It’s early days, but Octavio Zambrano has made progress in a number of areas since being appointed Canada coach back in May.
At the Gold Cup, he oversaw the breakout performance of Alphonso Davies and coaxed the best out of Scott Arfield, who needed to be Canada’s top player and was. Lucas Cavallini and Atiba Hutchinson have both returned to the fold and the roles of young players such as Michael Petrasso and Anthony Jackson-Hamel have successfully been increased.
Zambrano comes across as calm and astute, as interested in the long-term picture as the short and all in all, a good fit for the men’s national team in its current state.