It was 21 months ago that John Herdman took the reins as coach of the Canadian men’s soccer team, but the skipper believes the best is yet to come — both from his team and the opposition.

Canada will face the United States in a CONCACAF Nations League game at BMO Field next Tuesday night, and Herdman anticipates the Americans will be among the toughest opponents they have faced since he took charge in January 2018.

“They’re up there with the best we’ve played,” he said Wednesday. “We’ve only played Mexico and Haiti that really, really challenged us. This is building on those learnings. This is an opportunity to say, ‘All right, what do we take from those two matches?’”

Mexico and Haiti are the only countries to beat Canada in 11 games under Herdman, both in a disappointing Gold Cup run this past summer. Canada will take positives from the Mexico match, after holding the world’s 12th-ranked team to a 0-0 tie for the first 40 minutes and scoring its first goal against the Mexicans in more than a decade.

The harder lessons were learned in the Haiti match, which saw Canada go up 2-0 before halftime only to concede three goals in the last 45 minutes to be eliminated in the quarterfinals.

“Coming into this we’ve got a few more scars, and you need those things,” Herdman said.

Canada will be without veteran Will Johnson, the former Toronto FC midfielder, who withdrew for family reasons and was replaced by current Red Liam Fraser. Midfielder Stephen Eustaquio of Leamington, Ont. — who plays club soccer with Mexico’s Cruz Azul FC — continues to work his way back from an ACL injury, but is with the team in Toronto.

The Canadians won both Nations League matches in September, combining for eight unanswered goals in home and away victories over Cuba. Nations League matches are crucial to Canada’s shot at qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The top six ranked CONCACAF countries will compete for the first shots at qualifying from the region, games that are slated to begin next June. Canada is ranked No. 75 team in the world and seventh among CONCACAF countries, five points and three overall spots behind El Salvador.

The going will only get tougher. Other than Mexico, the teams Canada has played under Herdman are ranked anywhere from 86th to 201st by FIFA — French Guiana and Martinique weren’t ranked.

The U.S., on the other hand, is No. 21. That’s why Herdman has emphasized defence in this camp. His tactical blueprint involves a lot more attention to defensive organization and transitional play. A coach who has been known to ostensibly play two at the back in some of Canada’s easier matches will likely go with something closer to the five-man defence he employed against Mexico.

“We are an underdog to some degree, and in many ways they have everything to lose in terms of the ego, and when the ego’s in place it can really sabotage teams,” Herdman said. “For us, we can go out with no fear. The only thing we’ve got to prove is to ourselves, that from whistle to whistle we can bring our talent, keep the clean sheet.”

Herdman mixed and matched during Nations League qualifying, testing younger players and at times looking beyond 2022 to the 2026 World Cup, which Canada will co-host with Mexico and the U.S. But that won’t be the case as the Canadians vie for valuable ranking points in these Nations League matches. The goal now is qualifying for 2022 and he’ll deploy his best.

“The minute (the players) stepped in this environment, it was clear that if you’re not (willing to work), you won’t play,” he said. “It’s that clear now. And that competition, you can feel it. They want that. They’re thriving on it.”