TFC captain Jonathan Osorio enjoying life under Jesse Marsch

It wasn’t that long ago that games against the United States and Mexico used to be exercises in futility for the Canadian men’s team. 

The Americans and Mexicans had a firm stranglehold on Concacaf for years, ruling the region as part an impenetrable duopoly and brushing aside anyone who dared to challenge them.  

Times have changed, though, and at the moment it’s Canada who sits alone atop the Concacaf mountain. Les Rouges finished first in the Concacaf qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, looking down upon the U.S. and Mexico in the final standings. And while both the U.S. and Mexico crashed out of this summer’s Copa América in the group stage, Canada flew the flag for Concacaf by reaching the semifinals and finishing fourth.