Canadian men's World Cup journey is about to get real

John Herdman, the coach of Canada’s men’s national soccer team, wears his worry on his face.

Speaking to reporters from his Slovakian hotel room last week — ahead of all-important friendlies against World Cup-host Qatar in Vienna on Friday (1 p.m. ET), and Uruguay in Bratislava, Slovakia on Tuesday (noon ET) — he appeared wan, anxious, not his usual exuberant self.

He admitted that lately his nights have been interrupted by more than jet lag.

“These last four months since June, there just seems to be so much happening,” he said. “Some super positive, and some things that, yeah, are keeping me up