John Herdman guided Canada to their first World Cup since 1986, but he has done so much more than that for the North American nation.
Of all the coaches competing at the 2022 World Cup, John Herdman has had perhaps the most unusual journey to Qatar.
The 47-year-old, who guided Canada to the finals by finishing top of the CONCACAF third-round qualifying group ahead of Mexico and the United States, is unlike any of his peers in the competition.
The Englishman never played the game at professional level, only going as high as semi-pro, and before taking charge of the Canada national team he had never coached a men’s team.
Herdman started his venture into coaching aged just 16 when he started getting his coaching badges and developed his own football school when he was just 23.
So how did he go from running a Brazilian-style school in his native England to leading the North American nation to a first World Cup finals since 1986?
Here is the story of the man who has changed Canadian football…
Who is John Herdman?
Date of birth:July 19, 1975Place of birth:County Durham, EnglandTeams managed:New Zealand Women, Canada Women, Canada Men
Herdman is an English football coach from Consett, County Durham. The son of steelworkers, he pursued a career in coaching from a young age after realising that a professional playing career seemed unlikely.
He started on coaching courses at the age of 16 and ended up travelling to Brazil to study coaching methods there.
The lessons he learned in South America inspired the coaching style used in the football school he set up in England in his early 20s and the effectiveness of his methods resulted in a job offer from Sunderland’s youth academy.
While he was working there, coaching the likes of now-Liverpool and England star Jordan Henderson, he was lecturing at Northumbria University.
His lack of history at professional level made life in English football difficult for Herdman, though, as he explained to the Press Association: “From the career progression it was definitely a challenge when you hadn’t played at the highest level.
“I felt it was a bit of an old boys’ game back at that time in the ’90s, where it just seemed like if you hadn’t played the game you weren’t going to get the job at that next level.
“There’s been a desire to sort of prove people wrong. There’s no doubting that and over time you’ve had to let that go because it’s quite a toxic motivation.”
So, at the age of just 26, he took up the chance to move to New Zealand to become a regional director in football, coaching at all ages and also working behind the scenes to help change the face of the local game.
After three years, he was in charge of the New Zealand women’s team, guiding the Under-20s to the 2006 and 2008 World Cups, while also taking the senior team to the Women’s World Cups of 2007 and 2011, with an appearance at the Olympics in Beijing in between.
New Zealand did not fare well at the 2011 Women’s World Cup, picking up just one point from matches against Japan, England and Mexico, but Herdman had done enough to catch the attention of the Canadian Soccer Association and was handed the reigns of the women’s team that same year.
Later in 2011, his team took home the gold medal at the Pan American Games, beating Brazil on penalties in the final.
He then made a second consecutive appearance at the summer Olympics, this time leading Canada to a bronze medal in London in 2012 and four years later, taking home the bronze once again in Rio de Janeiro. Along the way, they made it to the quarter-finals of the 2015 Women’s World Cup.
It was in 2018 that he made his first venture into coaching in the men’s game when he became Canada’s head coach. But, in somewhat typical Herdman fashion, he took on even more responsibilities concerning the entirety of the men’s game from the Under-14s and up.
Since then, he has guided Canada to their highest-ever place in the FIFA World Rankings and their incredible performances in World Cup qualifying saw them reach a finals tournament for the first time in 36 years.
They have a golden generation, with the likes of Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David and Cyle Larin in the ranks, but Herdman has been credited as the brains behind the operation in the stunning development of Canadian football.
What is John Herdman’s coaching style?
Herdman is seen as a great motivator and a tactical coach.
“I think every minute of the day he has a motivational speech,” said Lucas Cavallini in 2019. “That’s why we’re doing important things.”
Star forward Jonathan David added to The Guardian: “I think the biggest secret to our team is our coach. He came at a great time, right after the 2018 World Cup, so we had four years to prepare. One of the first things he told us was: ‘We’re going to qualify for the World Cup.’ Obviously at the beginning we didn’t know what to think because we hadn’t been to one for so long…He brought everybody together. And tactically he’s very detailed in what he wants and how he wants to achieve it.”
Herdman’s influence lies beyond just coaching his teams. He has spent years organising the game for entire regions and even in his current capacity is shaping Canadian football from youth level onwards.
It is not unreasonable to consider him one of the game’s deep thinkers.
“This man has something that most managers don’t and that’s his ability to actually connect with players and get the absolute best out of them,” Melissa Tancredi told The Guardian of her former Canada Women’s team coach.
“He’s a mastermind. I’ve never had, or heard of, a coach who is able to connect with players like he does. He’s an absolute beauty in terms of a motivator. He has that ability to calm the situation or bring it to where he needs to bring it, he’s a calibrator. You don’t really learn that, it’s something you’re innately given.”
How does he line up his team?
Herdman’s tactics have been very effective for Canada in recent years.
The Englishman has plenty of talent to work with and he has done his best to incorporate all of the key players into his squad.
But the 47-year-old has mixed youth with experience in his squad for the 2022 World Cup, with the likes of Jonathan David, Alphonso Davies, Ismael Kone and Tajon Buchanan mixing with older players like Atiba Hutchinson and Junior Hoilett.
Herdman opted for a 3-4-3 formation in their opening World Cup clash against Belgium on Wednesday.
They got off to a good start, though they passed up the opportunity to take the lead with a weak penalty early on and felt they should have had another one moments later before Michy Batshuayi put the Red Devils into the lead.
