The Canadian Soccer Association have announced friendlies against Qatar and Uruguay for the Men’s National Team in September.
Les Rouges will head to Vienna, Austria, for the double-header, first facing Qatar on September 23 before going up against South American giants Uruguay four days later.
The September window is the final international break before the CanMNT head to Qatar for their first World Cup since 1986 and second all-time.
“We have an opportunity to experience two FIFA World Cup opponents within a similar time frame as a FIFA World Cup schedule, so these two matches will provide our players and staff with a chance to rehearse our on- and off-the-field processes and systems aligned to the competition’s three-day turnaround,” head coach John Herdman said in a release.
“With the second match against Uruguay, it will be a genuine tier-one test given the depth and quality of their players which gives us an opportunity to evaluate our squad and our approach.”
This will be Canada’s first-ever meeting with Qatar, while they haven’t faced Uruguay since February 1986. The fixtures also see the CanMNT travel to Europe for the first time since March 2018.
Herdman’s men have been drawn alongside Belgium, Croatia, and Morocco in Group F and will be led by the likes of Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David, and Cyle Larin.
Canada begin their World Cup campaign against world No.2s Belgium on November 23.