Bryan Berlin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Though Canada has just lost 0-3 to the hands of Morocco to end their 2026 World Cup run, the tournament remains a monumental event for football in Canada. A team that was once defeated 8-1 by a Honduras side ranked well outside of FIFA’s top 50, Canada has now secured their first two wins in a FIFA World Cup.
From losses against Switzerland and Morocco to the historic wins over Qatar and South Africa, the CANMNT has had its fair share of ups and downs at this tournament. With that said, in this article, I will give player grades to every player who suited up for Les Rouges at the 2026 World Cup. These grades will be based on expectations — stars naturally have a higher bar to set, and their grades will reflect that.
With that said, here are player grades for every CANMNT player at the 2026 FIFA World Cup
Maxime Crépeau: C-
- Matches Played: 5
- Minutes Played: 450
- FotMob Rating: 6.47
- Goals Prevented: -1.6
Though Crépeau was not completely awful throughout the tournament, his stats and his eventual performance in Canada’s elimination match vs Morocco will leave doubt as to if Jesse Marsch should have started Dayne St. Clair. While Crépeau was often put in difficult positions throughout this final match, his 3 goals conceded to 0.79 xG against is certainly somewhat telling.
Richie Laryea: C+
- Matches Played: 5
- Minutes Played: 431
- FotMob Rating: 7.26
- Successful Pass %: 82.8%
Playing in his tertiary position as an inverted fullback replacing the injured Alphonso Davies, Laryea had his ups and downs in this tournament. Against Qatar, he was doing everything right, but in more important matches, he couldn’t seem to get break through when his team needed.
Alphonso Davies: Null, but disappointing
- Matches Played: 1
- Minutes Played: 15
- FotMob Rating: n/a
There isn’t much to say here. Canada’s starman could not appear when it mattered most. He put up a strong performance in the close-out vs South Africa, but there’s simply not enough here to grade him.
Luc De Fougerolles: A-
- Matches Played: 5
- Minutes Played: 372
- FotMob Rating: 6.70
- Touches: 277
Canada’s most important centreback in build-up, De Fougerolles’ only shaky game was the 1-2 loss vs Switzerland. Though his match rating against Morocco would indicate a poor match, the truth is that this was largely due to his pressing high after Morocco took the lead. Throughout the tournament, De Fougerolles was crucial in Canada’s build-up, and as of today, he leads all World Cup centrebacks in touches in the opposition’s box.
Derek Cornelius: B-
- Matches Played: 4
- Minutes Played: 315
- FotMob Rating: 6.67
- Headed Shots: 4
Cornelius played an important role for Canada, though he will certainly have wished that he could get a few close chances back. Lacking the clinical finishing that CANMNT needed at times, Cornelius ended up being benched for Canada’s final match.
Moïse Bombito: C+
- Matches Played: 3
- Minutes Played: 194
- FotMob Rating: 6.05
- Touches: 125
It’s largely more the fault of injury than fault of his own, but Bombito did have an underwhelming tournament. In three matches, Bombito failed to have a standout performance. In the elimination match specifically, he was often slow in transition and weak in build-up.
Alistair Johnston: A
- Matches Played: 5
- Minutes Played: 450
- FotMob Rating: 6.93
- Chances Created: 9
Looking at AJ’s FotMob page, every single attacking stat is far into the green percentiles. Having played all 450 minutes of pitch time for Canada, AJ did everything that CANMNT could’ve asked of him: long throw ins, stability, and clutch transition recoveries.
Niko Sigur: B-
- Matches Played: 3
- Minutes Played: 125
- FotMob Rating: 6.43
- Successful Pass %: 81%
It was nice seeing Sigur get reps in the midfield, but it is also true that this was mostly a matter of circumstances as opposed to a testament to his own strength. With Johnston locking up the RB position and Ismaël Koné’s injury opening up the midfield, Sigur was slotted into his secondary position. Still, I’d imagine that he could have done more from the left-back spot.
Stephen Eustáquio: A+
- Matches Played: 5
- Minutes Played: 391
- FotMob Rating: 7.59
- Goals: 1
The only piece of consistency in Canada’s midfield, ‘Staq performed every time he was called on, including with CANMNT’s biggest goal ever in stoppage time vs South Africa. Against Morocco, he was probably Canada’s best performer, and there is certainly a case that he was simply Canada’s best performer in general.
Nathan Saliba: A
- Matches Played: 3
- Minutes Played: 182
- FotMob Rating: 7.90
- Goal Contributions: 3
When it’s all said and done, Saliba will be looked at as Canada’s breakout player of the tournament. As Canada was dominated by Morocco’s press in their elimination match, perhaps the only question about Saliba will be why he didn’t play at all in this match. Stepping up in place of Koné after his injury vs Qatar, Saliba looked excellent in the rest of that match, and was Canada’s best performer against Switzerland.
