CANADA RETURNS TO WORLD CUP

by Jeff Viray

The World Cup has already seen teams protesting the hosts.  German players covered their mouths for a team photo.   England and France planned to wear "OneLove" armbands until FIFA threatened them with on-field sanctions. These protests deal with Qatar's human rights issues and its treatment of the LGBT+ community.

But what has the reaction in Toronto been?

For one Seneca student, Alex, the platform of the World Cup may be the best time to bring up such controversies.

"The World Cup is on a global stage," Alex said, "it would be hard to keep them separate. Politics and sports are together as much as people want them to be separate."

According to another Seneca student Jerry, showing transparency from the get-go was the way to protest.

"It's on the broadcasting". Alex went on to say that "transparency is needed so people understand the problem."

The Qatar World Cup has seen a number of controversies, ever since it was

by  Mnishi Sharma

Canada's head coach for the Fifa world cup John Herdman said his team will beat Croatia in a post-game interview after losing to Belgium in their first tournament game.

"I told them they belong here and we are going to F Croatia as simple as it gets"

Canada played their first world cup game in 36 years and could not score a goal despite taking 22 shots in total. Nation's soccer star Alphonso Davies had a golden opportunity to put his country on the scoreboard with a penalty in the ninth minute of the game that was saved by Belgium's goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

"For me, it was you know knowing that this is the biggest stage in the world. Just play my game and don't change anything at how I play and defend and attack with the team and yeah we are a little bit disappointed but we are definitely proud of how we played today." Said Davies on his penalty.

 

Canada are 41 on the FIFA rankings and played against a very strong opponent Belgium who are ranked second, despite that Canada had 46% percent ball possession and made 429 passes with 82% passing accuracy compared to 520 passes with 83% passing accuracy of Belgium. Canada had more key passes 18-8 than the opposition led by Manchester City star Kevin De-Bruyne who won the man of the match.

“I don’t think I played a great game, I don’t know why I got the trophy. Maybe because of my name,” he said at a post-match press conference.

Canada has two more games left in the group stages where they can still qualify for the knockouts. They play Croatia on Sunday at 11 am and then Morroco next Thursday, at 10 am. Both the teams that  Canada will face have one point on the table which gives Canada an advantage to qualify.

by Naomi Proulx

Seneca College has spent the last two weeks setting up monitors for students to watch the 2022 World Cup.  This event brings 32 countries together and Seneca College brings thousands of international students across campus, the two have more in common than you think. So why is it this year students seem to be uninterested?

Students who we spoke with seem to have little interest or knowledge at all about The World Cup. Most agreed they aren't actively watching but keeping their national teams in mind.

"I don't know much about World Cup. I don't follow football that much but just this time. We are showing it at the campus so I feel that's fun, right now I root for Korea." says Joao da Silva, a animation student.

Seneca College has decorated the Hive with flags representing each team. Games are being broadcast live across the school for students to watch. Accessibility and outreach doesn't seem to be the issue but a lack of interest amongst the students could be why less are watching.

Due to Qatar's climate, the traditional June to July event had to be moved to the fall season.

"The special thing is usually World Cup goes through summertime." says Jessica Wilson, a graphic design student.

Interfering with end of a student's semester, many don't have the time to watch like they would've in the summer. If you're a student who is feeling overwhelmed, come check out the Hive and unwind to a World Cup game.