CanMNT Form Guide: How the squad is performing heading into the Canadian Shield Tournament

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The Canadian men’s national team is back in action this week as they take part in the inaugural Canadian Shield Tournament at BMO Field in Toronto. 

Canada host Ukraine on Saturday, June 7 (3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT), and Côte d’Ivoire on Tuesday, June 10 (8:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. PT). Both matches will be available live on OneSoccer.

Jesse Marsch has called up a squad of 23 players for the tournament, many of whom could play a big part in this summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup tournament.

Here is a look at the form of those players coming into camp, and how that could factor into Marsch’s squad selection for the two matches. 

Goalkeepers

Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United 

St.Clair has had an excellent start to his sixth season with Minnesota United, emerging as one of Major League Soccer’s top goalkeepers this season. He leads the league in clean sheets, having kept eight through his 16 matches played so far this campaign. 

Maxime Crépeau, Portland Timbers 

After a difficult start to the season, in which a leg injury and form saw him start just once through Portland’s first ten matches of the year. Crépeau has been much better of late, however, starting their past six league matches. He has allowed a goal or less in the last five. 

Defenders

Zorhan Bassong, Sporting Kansas City 

Bassong has started and gone 90 minutes in the past four matches for Sporting Kansas City. It is worth noting that the majority of those minutes of late have come in midfield, perhaps a fact that could open up more minutes for him with the national team. With no Davies at this camp, however, Bassong also provides important cover at left-back. 

Jamie Knight-Lebel, Crewe Alexandra 

Knight-Lebel had an excellent season with Crewe Alexandra in the EFL League Two, appearing 33 times and scoring three goals. He had a bit of a difficult end to the season, however, playing just 150 minutes in the club’s last nine fixtures. 

Joel Waterman, CF Montréal 

Waterman has been a fixture and a leader in the CF Montréal backline this season, wearing the captain's armband on a few occasions and being a consistent starter with the MLS club this season. 

Derek Cornelius, Marseille 

Cornelius enjoyed a fairly successful first season with Marseille, helping them to finish second in the table and qualify for the UEFA Champions League. Towards the end of the season, however, Cornelius’s minutes dried up, and he started just one of Marseille’s final six matches, and appeared in just two. 

Richie Laryea, Toronto FC 

The right-back is only just making his return after missing multiple months due to an injury, playing 13 minutes this past weekend for Toronto FC off the bench in a loss to Charlotte FC. His level of match fitness at this camp, and how many minutes he can give Marsch, remains a legitimate question. 

Sam Adekugbe, Vancouver Whitecaps 

Another player who returned from injury recently was Adekugbe, but he appears back to full fitness after playing the full 90 minutes in the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup final. The 30-year-old has yet to feature under Marsch, but that should change given Canada’s significant lack of depth at left-back. 

Luc de Fougerolles, Fulham 

This season wasn’t quite the step forward many were hoping for the 19-year-old central defender due to missing most of it with injury. He did, however, finish the season strong for Fulham, captaining them in their final match of the Premier League 2 campaign. 

Midfielders 

Mathieu Choinière, Grasshopper 

It certainly wasn’t the first European season that the 26-year-old would have hoped. Since returning from injury in March, Choinière started just three of Grasshoppers’ final 12 matches, during a disappointing season for the Swiss club. 

Stephen Eustáquio, Porto 

Eustáquio was a consistent starter for Porto throughout the season, but did play a six match stretch towards the end of the season as a central defender in a back three – to mixed success. He returned to his natural defensive midfield role for the final two matches of the season. 

Ismaël Koné, Rennes

Koné finished a difficult season in Europe on a strong note, with a screamer against his parent club Marseille on the final match of the season. He played consistently since moving to Rennes on loan, and should come into camp in decent form as a result ahead of an important summer for him with the national team. 

Jacob Shaffelburg, Nashville

Shaffelburg is still struggling to replicate his incredible national team form at the club level with Nashville SC. He did score his first goal of the season earlier this month against Charlotte, but has just one goal and an assist (which came in a 7-2 win) in 12 appearances this year. 

Tajon Buchanan, Villarreal 

A trying season for Buchanan, where he recovered from injury only to be given limited minutes and loaned out by parent club Inter Milan to Villarreal, ended in a positive fashion. Buchanan helped the Yellow Submarines secure a Champions League spot with a goal against Barcelona, before picking up an assist against Sevilla on the final day of the La Liga campaign. 

Ali Ahmed, Vancouver Whitecaps 

Ahmed has developed into a key player for the Vancouver Whitecaps this season, with a goal and six assists in all competitions. His ability to create chances both on the dribble and with clever passes into the box has been a critical piece of the Caps' attack in 2025. 

Niko Sigur, Hajduk Split 

Sigur was a bit in and out of the side over the final months of the season for Hajduk Split, starting just four of their final ten matches of the season. That came in multiple roles, but mostly as a right full-back. With Canada, however, it is expected that he could get a look in central midfield this camp. 

Nathan Saliba, CF Montréal 

It has been an up and down campaign in terms of form this season for Saliba during what has been a difficult season for his CF Montréal team in general. Still, when he is at his best Saliba has an incredible amount of potential and could get a solid opportunity to show that with Canada at this tournament.  

Forwards  

Cyle Larin, Mallorca

After falling out of favour a little bit with Mallorca, Larin did finish the season in decent form, starting five of the club’s final nine matches of the season, and scoring twice. He does enter camp with rumours swirling that he could be on the move this summer, however. 

Jonathan David, Lille 

David had a bit of a slow finish to the year, by his standards, scoring just twice, both in the same match, in Lille’s final nine matches of the season. It will be interesting to see what sort of role he plays at the Canadian Shield Tournament, given he is expected to move to a new club this summer.

Daniel Jebbison, Bournemouth

After making only short cameos off the bench for Bournemouth this season, Jebbison earned a campaign-high 27 minutes in their final match of the season, a 2-0 win over Leicester City. He scored the week prior against Manchester City, a goal that will do a lot for his confidence. 

Tani Oluwaseyi, Minnesota United 

Oluwaseyi comes into camp in top form, after scoring a brace in a 3-2 win against the Seattle Sounders this past weekend. He has an impressive eight goals and five assists already this year while leading the line for Minnesota United. 

Promise David, Union Saint-Gilloise 

Without question, the most in-form Canadian player coming into this camp. David helped Union Saint-Gilloise secure a historic Belgian League title, their first in 90 years, with a brace in the final match of the season. He finished with a stunning eight goals in ten Belgian league playoff games. 

Jayden Nelson, Vancouver Whitecaps 

Nelson’s excellent form since joining the Whitecaps played him into Marsch’s side. In 19 matches in all competitions for the Caps this season, he has two goals and six assists, and has been playing a direct and dynamic brand of football that should fit right in on this Canada team.