The Lineup Loses Its Shape
CHARLOTTE — alfie jones didn't grow up dreaming of the Maple Leaf. He grew up in Bristol, England, playing football a safe distance from any Canadian border. But a conversation with teammate Liam Millar during his Hull City days changed everything — Millar mentioned Jones' grandmother was born in Hillcrest, Alberta, and the rest became paperwork. Jones received his Canadian citizenship in November and played his first game for his adopted country days later.
"I've never walked into a group like this," the 28-year-old Middlesbrough centre back said at Canada's pre-tournament training camp. "The togetherness, how the staff are with the players as well, the connection between everyone — it's an unbelievable group of guys."
The matchup already has enough history; the job is to keep the reading list shorter than the tension.
He's one of 12 Canadians making their World Cup debut this summer, joining what coach Jesse Marsch calls a young man's tournament. The roster average age sits at 25.3 years old, a number Marsch cited as deliberate. "The games come fast," he said. "If you go to a tournament with too old of a team, you risk picking up injuries." Half of the 26-man roster had never played in a World Cup before this call-up.
The Replacement Question
Jones recently pledged his allegiance to a hockey team — the Flames — calling it research. The kind of research that involves picking a side months before the biggest tournament of your life, simply because someone asked where you're from.
Niko Sigur, a 22-year-old Hajduk Split defender also set for his first World Cup, said the moment carries its own weight. "This is why I joined the national team — to play on big stages like this," he said. "I have to give a lot of credit to the coaching staff and my teammates because they've shown a lot of trust in me."
The squad mixes youth and experience. Maxime Crepeau, a veteran Orlando City goalkeeper, missed the 2022 tournament in Qatar with a broken leg. Jacob Shaffelburg was with the training group in Bahrain ahead of that same World Cup but didn't make the final cut. He rehabbed a hamstring injury in Charlotte, hopeful to be fit for the tournament opener against Bosnia-Herzegovina on June 12 in Toronto.
The Waiting Game
"To wear the Canada jersey and have her there," Shaffelburg said, referring to his daughter Daisy, "it would be so cool."
His journey includes the high of finishing fourth at the 2024 Copa America and the low of a red card in the 2025 Gold Cup quarterfinal loss to Guatemala. "I felt both top and bottom," he said. "I think it's made me a better player and a better human."