Staff Overview
Data: June 18th 2024 - transfermarkt.com and canadasoccer.com; * formal title MLS Canada Men’s National Team Head Coach
How will they play?
“Formations aren’t really so important to me. We have used lots of different formations in my time at Salzburg, and I try to keep common themes in how we play and press rather than be consistent in the shape we play.”
- Jesse Marsch
Ahead of the Copa America, we saw a glimpse of how Marsch’s iteration of Canada may set up. The sample size is small, but there was enough evidence in the two warm-up friendlies to suggest that a handful of possibilities exist.
The Netherlands v Canada - friendly - June 6th 2024 - 4:0 FT
Focusing mainly on the out-of-possession shape, against the Dutch, the first half saw a version of 4231/4411 with David doing a lot of leg work behind Larin. At half time, the introduction of Shaffelburg in place of Millar (a pre-planned sub, likely for fitness reasons) likely shifted the formation slightly. When Brym came on for Buchanan, a closer approximation of 4222 emerged. A wild mutant four-triple-toonie appeared. It will be noted that Brym is left footed whilst Shaffelburg is also left footed. This was a swap from the Buchanan right-dominant (RW) and Millar right-dominant (LW) roles from earlier in the match.
France v Canada - friendly - June 9th 2024 - 0:0 FT
Against France, a different shape emerged. From the start, out of possession, a type of 433 was apparent with Millar maintaining a stronger presence in midfield, whilst Buchanan was part of the front line. With the ball, 3223 was on show with slight variations to roles and situations in the match. Larin being a target to kickstart a bounce pass to release others was common… In the second half, a more concise 442 was employed. There were a host of other nuances and tactical trials that go beyond this post. However, it was interesting that we saw Shaffelburg (left foot dominant) play a role on the right side this time. Hiebert, the aforementioned particular two-footed depth option even saw brief minutes at LB and RB.
Note
Still image screenshots above: OneSoccer
Going into the Copa America, it’s not clear what Canada can achieve. The intensity and demands of competitive matches will be a significant step up from the two friendlies. There are notable concerns regarding the stamina of the team on a bigger stage with limited preparation. The shape may change but the personnel and principles should remain the same. Whether Buchanan drops alongside Johnston as a RWB when they get pushed back or provides a first pressing trigger as a RW, “emptying the tank”, as Marsch says, will be the objective. In any case, a look at ELO and FIFA ratings across groups indicates that the challenge will be difficult.
Final Thoughts
As Canada faces the reigning Copa America and World Cup champions, Marsch may look for inspiration from his past. When Red Bull Salzburg automatically qualified for the Champions League group stages for the first time, they drew the then title holders Liverpool. Could Liam Millar be Marsch’s ode to the Salzburg Szoboszlai? It seems another left back wears the armband for Marsch, as Andreas Ulmer once did. Whether it’s four-triple-toonie or another Canadian classic, such as the medium double double with two sugar (Millar + Buchanan) and two cream (Eustaquio + Kone), we will be there. Insert sting drum sequence here.
About the author:
Christina is a football (soccer) data analyst based in Canada. To get in touch: 6ysblog@gmail.com
References
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Cuilla, K. (2022). Reactablefmtr: Streamlined table styling and formatting for reactable. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=reactablefmtr
Lin, G. (2023). Reactable: Interactive data tables for r. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=reactable
Qiu, Y. (2022). Showtext: Using fonts more easily in r graphs. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=showtext
Tukey, J. W. et al. (1977). Exploratory data analysis (Vol. 2). Springer.
Wickham, H. (2016). ggplot2: Elegant graphics for data analysis. https://ggplot2.tidyverse.org
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Wilke, C. O., & Wiernik, B. M. (2022). Ggtext: Improved text rendering support for ’ggplot2’. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=ggtext
Yu, G. (2022). Ggimage: Use image in ’ggplot2’. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=ggimage