‘Goalkeeper union’ strong as Crépeau, St. Clair vie to be Canada’s No. 1 at World Cup

CHARLOTTE — When Dayne St. Clair closes his eyes, he can clearly picture Canada’s first World Cup game on home soil.

He can see red-clad fans packing the stadium in Toronto, hear the roar of the crowd and feel what it will be like to walk out onto the field.

“I think about locking arms with my teammates and singing the national anthem, and looking into the crowd and hearing everyone sing it together, and just know that I’m representing something that’s way bigger than just myself,” the Canadian goalkeeper said.

He can picture himself playing in that game June 12 against Bosnia and Herzegovina too, although head coach Jesse Marsch has yet to reveal who will be Canada’s No. 1 netminder for the tournament.

Canada has two solid keepers in St. Clair, Major League Soccer’s reigning goalkeeper of the year, and Maxime Crépeau, who backstopped Canada to a fourth-place finish at the 2024 Copa America.

Determining a starter won’t be easy, Marsch admitted at training camp in Charlotte, N.C. this week.

“I’ll be tormented by telling one of them they’re not the goalkeeper for the World Cup,” he said.

“Things are really close. I don’t know that I’m prepared to make a decision but I’m going to have to … I think that whatever decision we make will be the right one because they’re both high-quality and they’ve both performed at the highest level possible for the national team.”

The goalkeepers were well aware the looming decision is a tight one.

“Normally you have a clear starter, clear No. 2, clear No. 3,” St. Clair said. “This has been probably the closest one that I’ve seen where there’s been a battle for the No. 1 spot.”

After time with Montreal, Vancouver, Los Angeles and Portland in MLS, the 32-year-old Crépeau is now the starter for Orlando City, which held a 4-9-2 record heading into the World Cup break.

Hailing from Candiac, Que., the goalkeeper has recorded 11 clean sheets in 30 appearances for the senior national team.

A horrific injury kept him off the 2022 World Cup roster.

Just weeks before the tournament, Crépeau fractured his leg while playing for Los Angeles FC in the MLS Cup final. Surgery and months of gruelling rehabilitation followed.

Getting named to Canada’s 26-player roster Friday meant a lot, he said.

“I’m super happy. I’m thinking about my family, the near ones that went through with me, the injury, missing out,” Crépeau said. “I’m just super happy because, yes, my name is in there, but it’s about them as well.”

St. Clair earned goalkeeper of the year honours with Minnesota United last season before signing with MLS champion Inter Miami.

Getting to know a new system came with challenges, said the 29-year-old from Pickering, Ont., but St. Clair also believes the move made him a more well-rounded keeper as he now plays behind a team less focused on defending.

“I knew I’d be going to a new system and I knew that there was going to be some challenges, especially at the beginning. So it wasn’t something I was surprised about,” he said of the move to Miami. “But I think I’ve come out of it better and peaking at the right time.”

St. Clair has 19 appearances and nine clean sheets for Canada.

He also has World Cup experience, having backed up veteran Milan Borjan in Qatar where Canada went 0-3 in group play.

St. Clair knows what it takes to be in a goalkeeper tandem in the globe’s biggest soccer showcase.

“You want to represent the country, and that means that you want the guys that are on the field to feel supported, to be in the moments that they can put their best foot forward,” St. Clair said. “Because at the end of the day, we’re going to be judged as a team. You’re not going to be judged as an individual.”

With just one starting spot up for grabs, many people assume the two Canadian keepers have a tense relationship, St. Clair said, but that’s simply not the case.

The pair actually have a good relationship, he said, and both athletes know they’re competing for something bigger than themselves — and that they need one another to get there.

“If we don’t train well together, neither of us get better,” St. Clair said.

“When we talk about the (goalkeeper) union, it’s definitely a together thing. And you’ve definitely seen both of us giving each other pointers or things that we see, because sometimes when you’re on the field, it’s hard to see. Or sometimes you’re on the bench, you can see a couple different things. So in order to be able to give those little tactical points or things that we see in order to support each other.”

Outsiders might make a big deal out of who Canada’s No. 1 goalkeeper will be, but Crépeau said he and his teammate are focused on preparing for the World Cup.

“We’ve got to know one another off the field as well and we’ve got to know what works for us when we’re playing, when we’re not playing, pushing one another, preparing one another for all the situations, basically,” he said.

“We know ourselves pretty well and there’s a mutual respect there because, obviously we’re good guys, but we care for one another at the end of the day. It’s something that’s very healthy within our group.”

When a decision will be made on Canada’s starter remains unclear.

Marsch said each goalkeeper will each play 45 minutes Monday in Edmonton where Canada takes on Uzbekistan in a friendly tune-up.

“And then we’ll see what we do after that,” the coach said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2026.

Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press