It's time to step into the present.

That was the underlying message delivered by John Herdman in his first public appearance as head coach of the Canadian men's national team. Speaking to reporters in Toronto on Monday, Herdman, the former boss of the women's team that won back-to-back bronze medals at the two most recent Olympic tournaments, explained what he thought was needed to get the men's side back to the World Cup for the first time since 1986.

It boiled down, Herdman said, to having a clear vision and bringing the men's program into the 21st century.

"Having spoken to many of the core players, there's real clarity in the group," Herdman said. "There's a belief that they can do this. That they can stop our country and take it to a place it's not been to in over a quarter of a century."

MORE: Herdman to make men's coaching debut in March

The 42-year-old has made a reputation for himself as a meticulous planner, and he hopes such attention to detail will help build a men's program that has treaded water for decades despite several coaching changes and philosophy shifts. Having taken over from Octavio Zambrano in early January, Herdman said he's spent much of his time since getting the job assessing the overall state of the program from top to bottom.

And while he admits there's been "a learning curve" over the past several weeks, Herdman now believes he has identified what needs to be done to help improve the 94th-ranked team in the world.

"The most important people I've spoken to are the players, that core group," Herdman explained. "They suggest they're a talented group. They believe that the talent is there, but what's been missing at times is a clear vision. Clarity in vision. A strength of vision that binds them together in key moments. The high-performance systems and structures of the modern game that have been missing at times, such as sports science [and] mental performance training."

John Herdman on #CANMNT group 🇨🇦: "Speaking to some of our key players, they know how important the next 4 years are and they know that they have an opportunity to become game changers and heroes for this country. They are ready to go." pic.twitter.com/Wd4BnJZSxi — Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) February 26, 2018

It's long been suggested by observers and fans that Canada's men's team has not been able to tough out games in the hostile conditions so frequently on display in the CONCACAF region, and Herdman said his discussions with his so-called "core" players echoed that belief.

"I guess one of the biggest elephants in the room has been addressed in some of our conversations with the players is that on those big moments they just haven't been able to deliver." Herdman said. "And the culture's been to point fingers. I think that's ready to change. The group are very clear that under a new leadership with new focus that if they can see a plan they believe in ... that they'll commit and push the levels they've never gone to before."

So what has been missing, according to the new man in charge?

"A clear, high-performance plan that's embracing modern, high performance methods that these men are absolutely craving, and underneath that it's the right people," Herdman said.

With that in mind, Herdman announced Monday that Canada Soccer had hired Mauro Biello to head up the U-23 program and serve as an assistant on the senior side. Herdman lauded Biello's experience as a former national team player and, most recently, as head coach of the Montreal Impact in MLS for the past three seasons.

"He’s handled dressing rooms, tough dressing rooms, he’s had relative success in his career," Herdman said of Biello.

With Herdman and Biello heading up Canada's latest braintrust, the philosophy dictates that this is not just a task built for one or two men to fix a broken program. There has to be a buy-in at all levels of the sport, Herdman stressed.

"Moving towards this next 90 days and the next four years, the next eight years of this job — This can't be a John Herdman plan," the coach said. "This isn't about one man writing a plan and trying to lead a charge, it's about the whole game aligning behind specific principles. The whole game recognizing that while you might be a fan of MLS teams like TFC or Montreal Impact, we all own Canada. It's our country. It's what we all stand for and it's what we can all get behind."