In the night from Wednesday to Thursday, Canada and Suriname will decide who can continue to dream of participating in the 2022 World Cup. The game has a special touch for Remko Bicentini, who has been working as an assistant to national coach John Herdman at the Canadian national team since January. plow. “If I had been neutral, I would have been in favor of Suriname. But yes, I work for Canada. This is my Job. I have the absolute will to win,” Bicentini said in conversation with Football zone.
By Chris Meijer
No, it is not exactly obvious that Suriname will have a lot of secrets for Canada. “I know all the players from Suriname through and through,” laughs Bicentini, who comes from Wijchen in Gelderland. “Haps, Leerdam, Koolwijk, Becker and Hasselbaink are all players I followed and know in the Dutch league. The fact that the national coach gets the right information to play such a difficult opponent makes it all a bit easier, of course. That is the advantage if you have a staff that is more broadly oriented, so that everything that can be tackled can be tackled. The national coach certainly benefits from that, we talk about it a lot.”
His knowledge of football in the Caribbean was one of the reasons why Canada polled him for the position of assistant national coach after his forced departure as national coach of Curaçao. “Haiti, Bermuda, Nicaragua”, is how Bicentini lists a few countries that he met with Curaçao in recent years. He worked on the island for fourteen years, the last four of which as a national coach. “That’s different from what they’re used to playing in Canada. They expect to bring that in to Canada. I get that, because it’s another dimension of play. A different mindset. It works very well and I enjoy it a lot. It feels fantastic. Of course it’s different, that’s why I chose this. You work in a different culture, with top players, a top sports mentality and an absolute will to get the most out of it.”
During the first round of the qualifying cycle of CONCACAF (the football association for the Caribbean and Central and North America) for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Canada already dealt with Bermuda (5-1), the Cayman Islands (0-11) and Aruba (0-7). “The Aruba match was great. With Stanley Menzo as national coach. I also know all the players from Aruba. It was a pleasant and good game, Aruba did its best to come out in a 4-3-3 football. It is not that they wanted to build a wall”, Bicentini looks back on the meeting with Aruba, which was won 0-7 in the night from Sunday to Monday.
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Remko Bicentini previously told Voetbalzone extensively about his forced departure as national coach of Curaçao.
“It comes down to how you deal with it. You are required to win those matches, given the FIFA ranking and performance over the past few years. But you have to be able to bring it up to do well. We’ve been very sharp. Of course there have been some changes, but we did that very well,” Bicentini said of the flawless qualifying cycle for the time being. Canada has, among others, Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich) and Jonathan David (Lille OSC), players who have had a long season. “They are absolutely fresh and fit. You play for your country and then something else comes up. Sure it’s been a long season, but you know what you’re playing for. Everything changes for that. When I see those guys training and how they are doing this, they are really fresh in their minds and bodies.”
“The feeling is that we are now going to a real game. I don’t want to disparage anyone with that, but against Aruba and the Cayman Islands you just have to win. Now there is a challenge that we have to work hard for to get a good result”, continues Bicentini. Suriname is also clear in the World Cup qualifying cycle after three games, although the goal difference is considerably in Canada’s favor (+22 at +15). “It is fantastic for Suriname that they can use these guys. But on the other hand, we also have a fantastic team that has been playing together for a while. That could be the deciding factor towards the match against Suriname. Routine, how many times have you played together? But it seems clear to me that they are a dangerous adversary. It’s going to be a loaded game. Full house.”
Only the winner of the group will qualify for the second phase of the World Cup qualification. A meeting with Haiti or Nicaragua awaits there, after which the winner of that diptych moves on to the final round. Honduras, the United States, Costa Rica, Mexico and Jamaica are already certain of participating in this group with eight countries, in which three direct World Cup tickets and a place in an intercontinental play-off will be distributed. “Canada is upcomingThey have proven that in recent years. They are used to playing against countries like the United States, Mexico and Honduras. The absolute goal is to qualify for the final group, with these players you can play a significant role in that and we have a chance to qualify for the World Cup. But first we have to win this match against Suriname.”