Canada Soccer tickets for FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in Edmonton on sale Friday

Team Canada soccer craze sweeps Edmonton Soccer Canada says tickets are selling fast for world cup qualifying matches next month. Ryan Harding reports.

EDMONTON — General ticket sales for Canada's World Cup Qualifiers in November at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium are set to go on sale later this morning.

The Canadian men's national team will face Costa Rica on Nov. 12 and Mexico on Nov. 16.

More than 13,000 tickets for each game have already been snapped up in advanced ticket sales.

"It's a team that's ready, willing, and able to do everything they can for our country to qualify. You can see it on the pitch. It resonates every time they are together," said Peter Montopoli with Canada Soccer.

"I hope you get to see that and everybody in the city of Edmonton and Alberta gets to see what we have to offer fort he strongest men's national team we've had."

The two-match set will be a homecoming for the team's star player, Alphonso Davies, who was born in Ghana but grew up in Edmonton before reaching the heights of world soccer stardom

The Bayern Munich left back scored an impressive goal against Panama in Canada's 4-1 in Toronto this month.

“We have always had great crowds in Edmonton, and we’re looking forward to our Canadian fans creating a sea of red at Commonwealth Stadium,” said John Herdman, Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team head coach.

“It will be special for Alphonso to have the opportunity to play in his hometown and we are anticipating that the weather will be an added factor in these matches to help us build our fortress for these all important battles on the pitch.”

Canada are third in the CONCACAF qualifiers behind Mexico and the United States. The top three teams will qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and the fourth-place team will enter a play-off round.

Canada has not qualified for the World Cup since 1986. The closest the team has come since was in 1993 when they narrowly lost to Australia in a two-game play-off that would've seen Canada advance to another do-or-die showdown to qualify.

Fans will have to prove they are vaccinated or show a negative COVID-19 test to attend the matches at Commonwealth Stadium.