The friendly international that Canada will play against Romania at the National Arena in Bucharest this evening will give their head coach Jesse Marsch an opportunity to experiment a little as he builds towards next summer’s World Cup finals.
As one of the tournament’s host nations along with Mexico and the United States, the visitors have no need to go through the qualification process. So matches like the one tonight are far from meaningless for them.
Marsch, the former Red Bull Salzburg, RB Leipzig and Leeds United manager, could be tempted to hand a debut to his young Charlotte full-back Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty in the injury-enforced absence of Alistair Johnston of Celtic.
He may, too, want to see what kind of shape Hibernian winger Junior Hoilett, who is the grand old age of 35 now, is in at some stage during the course of the 90 minutes.
However, the chances are that the American will keep faith with Derek Cornelius, the Marseille centre-half who moved to Rangers on a season-long loan on transfer window deadline day this week, in the heart of his four man rearguard.
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The defender has very much been one of his go-to-guys during his 15-month tenure.
Ewan Sharp - the Stirling-born Scot who has previously worked as an analyst and coach at New York Red Bulls, Lokomotiv Moscow, Manchester United and Leeds United in the past and is now a key member of the Canada backroom team – knows exactly why.
“Derek is a good player and a good guy,” said Sharp following a final training session in Bucharest yesterday. “He's very good on the ball, has a nice left foot. That was a big reason why De Zerbi (Marseille manager Roberto) went after him last year.
“De Zerbi likes his centre-backs to be like quarterbacks, to build play, to dictate the tempo of the game, to be able to break lines. But they have to be good at covering the space in behind because they'll play risky passes at times. They have to be switched on in transition moments and to defend aggressively as well.
“Derek's a good fit for all of that. He is left-footed, he is a nice passer and he can break lines. But he's also athletic so he can cover space in behind.
“Our way of playing football at Canada is, a lot of the time anyway, about defending really aggressively, defending with a high back line, playing forward quickly, breaking lines quickly and playing in transition. Derek's been a big part of that for us. He can play that way.
“Straight away, we were excited about the centre-back partnership that we had with Derek and Moise Bombito. Moise was playing for Colorado to begin with, but he has since got a move to Nice. We had a righty in Bombito and then a lefty in Cornelius. So for us that was exciting.
“He had a really good Copa America with us last summer. We went all the way to the semi-final and he was a big part of that. He got a move to Marseille off the back of his performances in the United States. Both of our centre-backs ended up in France actually.”
But does former East Stirlingshire and Stirling Albion youth player Sharp believe that Cornelius will be well suited to Scottish football?
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Does he think the 27-year-old can help to shore up a porous Rangers backline which has kept just three clean sheets in the 11 competitive games they have played so far in what has been a desperately disappointing 2025/26 campaign to date?
Sharp has no doubts at all that the defender will be a regular starter in Russell Martin’s side both at home and abroad in the coming months.
“It’s going to be exciting for us to see how he does in Scotland,” said the Canada assistant coach. “But personally I think he'll do well.
“It's always a challenge for players when they step into an atmosphere like Ibrox, but Derek's experienced that with his previous clubs and with his country. Marseille is one of the toughest places to play in France.
“Despite the fact that he's going out on loan now, he had a lot of games there last season. He played over 20 games in Ligue 1. He has plenty of experience with a team which is pushing to be a top team in Ligue 1 again, which wants to challenge for the title.
“They have added a lot of players and I think that for Derek that meant that he was going to have a slightly more limited role and might play less this season than he did last season. Derek is thinking about the World Cup. He wants to play regularly, to challenge and push himself and he felt that a move to Rangers would be good for him.
“I think he will be prepared for the kind of challenge it is at Rangers. He also won the Swedish title at Malmo before he moved to Marseille. So it shouldn't be daunting for him. When things are difficult and you're not winning games, it's always hard for the players. If they make a mistake or have a tough game, it becomes a challenge.
Sharp continued, “At Rangers, there will be a mix of games. In some games they're going to have more of the ball and teams are going to try to play on the counter against them. I think Russell Martin wants Derek to play out from the back and break lines. But he’s also able to play aggressively and use his athleticism and defensive skills to put out fires as well.
“I’ve spoken to Derek and he's excited about going to the club. He spoke with Russell and other people at Rangers and he felt they were really keen to get him in, really excited about adding him to the squad. He felt a lot of love from them and was excited about the opportunity he was going to get there. They felt he would be a big part of their team this season.”
Cornelius was charged with nullifying the threat posed by Argentinian great Lionel Messi not once but twice in the Copa America finals in the United States last summer – Canada met the World Cup winners first in the group stages and then again in the semi-finals.
The South Americans ran out deserved 2-0 victors on both occasions. But Sharp was pleased with how the Canucks centre-half personally and the defence collectively coped with the considerable challenge of facing a man many believe is the greatest footballer of all time.
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“To be honest, when you are up against Argentina and Messi you watch the game and you think, ‘Well, we kept him quiet for big parts of the match, we were aggressive on him, we didn’t give him time on the ball’,” he said. “But afterwards you step away and realise he made a couple of plays which led to goals.
“That's just the kind of player that he is. He doesn't need the ball 10 times. If he gets it just once in a good pocket of space he can find a solution. But we were pleased with the way we played in both of those matches even though we lost both of them. The first game especially. In the second game, in the semi-final, we looked tired. But we decided as a coaching staff not to rotate because we felt they have earned the right to play.”
He added, “Derek played well throughout the Copa America and did well in those games against Argentina. We felt he was good and our backline was solid. Our defence is a big building block for our team – Alistair, Moise, Derek and Alphonso (Bayern Munich left-back Davies). It's really strong, they've been excellent.
“We’re confident the backline we have just now will be the backline we have at the World Cup if everyone stays fit and healthy and has a good season. I think it is fair to say that Derek is the man in possession of the jersey. It’s his position to lose. If he performs the way we know that he can and has a good season at Rangers then he will keep his place.”
