LIVE AT 2:30 MT Evacuation order issued for some Fort McMurray neighbourhoods as wildfire nears
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
Canada had just lost its first World Cup match in 36 years, outplaying Belgium for much of a 1-0 defeat, and an emotional John Herdman revealed in the on-field interview what he had just told his players during a postgame huddle.
"I told them they belong here. And we're going to go and F Croatia," the coach said with a smile, using a single letter to avoid a televised profanity. "That's as simple as it gets."
His words reveberated all the way to Zagreb as Sunday's Croatia-Canada game approached.
Croatia's 24 Sata (24 Hours) tabloid ran a fullpage photo of a naked Herdman with Maple Leaf flags over his mouth and private parts and a headline that translated to: "You have the mouth, but do you have the (guts) as well?"
Commenting Saturday on Herdman's words, Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic used the word "respect" 13 times in a 90-second span.
"This way of putting words together is not a sign of respect," he said through a translator. "The way we play, the way we behave and the way we respect all others are the reasons we are worthy of respect."
Sitting next to Dalic, winger Ivan Perisic said simply: "I second the head coach and I cannot wait for the match to begin."
Speaking before Dalic, Herdman used humour in an attempt to defuse tensions.
"When you get a text from your wife telling me you need to start working out before you get home, yeah, you think you know something's going on," Herdman said, noting the newspaper image was of a trimmer midsection than his own.
"My wife's coming after you guys," he told a reporter from that Croatian paper, laughing. "She wishes she got that guy. I've got a bit more of a belly than that. I've been eating too much."
On Thursday, Herdman had explained what his intent was.
"You say those things in an impassioned moment trying to inspire your team in a huddle, and when you're asked the question what you said in that huddle, yeah, it was what I said," he said.
"It's not massively respectful to Croatian people and the Croatian national team. I understand very well where they're at on the world stage. But in that moment, you've taken your men to that next place," he added.
Playing Croatia for the first time, Canada could be eliminated with another defeat.
Croatia, which lost the 2018 final to France, is the world's 12th-ranked team and opened with a 0-0 draw against Morocco. Star Luka Modric, playing what is likely his last World Cup at age 37, put a first-half shot over the crossbar.
Canada has played just four World Cup games in its history and still is searching for its first goal. The Canadians outshot the Belgians 21-9 but gave up a 44th-minute goal to Michy Batshuayi from a long pass. Alphonso Davies had a chance to put Canada ahead in the 11th minute but his penalty kick was saved by goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
"We know exactly what our slingshot is and we've got to be ready to attack that across different games now because, as I say, the cover's off from Canada," Herdman said. "I think people come into this game, the next games respecting us a little bit more."
Captain Atiba Hutchinson, at 39 the only member of the current roster alive when Canada went 0-3 at the 1986 World Cup, can make his 100th international appearance Sunday -- Julian de Guzman is second with 89.
Midfielder Jonathan Osorio is looking forward to facing the last World Cup's runner-up.
"We like to play the best," he said after the Belgium match. "We're excited for the challenge."
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health is stepping down.
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
Saskatchewan RCMP have revealed that a historic sexual assault investigation has led to the discovery of alleged crimes against children dating back to 2005.
An American accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania college student in 2013 and later sending her a Facebook message that said, 'So I raped you,' has been detained in France after a three-year search.
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Ontario Provincial Police are responding to a fatal collision involving two vehicles on Highway 417 in Ottawa's west end on Tuesday morning.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.