Canada’s Spanish boss guarantees final four appearance at 2015 Gold Cup. Captain De Guzman adds full backing to the ‘Floro project’.

Perhaps buoyed by the best Canadian showing of his tenure in Friday’s 1-1 draw against Bulgaria here in Austria, Benito Floro offered a bold proclamation on Monday morning.

The Spanish coach overtly stated that his goal was to take Canada all the way to the semi-finals at the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

See also: A goal, and a step on the road to recovery

Floro stated that the “first stage” of his restructuring of the Canadian team will come to an end at the final whistle of tomorrow’s friendly against Moldova. Adding that from that point forwards the staff, and team will be “focused on the Gold Cup and to prepare the team to qualify for the semi-final and final.”

An ambitious goal, it has to be said. But for a man of Floro’s credentials in the football world, it comes as no surprise that he backs himself to succeed.

Creditable CV or not, for a Men’s National Team that has failed to get out of its group in either of the last two tournaments, and that failed to score a goal from open play in either of those editions of the confederation championship – the guarantee of a final-four finish in 2015 will likely come across to Canadian supporters as quite the statement to be making at this point.

But at a time when there is no shortage of naysayers back in Canada about the lack of quality in the national team, the side’s Spanish boss offered some outright praise of the group of players he has inherited.

“Technically they are good players,” he said. “They control and pass the ball in good condition, with no problems.”

Floro also praised the “physical quality” of the Canadian side, adding that if more players were able to get regular minutes at club level that it would only benefit the squad’s overall physical condition as they gear up for their return to competitive action.

It seems, for Floro that the bulk of the work required to overhaul a Canadian side that has struggled to impress in the last 19 months lies within the minds of the Canadian players themselves.

“For me it is more (important) to speak about the mental, competitive and psychological conditions – and about the desire they show when playing the game,” he said speaking freely without his customary step-by-step assistance from his interpreter.

“The strategy and tactical plan is also very important.”

To say that Floro obsesses over the small details of the tactical plan would be an understatement.

Canada spent the majority of its Monday training session going over every inch of the side’s positional plan for set pieces and key moments of distribution.

If his predecessor Stephen Hart can be said to have ushered in a free-spirited, ‘let them play’ attitude to the team in the hopes of bolstering its meagre creative instincts – Floro is taking a diametrically opposite approach.

It seems more a matter of ‘horses for courses’ under Floro, and the Spanish boss is taking the belief that if this team has any hope of succeeding, it will have to do so on the back of an intricately balanced tactical plan, with nothing left to chance.

As he sat in an elevated position in the stand at Monday morning’s training session, bringing the play to a halt at every single moment that someone’s positioning failed to please him – you could sense the frustration of a playing staff that are obviously unaccustomed to these types of methods.

But given a moment to cool down from the aggravation of not being able to play freely in training some of the squad’s key members will speak in glowing terms about the ethos of their new coach.

“The last time I remember having this kind of a feeling in the dressing room was in a certain period with Stephen Hart where we just felt unbreakable,” said current Canadian captain Julian De Guzman.

“That feeling is slowly coming back again."

“What Benito has done this time, is not just bring in the right group of players but he’s also brought in the right approach to each game and to each practice, with such professionalism.

Safe to say that De Guzman, a fluent Spanish speaker, is relishing the continued leadership role that he has been granted under the new regime.

He continued…

“This team’s approach is becoming more complete."

“You can see it coming together, where guys are on the same page. If we go down a goal? No problem. Tactically, we know what we’ve been working on the entire week."

“This type of approach is huge turning point for us,” De Guzman stated.

There are perhaps others in the squad, who without De Guzman’s Spanish cultural understanding, are struggling to fully come to grips with the Floro way as naturally – but unanimously the squad has given its full public backing to the new regime.

It is one thing, however, to speak of positives after a good performance but still without a win in the six matches under Floro, this Canadian team needs to start delivering wins if they are going to be convince supporters to get back on the bandwagon as they approach next summer’s Gold Cup.

The manager may have guaranteed a top four finish this morning, but Canadian fans know that to get this country all the way to the final four at that tournament will take something special, and after the side’s recent appalling spell, they’re not likely to believe it before they can see it.

Floro, and his Canadian troops, can start to turn sceptics into believers with a win tomorrow evening against Moldova. Anything less and the doubt will linger on through a long summer until Canada’s next action against Jamaica in Toronto in September.