This Canadian men's team, which has not participated in the World Cup since 1986, is now in a leading position in the regional qualifiers.

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This week’s men’s football match between Canada and Mexico at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton was Canada’s pinnacle. At minus 9 degrees Celsius and snow around the stadium, Canada won 2-1 and ranked among the best in the World Cup regional qualifiers.

Although Canada has long been a powerhouse in women's football, few people predict that Canadian men will be in this position. I asked Rory Smith, the chief football correspondent of The Times, how unexpected results were received elsewhere, and what's next for the team.

By the way, Rory has a football newsletter. He told me that its Canadian readers often email him, hoping to cover Canadian football more. If you want to join this business and benefit from reading his wise views on beautiful games, please register.

We edited our conversation for length and clarity.

Can you introduce the position of the Canadian team in the football world?

Canada has not participated in the World Cup since 1986. From a European perspective, I think we don’t necessarily expect Canada to qualify for the competition, and we certainly don’t want Canada to be particularly ahead of Mexico.

But for a country that has not participated in the World Cup for such a long time, not only is it eligible to qualify, but it is currently in pole position, which is impressive. In some ways, Canada is the most surprising and possibly the most interesting team.

Is this a problem that the Canadian team is doing well or the other teams can't keep up?

Honestly, there are both.

In my opinion, Mexico is a bit stagnant. They lost to the United States and Canada, and their points were not as many as you thought.

The United States has a team that may perform well in 2026, but they seem to have encountered some difficulties.

Momentum is gathering around Canada, especially because they not only have one but two outstanding players, Alfonso Davis and Jonathan David. Canada has never trained such a player before. This is a major change.

[Read: Alfonso Davis wants to share his story]

So is Davis and David a real deal?

Davis, of course. Davis will become one of the best players on the planet, 10 years from now. He is a frequent visitor to Bayern Munich, which is one of the top five club teams in the world. He has won the Champions League.

David was slightly behind in his development, but he performed well in the Champions League and scored some key goals.

Around Davis and David, there is a supporting role that is improving.

What is the level of coaching in Canada?

Coach John Hedman, he is an Englishman from the women's team.

What is really interesting about Canada is that for a long time, it has been a women's football country that has attracted more attention than men's football.

I don't know the answer to this question, but I do want to know that the lessons learned from the women's game and the practice developed by the elite country of women's football have broken through to the men's side. I don’t know of other examples where coaches have switched from international women’s teams to international men’s teams.

What shocked me was that this must have had some impact on his ability to cope with tournament qualifications.

Are cold, heavy snow, and Edmonton a factor in the victory over Mexico?

Playing in the snow shouldn’t be so easy, right? But if you are in Mexico, you are racing at a high altitude. If you are in Honduras, El Salvador or Costa Rica, the weather is likely to be hot and humid. The climate of many countries in the world has an impact on the opposition and even the style of the game.

Maybe there is nothing wrong with using it to your advantage. All home games in Bolivia are played in La Paz. I played football in La Paz. This is basically impossible because you cannot breathe.

Teams sometimes do their best to ensure that these hostile conditions apply where they can. Mexico can play in many places at sea level, but they don't.

Qualifying in Canada will resume at the end of January. What will happen next?

There are still six games in their qualifying round, so it's not certain yet. There is still not much room for error because it is very compact at the top. So it may fall to the last few games.

Although Canada may be better than Honduras and El Salvador, these places are not easy to visit. The conditions are difficult and the masses are hostile. Even the United States and Mexico are struggling in these countries.

They should aim for automatic qualification and enter the top three, which is within their grasp. And I think they have to crash very badly to finish the game below fourth. If they need it, they will get a redo.

If they are eligible, I don't want them to win the World Cup-I don't think they should be overwhelmed. But getting there is the main thing for Canada, because it has been a long time. If you go to the World Cup and you have a well-organized team with two outstanding players and look like Canada, then you should not think that this will be a humiliating experience.

After the summer heat disaster killed 595 people and burned down the entire town, British Columbia is in the midst of another weather-related disaster, which once again has a disproportionate impact on the interior. As of Friday afternoon, 17,000 people have left their homes and one person has been confirmed dead. As the floods recede and clean-up and recovery operations expand, I am afraid that more victims will be discovered. The story is far from over, we will continue to report on it.

Newfoundland Bonavista’s main export product used to be its people. But my colleague Dan Bilefsky recently visited the town to meet new immigrants who are now moving from a large Canadian city to Atlantic Canada. He also got the local people's views on "people from outsiders".

President Biden, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador met in Washington this week. Although they emerged from the meeting to show a united front, none of the three leaders seemed to get what they wanted on the issue of splitting the three trading partners.

Aboriginal writer Lee Maracle is an early and aggressive critic of Canadian colonial history and its treatment of the first people at the age of 71. ," said Daniel Justis, professor of indigenous literature at the University of British Columbia.

While the government has cancelled testing requirements for Canadians returning from fast cross-border excursions, some Canadians are sharing their views on Covid-19 nasal swabs. The government has also approved Pfizer BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine for use in children aged 5 to 11.

Ian Austen was born in Windsor, Ontario, was educated in Toronto, lives in Ottawa, and has been covering Canada for the New York Times for the past 16 years. Follow him on Twitter @ianrausten.

How about us? We are eager to know what you think about this newsletter and general events in Canada. Please send them to nytcanada@nytimes.com.

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