A home-and-away tie against Cuba was never going to provide Canada with a true test of their overall footballing ability. On paper, the CONCACAF Nations League fixtures played out as many would have expected with Canada taking six points, and scoring seven goals along the way. The home leg at BMO Field in Toronto was a romp, as Les Rouges played their best XI, and put six past the Cubans; the away leg, though closer on paper with Canada only mustering a 1-0 win, in practicality, was never in doubt. Manager John Herdman heavily rotated his XI, and yet still enjoyed more than 80% possession on what was a horrendous pitch in the Cayman Islands.

Nonetheless, while Canada would likely have preferred a tougher opponent, in a bid to accrue more points, and move up the FIFA Rankings, the engagement with Cuba may have been the perfect pre-requisite to their upcoming match with the USA in October.

The Gold Cup provided Herdman with the competitive stage with which to chop, and change his line-up in order to get a better sense of his squad, and preferred tactical approach, but by the final match against Haiti there were still questions as to what formation Canada would commit to going forward, as well as who factored into Canada’s best XI, and how the manager was going to address defensive frailties.