Also not getting into Herdman conversation. I never liked how he had handled all the talent the team had and I think he was cringe. Now he's implicated in the drone controversy. Glad he's no longer coach.
You can think he's cringe, you can think he didn't handle the talent wisely (the majority of the talent never seemed to mind, however), you can hate him... and none of that changes the impact he has had on Soccer Canada.
When he took over the women's team, they were fresh off a last place World Cup finish, a time Christine Sinclair calls the low point of her career (Sinclair, the best player Soccer Canada has ever seen, loves Herdman, btw) and immediately won the Pan American Games, qualified for the Olympics, and then won bronze in London. He then guided them top spot in their group at the next World Cup, and won another bronze in Rio. He then takes over the men's team, gets them to a spot they've never been at in the world rankings, wins the Octagonal over the likes of Mexico and the USA, and gets Canada to it's first Men's World Cup in 36 years. The guy is one of the most influential people to ever be a part of Soccer Canada, possibly the most influential who is not a player. Even the talent liked him. Most of the women have only great things to say about him and many of the men came out immediately when he went to TFC to debunk any myth about how he was no longer wanted.
Should he still be the men's coach? No, he should not. He took them as far as he could and Marsch is far more tactically sound. But he took the men's team a long damn way, farther than anyone before him had. All after doing the same for the women.
So again, you can not want to get into the conversation about Herdman all you want, but it doesn't change what he means to football in this country. His influence is massive.
