Grant Surridge

Toronto. Via Winnipeg, Prague, Seoul and Halifax.

[Grant Surridge @SCGGrant]

UPDATE: The Alphonso Davies statue in front of my house will be gold-plated and revolve constantly to face the sun.

[The xG Philosophy @xGPhilosophy]

Four teams have won all five of their World Cup games on xG:

🇪🇸 Spain
🇦🇷 Argentina
🇨🇦 Canada
🇨🇴 Colombia

[The xG Philosophy @xGPhilosophy]

Best defences at World Cup 2026 (xG conceded per 90):

🥇 Spain: 0.32
🥈 Argentina: 0.58
🥉 Canada: 0.70

[Grant Surridge @SCGGrant]

@Lord_Bob Not quite the same as the president calling Fifa's top man and getting a suspension lifted on the spot, but if you're trying to make the point that the World Cup has never been a paragon of virtue, then, okay.

[Grant Surridge @SCGGrant]

@RudiSchuller The whole situation is bizarre and there is clearly more to it than is being reported. As you point out, the guy has been head over heels committed to Canada for years. The mixed messaging about his availability didn't help.

[Grant Surridge @SCGGrant]

Well, I imagine that Ancelotti is finally available to manage Canada.

[Grant Surridge @SCGGrant]

I don't ever want to hear about Argentinians or Koreans supposedly fixing World Cups again. What a travesty.

[Adam Crafton @AdamCrafton_]

BREAKING @TheAthleticFC

Folarin Balogun will be available to play the USMNT’s round of 16 match against Belgium with his one-game red-card ban suspended. Extraordinary development.

Story with @Dan_Sheldon_

https://t.co/oQ61J9btzT

[Iain Cameron @theiaincameron]

Canada v Qatar is the World Cup's group stage match with the biggest disparity in land size.

Canada covers almost 10 million km². Qatar covers just over 11,600 km². You could fit more than 850 Qatars inside Canada.

Stay tuned for more cutting-edge, geography-based World Cup analysis.

[Lars Sivertsen @larssivertsen]

I feel like the decision to change the format of the sport from two halves to four quarters should have been more widely discussed before it was implemented. Does anyone actually want this?

[The Away Fans @theawayfans]

Marcelo Bielsa: "I am sure that football is in a process of decline.

"It is becoming less and less attractive because what made it the best game in the world is not there anymore.

"If you let a lot of people watch football, but you don't protect the pleasure of what they watch, that favours business, because the business is that a lot of people watch football.

"For me, the introduction of technology like VAR does a lot of harm to football.

"This sport has a particularity: when it becomes completely predictable, it loses its appeal.

"As time passes, as fewer and fewer footballers are worth watching and as the game produced is less and less enjoyable, this artificial increase in the number of spectators will be interrupted."

[Grant Surridge @SCGGrant]

@Kubani7 @24thminute This loyalty stuff has bubbled below the surface of Canadian soccer fandom for decades. There's bad blood out there and it just felt to me like a really dumb idea to poke this bear. That said, the coverage was more positive than I expected. Hopefully we can move on.

[Grant Surridge @SCGGrant]

The irony about this whole shirt-swap-giveaway controversy is that lining up for hours in freezing weather just to get free shit is the most Canadian thing possible.

[Grant Surridge @SCGGrant]

Lol. Shows what I know. I wonder if @CanadaSoccerEN ever actually intended to take the Italy shirts?

[Matthew Scianitti @TSNScianitti]

Hundreds lined up for 'Forza Canada' @CANMNT_Official jersey swap at Cafe Diplomatico. All the jerseys were gone within minutes. Canada Soccer never took the jerseys, they just handed out 2026 kits and posters. Well done 🇨🇦 (viz via @CanadaSoccerEN) @TSN_Sports @TSNSoccer

[Grant Surridge @SCGGrant]

I agree. This is a bizarre move from @CanadaSoccerEN

[Marco D'Onofrio @Kubani7]

This might be one of the quickest ways to turn a fanbase off who more than than likely would have thrown all their support behind the #CanMNT anyways. Big miss on this one.

[Grant Surridge @SCGGrant]

@amato_mike Canada was one shot away from being knocked out in the QFs. Desperation against Finland, too. All 3 games we were the better team by a lot. The eventual dissection of this showing has to focus on why all these games were so close. Keep doing OT, you'll eventually lose one.

[Jeet Heer @HeerJeet]

This is ridiculous misreading of George Grant -- whatever criticisms he had of Diefenbaker he was far more critical of pro-USA elites who wouldn't defend Canadian sovereignty.

[Les Perreaux @perreaux]

The replies to this are a tiny taster of the info ops that will be taking place if / when this happens.

[Grant Surridge @SCGGrant]

Looking at Group J, I have to wonder if there's ever been a World Cup group in which all countries start with the same letter.

[Grant Surridge @SCGGrant]

#CanMNT qualified for the knockout rounds of last summer's Copa America after benefitting from red cards in each of their last two group-stage matches. Yes, this is disappointing, but the project will be judged on what happens next summer.

[Public Citizen @Public_Citizen]

A sitting U.S. Senator was just forcibly thrown out of a DHS presser.

A SITTING U.S. SENATOR was physically stopped from asking questions in an OPEN PRESS CONFERENCE.

This. is. not. normal.

[Mike McIntyre @mikemcintyrewpg]

I’m not sure Gabe Vilardi is going to be able to fix this.