While proud of his accomplishments with the national team, Julian de Guzman only sees positives in the fact that his record for men’s Canadian caps is about to be broken.
For one, the player approaching the 89-cap mark is Atiba Hutchinson.
“We go back a long way, … He’s like a brother to me,” said de Guzman, who retired in January 2017 after a stellar career in France, Germany, Greece and Spain as well as North America.
“I think he’s a great example of what a career should look like … So for him to be the guy to break this record, I mean you couldn’t ask for a better person to do it,” he added.
De Guzman, who also expects Cyle Larin or Jonathan David to surpass Dwayne De Rosario’s scoring mark of 22 goals, considers seeing such records fall shows Canadian soccer is headed in the right direction.
“I’ve told this to many players, from [Jonathan] Osorio to [Sam] Piette, Richie Laryea, Doneil Henry, I’ve always said, ‘Hey, these records, if they don’t get broken, then that means we’re not going to the World Cup,”‘ said de Guzman, who now doubles as a TV pundit and co-owner of League One Ontario’s Simcoe County Rovers FC.
“The moment these things are broken, those are all good signs pointing towards Qatar [2022], that’s pointing towards, ‘Now this is a Canadian men’s national team that plays and performs in World Cups.’ These are good signs.”
And records are meant to be broken. Before de Guzman, there was Paul Stalteri (84 caps). And before him, Randy Samuel (82).
‘Not something I was keeping in the back of my mind’
The 38-year-old Hutchinson, who is a beloved captain at Turkey’s Besiktas where Larin also plays, is on 88 caps ahead of Canada’s World Cup qualifiers in Edmonton. He’ll also be Canada’s captain for the match.
Canada, presently ranked 48th in the world, plays No. 45 Costa Rica on Friday and No. 9 Mexico on Nov. 16, both at Commonwealth Stadium.
Hutchinson, on his fifth World Cup qualifying campaign, is not big on records or personal accolades.
“It’s not something I was keeping in the back of my mind and really pushing for,” he told a virtual availability Monday from Edmonton. “Obviously now I’m very close to it so there’s been a little bit more thought put into it.”
Hutchinson was happier to talk about de Guzman, saying how much he respected his fellow midfielder — and appreciated his game.
“I was more looking forward to just being part of what’s going on here with the national team still,” he added. “When I get the chance to get another game to be equal with Julian, it would be a great achievement, of course. To play that many games and to be the … leader for Canada would mean a lot to me.”
Christine Sinclair is Canada’s all-time leader in caps with 306. She tops the world in goal-scoring with 188.
A long line of Canadian coaches — John Herdman is his eighth senior Canada coach — have recognized Hutchinson’s talent. Hutchinson has started in 87 of his 88 senior appearances.
“Atiba is our best player,” then-coach Canada Benito Floro said in 2014. “He is the best player in Besiktas.”
