It's taken longer than anticipated, but Canada's men's national soccer team will finally hit the pitch on Thursday.
The team has been embroiled in a labour dispute with Canada Soccer, the national governing body, over appearance fees, bonuses and other concerns. The dispute caused Sunday's scheduled friendly against Panama to be cancelled, which followed a planned exhibition against Iran also being scrapped.
That means Canada hasn't played a match since World Cup qualifying ended in March, and with few international windows to prepare for Qatar 2022 the team is now playing catch-up.
Negotiations are still ongoing between the team and Canada Soccer, but on Tuesday it was announced that Thursday's match against Curacao would go on as scheduled. Given that this is a competitive fixture rather than a friendly, the prevailing thought is that no one wants to incur the wrath of FIFA by disrupting this game.
As such, the fans in Vancouver will get to watch Alphonso Davies in person for the first time since his 2018 move from the Vancouver Whitecaps to Bayern Munich. The 21-year-old hasn't suited up for Canada since 2021, as a myocarditis diagnosis kept him sidelined through the final six World Cup qualifiers, so he should be doubly motivated to put on a show for the fans who watched him develop into a star.
On the other side of the pitch is Curacao, a team that often punches above its weight class. The island nation played two matches against Honduras, the other team in the group, already during this window, coming away with a win and a loss. Regardless, the Canadians should expect to control Thursday's contest and fare better than the 2-1 victory they earned against Curacao back in the teams' only other meeting in 2017, which was coincidentally Davies' Canada debut.
Here's everything you need to know about Thursday's match.
Canada vs. Curacao: What time is kickoff?
- Date: Thursday, June 9
- Time: 10:30 p.m. ET
The match is scheduled for 10:30 p.m. ET at BC Place in Vancouver.
Canada vs. Curacao: What channel is the game on?
- TV: OneSoccer (Telus ch. 980)
- Streaming: OneSoccer.ca, fuboTV
Canada's remaining CONCACAF Nations League schedule
| Date | Time (ET) | Match |
| June 9 | 10:30 p.m. | Canada vs. Curacao |
| June 13 | 10:00 p.m. | Honduras vs. Canada |
| March 25 | TBA | Curacao vs. Canada |
| March 28 | TBA | Canada vs. Honduras |