Ismaël Koné: B
- Matches Played: 2
- Minutes Played: 147
- FotMob Rating: 6.70
- Successful Pass %: 87.2%
It’s hard to judge Koné’s performance for what it was as opposed to what it could have been, but in itself, it was very slightly underwhelming. He was average against Bosnia and excellent against Qatar, resulting in a good but not great tournament all around. Still, if Canada had Koné during this match vs Morocco, the CANMNT may very well have been preparing for a quarterfinal match vs France right now.
Mathieu Choinière: C
- Matches Played: 1
- Minutes Played: 58
- FotMob Rating: 6.7
Anything lower than this feels disrespectful for Choinière, who was probably never supposed to play serious minutes behind Canada’s other midfield options. Still, though, he played about an hour of very underwhelming football against Switzerland, and when he subbed out was when Canada began to look revitalized.
Ali Ahmed: B-
- Matches Played: 4
- Minutes Played: 236
- FotMob Rating: 6.56
- Touches in Opposition Box: 16
To be honest, none of Canada’s wing options were particularly clinical in this tournament, but Ahmed was on the better end, so he gets a decent grade for that. He was pretty solid against Morocco, and he was consistently a threat on offense throughout the tournament, so it wasn’t all disappointing. For a player who has skyrocketed recently, a little more would have been nice, though.
Liam Millar: D
- Matches Played: 3
- Minutes Played: 163
- FotMobd Rating: 6.50
- Chances Created: 4
Millar could have worked in theory, and he is an absolute work horse, but this tournament was not it for him. It seemed like every time he got the ball close to the sideline, he would give possession away, either directly or via an opposition throw-in. With a successful dribble percentage of 44%, he simply did not do enough.
Jacob Shaffelburg: A-
- Matches Played: 5
- Minutes Played: 87
- FotMob Rating: 6.31
This grade may seem incredibly high, but Shaff had one role, and he played it to perfection. Shaff was here to come in around the 75-minute mark and revitalize the pitch for Canada, and he did that without fail in every single game. Against Qatar, he forced an own goal, and in the r32 match, his early cross enabled Eustáquio’s rebound goal.
Tajon Buchanan: C
- Matches Played: 5
- Minutes Played: 380
- FotMob Rating: 6.48
- Successful dribble %: 33%
Tajon was expected to be one of the most important part of Canada’s attack, but what we ended up getting was 0 goal contributions and a few promising moments. He was by no means awful, but Buchanan did not have a single standout performance in the tournament.
Jonathan David: C
- Matches Played: 5
- Minutes Played: 421
- FotMob Rating: 6.89
- Goals: 3
The Iceman had one strong performance at this World Cup, and it was in a ‘gimme’ win against Qatar. Outside of that, he was unable to find his footing or finish in high-stakes games. I will say, though, for as much hate as he’s getting, I think his pressing was quite strong in the Morocco match.
Tani Oluwaseyi: C
- Matches Played: 5
- Minutes Played: 260
- FotMob Rating: 6.41
- Duels Won: 25
Tani, as always, was an excellent presser. With 25 duels won, he is among the leading forwards in the entire tournament in this category. Crucially, though, pressing was not Canada’s biggest problem; finishing was. And looking back on the tournament, Tani may have been the number one culprit in this regard. Crucially in the early game vs Morocco, Oluwaseyi failed to capitalize on a beautiful chance.
Cyle Larin: B
- Matches Played: 4
- Minutes Played: 189
- FotMob Rating: 6.79
- Goals: 2
The hardest part about grading Larin was deciding what expectations I should be holding him to. Ultimately, in 2026, Larin is a depth striker for Les Rouges who ended up being one of the squad’s most clinical finishers. His goal vs Bosnia within minutes of his subbing on was the difference between facing South Africa or the USA in the round of 32, and his only real poor performance of the tournament came against Morocco
Promise David: A+
- Matches Played: 4
- Minutes Played: 77
- FotMob Rating: 6.67
- Goal Contributions: 2
For somebody who’s World Cups were supposedly ended by injury in March, Promise was the final boss of Super-Subs for Canada. Every time he came in, the attack was revitalized. This was especially crucial in getting a point out of the Bosnia match and putting up a fight against Switzerland. I understand why he didn’t start against Morocco, but I think CANMNT would have benefited a lot from subbing him in before the 65th minute.
Overall, Canada should be very happy with how they performed in the 2026 World Cup. Though they had an entirely neutal 2 wins, 1 draw, and 2 losses, including a winnable match vs Bosnia, the nation has unarguably taken huge strides to becoming respectable on the global stage. In both the Switzerland and Morocco matches, Canada took nations far more prestigious than themselves to the very last minute.
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