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SAINT PETERSBURG — Steve Reed’s existence is surprisingly ordinary for a FIFA Congress member who just last week rubbed shoulders with soccer’s elite.

The same man who helped secure Canada’s World Cup bid has, for the time being, moved on to other pressing issues: Finding Airbnb hosts and taking in World Cup fixtures using seats he himself purchased.

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Indeed, the Canadian Soccer Association’s top boss is, as he put it, “a man of the people,” though he did lament wearing jeans to our morning rendezvous upon being asked to appear on camera.

The Probka Cafe, just across the river from Saint Petersburg’s Hermitage Palace Square, was the setting for our hour-long exchange about everything from the 2026 tournament to his vision of Canada one day having its own national training centre.

“We use sites in Vancouver or Toronto or Montreal, where we’re just borrowing from someone else,” Reed said.

The French have Clairefontaine. England has St. George’s Park. Even smaller footballing nations like Iceland have set aside high-quality training centres to develop players.