On Wednesday, Canada played its first game of the 2022 World Cup against the team ranked #2 in the world -- Belgium. And despite losing the game 1-0, Canada absolutely dominated and, in the process, sent a powerful message to the world: Canada is no joke. Our team here at The Lead is off enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday, so today we're replaying an episode that first aired back in January, about the rise of soccer in hockey-crazy Canada. The Athletic's Joshua Kloke joined us to talk about the sport's rapid increase in popularity, the men's team's so-called "golden generation" of players, and how the team's coach, John Herdman, made the relatively rare leap from women's soccer to men's.

More from Josh Kloke: https://theathletic.com/author/joshua-kloke/

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