AGR: How the CanMNT's 2026 'Camp Poutine' squad could boost 2030 World Cup cycle
Even though the CanMNT’s 2026 ‘Camp Poutine’ is all about the here and now, with Jesse Marsch’s side focused on co-hosting a World Cup this summer, let’s take a step back and ponder the future for a minute.
While up to a dozen of the 20 players included in Marsch’s January camp roster could be included in Canada’s World Cup squad, the reality is that a lot of these players won’t become impact contributors on this team for years to come.
Yet, that’s the value of a camp like this, which is as much about helping veterans find their feet as it is creating a pathway for young players to showcase themselves in a lower-stakes environment, opening the door for them to blossom into impact contributors in the future.
Some will prosper immediately in such an environment, opening the door for them to be included in Marsch’s short-term plans, but others will take time to hit their best, with the 2030 World Cup sitting as more of a realistic objective for a lot of players in this January camp roster to have.
Just look at the last time Canada held a camp like this, which was back in January of 2021. At the time, this Canadian team was getting set for a massive year, as they returned to action after not playing at all in 2020 due to COVID-19.
Canada Soccer announces squad for Men’s National Team camp presented by @AllstateCanada in January 2021#CANMNT 🍁⚽️ https://t.co/03f2AwTUne pic.twitter.com/QIEG2ciO8i
— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) December 23, 2020
Canada Soccer's Men's National Team camp presented by @AllstateCanada
— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) January 9, 2021
Youngsters Theo Bair, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty & Jacob Shaffelburg will all join the #CANMNT squad for this month's January 2021 camp.
🍁 pic.twitter.com/K9pPg4oYKu
With the 2022 World Cup qualifiers kicking off in March 2021, Canada wanted to hit the ground running in that window, so they cast a wide net, calling up 28 players, which gave them the ability to play multiple training scrimmages and an intra-squad match instead of an opponent.
Ultimately, that wide-net approach paid off, too - both in the short and long term. Of the 28 players called in, 14 of them were included in Canada’s 2022 World Cup squad, with several of them playing big roles in that tournament, such as Tajon Buchanan, Alistair Johnston, Kamal Miller and Richie Laryea, just to name a few.
Eleven players will take part in a #CANMNT camp for the first time: Cristián Gutiérrez, Dayne St. Clair, Alistair Johnston, Tajon Buchanan, Joel Waterman, Ayo Akinola, Ralph Priso, Theo Corbeanu, Marcelo Flores, Belal Halbouni, and Frank Sturing.#CANMNT 🍁
— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) December 23, 2020
Five years on from that camp, several players continue to play a big role on this team heading into the 2026 World Cup. Just look at the potential starting XI you could build of players who were named to that January 2021 roster.
St. Clair; Johnston, Waterman, Cornelius, Laryea; Fraser, Priso; Buchanan, Osorio, Nelson; Bair
H/M Crepeau, Miller, Shaffelburg, Adekugbe
Considering that a few of those players should start games at the 2026 World Cup, with a bunch of others set to play key roles throughout the squad, that’s not a bad XI at all - and some decent players didn’t even crack that group, either.
Because of that, it’ll be fascinating to see if any youngsters included in Canada’s 2026 January camp roster could have similar journeys, both in the short and long term.
In the short term, the big players to watch are Ralph Priso, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Matteo de Brienne, and Jacen Russell-Rowe - ironically, Priso and Marshall-Rutty were inclusions in that 2021 team, too, which is quite a surprise when considering both are still 23 or younger.
Naturally, when looking at one’s short-term ambitions, a few factors stand out - namely, their experience and what’s in front of them. In each of those four players' cases, they’ve got a couple of professional seasons under their belt, with Marshall-Rutty and Russell-Rowe even sitting as past CanMNT call-ups. Plus, positionally, each have an opportunity due to the state of the CanMNT squad, as Priso is a shout at centre back with the injuries there, Marshall-Rutty and de Brienne are looking to earn a spot at full back with absences at that position, while Russell-Rowe is looking to build on good form and capitalize on sneaking in at the striker spot with a well-timed breakout season.
When looking more long-term, though, the door is open for some players to really step up in the next cycle. For example, look at the five other players not named Marshall-Rutty who are still 21 or younger, meaning they would still be 26 or younger by the time the 2030 World Cup arrives - those are, by order of oldest to youngest, Tiago Coimbra, Noah Abatneh, Jeevan Badwal, Rayan Elloumi and Shola Jimoh.
Which Camp Poutine call-up do you want to see make their CanMNT 🇨🇦 debut on Saturday vs. Guatemala 🇬🇹? pic.twitter.com/ZCEtEEyj1S
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) January 15, 2026
All high-potential youngsters who are already regular contributors at the professional level, they could conceivably break out in a big way over the next few years, vaulting them into regular CanMNT discussions.
They’ll be in tough to crack Canada’s 2026 World Cup squad - it’d require some truly exceptional performances from them over the next few months to even have a chance - but the door is definitely open for them to be impact contributors by 2030, no doubt.
Speaking of 2030, though, let’s build off that - what could an XI of players from this January Camp look like when using that future-tinted lens?
Here’s a stab at it:
First off, it must be said - you can see some positional imbalances right off the bat. For example, a lack of central midfielders to pair alongside Badwal stands out - and this XI doesn’t even include another forward in Russell-Rowe, who is technically younger than Priso, de Brienne and Henry despite his professional experience (although everyone except Gavran is 23 or younger, which is worth noting).
At the same time, those same positional imbalances were there even when building that 2021 retrospective CanMNT squad from earlier, so chalk that up to the beauty of international soccer.
Remember that period where seemingly every promising young Canadian talent was a full back? In this squad, a glut of forwards and wingers reflects a similar reality.
Ultimately, a lot can change over a few years, especially positionally. For example, in that 2021 team, Tajon Buchanan was a full back, Priso was a midfielder, and Marshall-Rutty was a winger, so there could be a few players in this hypothetical XI who could stand to be playing very different roles in a couple of years.
Sometimes, those are the sort of changes that will happen when you’re trying to establish yourself as a professional, or if you’re moving up a level, as the developmental path of a lot of other Canadian players has shown.
Now, though, it’ll be fascinating to see what’s next for these youngsters as they begin preparing for what’s next.
Could we be witnessing the next generation of CanMNT talent? Perhaps they’ll be able to show that sooner than we think, starting in Canada’s January Camp friendly vs. Guatemala, in which some of these U23 players will look to prove that they can be the next Buchanan, Johnston, Cornelius, Bair or St. Clair over the next five years.
All it takes is one good performance against Guatemala, and a player can be fast-tracked for immediate success, as the story of Ismaël Koné in 2022 showed, as he went from no professional appearances to a World Cup in less than a year.
Conversely, if these players aren’t ready yet, don’t forget about them for the future, as sometimes, players can take a little longer to get to the heights expected from them, like Theo Bair, who went from struggling for MLS minutes to playing in a top-five league in a few years.
