Octavio Zambrano was recently appointed as the head coach of the Canada Men’s National Team, with the U-23 squad being added to his responsibilities as well. Although it seems a bit odd to have one coach for two squads, this could be an ideal situation for Canada Soccer to move forward into relevancy. To be able to truly understand why something can be a healthy situation, you must acknowledge the negatives while bringing the positives into light, and that’s exactly what we are going to do.
Octavio Zambrano is Just What Canada Soccer Needs
Aside from his relatively impressive resume in coaching, albeit not in North America, Zambrano is the ideal hire for Canada. Zambrano has taken over the U-23 squad as well, which some may see as too much for a single coach, but it is exactly what Canada needs to field the strongest senior squad moving forward.
Zambrano has traveled with the U-23 squad to Qatar to take part in the Qatar U-23 series, which includes the likes of host country Qatar, Uzbekistan, and of course Canada. While Qatar and Uzbekistan aren’t among the elite in soccer countries, it should be noted that Qatar has made, as Zambrano recently put it, a “quantum leap” in terms of youth development. In the two matches in the U-23 series, Canada didn’t give up a goal and earned a 1-0 win against Uzbekistan and a 2-0 win over Qatar.
Below is what Zambrano had to say on choosing to travel with the U-23 squad, and competing against Qatar and Uzbekistan, as well as the future of Canadian soccer:
ZAMBRANO on U-23 camp in Qatar: "We have identified some players here that are going to be able to step up to the MNT." #canMNT #canM23 pic.twitter.com/iEnrMdWBPP
— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) March 27, 2017
Positives
The obvious positives to Zambrano leading both the U-23 and the senior team would be player identification, getting to know players earlier, and building chemistry. Zambrano speaks in the video above about how traveling for the first time with the U-23 squad has allowed him to communicate, work with, watch, and coach some of the younger national team players firsthand. This is something that most senior team coaches don’t have the benefit of, and it will be an invaluable trait to bringing out the strongest squad for the men’s national team in the future.
Not only does player identification get a much needed boost with this dual role, but another one is that Zambrano can have a set system, with the same nuances and same coaching style, for the men’s national team and for the players one step away from the senior team as well. Not only will this create a consistency in playing style that Canada has lacked for quite some time, but it will create a level of comfort for the players that can be pivotal to the development of the Canadian national sides.
With everything taken into account, especially where Canada currently sits as a nation in soccer, this decision to hand Zambrano is less than surprising. It’s arguably the best decision that Canada Soccer has made for the last decade, and it should send the nation in the right direction in both on-field product and in the world rankings as well.
Negatives
The negatives that some may see to Zambrano being both the U-23 and senior team coach could be that he will not be able to fully devote himself to one or the other. Despite this being an obvious negative, Canada doesn’t necessarily need that right now. To expand on that last statement, the nation is in such a low place, especially with the players they have at their disposal, that winning matches immediately and complete devotion to the senior team isn’t the right way of going about things. Hiring a coach to instill a set system, philosophy, and develop the current youth, along with the senior team, is pivotal to the long-term vision of bringing Canada Soccer back into relevancy.
It’s hard to question this decision any further than to say that Zambrano won’t have the time to devote fully to one of the squads. And with the aforementioned point taken into account, it really is a moot point in the grand scheme of developing The Beautiful Game in The Great White North.
Final Verdict
In case you haven’t gotten the general direction of this article, it’s fairly easy to see that this decision is a fantastic one for Canada Soccer and developing the national teams. With Zambrano at the helm of both the U-23 and senior teams, a level of consistency and a set philosophy and mission statement should do Canada well in moving forward.
It’s about time the men’s players in Canada start to produce to the level that they can, and with the strongest squads being brought out by Zambrano, this shouldn’t be a difficult task whatsoever. Only time will tell if this decision brings as good of a product as it does promise, but for now the decision seems to be in the best interest Canadian soccer.
