Canada to play Qatar and Uruguay in September friendlies

The Canadian Soccer Association has confirmed that the men’s national team will play a pair of friendlies against Qatar and Uruguay during the September international window.

Canada is set to play Qatar on September 23rd, and then Uruguay on September 27th. Les Rouges will play both games in Vienna, Austria, with the venue yet to be announced.

The CSA has scheduled these World Cup warmups well in advance after the debacle that was the June window, in which their controversial friendly with Iran was cancelled, and the players refused to play in the makeup match against Panama. The upcoming friendlies in Vienna have been announced 73 days in advance, compared to the Iran friendly being announced just 24 days prior to when the match was supposed to take place.

The matches with Qatar and Uruguay will give Canada a proper test against two other World Cup outfits, as Les Rouges have not played a non-CONCACAF nation since the friendly defeat to Iceland in January 2020.

Canada’s senior men’s side has never played the 2022 World Cup hosts and has not played against any AFC team since their friendly against South Korea in November 2016. Qatar are the reigning Asian Cup champions and are ranked 49th in the world.

In their second match of the September window, Canada will take on 13th-ranked Uruguay. Canada’s men have played Uruguay on one other occasion in what was another pre-World Cup friendly in February 1986. Uruguay finished in third place during CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying and are undefeated in their last seven matches. This will be the first match against CONMEBOL opposition for the CanMNT since a friendly with Colombia in October 2014.