The North American co-hosts open their World Cup campaigns today carrying a weight no amount of preparation can fully lift: the expectation of 400 million constituents. Canada's defensive crisis — Alphonso Davies unlikely, Moise Bombito ruled out, Ismael Koné battling fever — has reduced Jesse Marsch's tactical options at the worst possible moment. The 'Maplepress' system depends on athletic full-backs and a mobile double pivot. Without them, Canada faces Bosnia and Herzegovina's compact 4-2-3-1 with a patched-up backline and a single point of attacking reliance: Jonathan David.

“Structure is not tactics. Structure is what remains when the tactics fail.”