John Herdman has turned a new chapter in his Canadian soccer legacy leaving the men’s national team and accepting the Head Coaching role for Toronto FC.

Mauro Biello will serve as interim head coach for the national team. He has served as an assistant coach with the men’s team since March 2018. Canada Soccer says Herdman will work with Biello through the month of September. Canada is scheduled to play Japan on Oct. 13 in Niigata.

The 48-year-old, English-born Herdman took over the men's national team in January 2018 and led it to Canada's first World Cup appearance since 1986, when it played in the Qatar tournament in November. While the team went 0-3 in its group matches and did not advance, it did manage to do something the '86 team did not: score a goal at the event.

Herdman was lauded for the team's World Cup qualification run, as the team posted a record of eight wins, four draws and just two losses, edging out both the U.S. and Mexico for the top spot in its regional group. The run included a historic 2-1 victory over Mexico on a frosty night in Edmonton on Nov. 16, 2021.

His exit is another crushing blow to a national sports federation that’s had itself entangled this year in financial problems, governance issues and labour disputes with its national team players over resources and gender equity. Now a prominent coach is leaving, just three years before Canada Soccer co-hosts the men’s World Cup.

Herdman started with the women's national team in 2011, leading them to the 2015 World Cup quarterfinals, sandwiched by a pair of Olympic bronze medals in London and Rio in 2012 and 2016, respectively.

In Toronto FC, Herdman inherits a team that has just three league wins on the season, to go with 10 draws and 13 losses and is tied for last place in MLS with 19 points. The club's last win was on May 27th. But what a catch for TFC. Now Mr. Herdman is tasked with returning the pro side to its former prestige. TFC won the MLS Cup in 2017 and was runner-up in 2016 and 2019.

While not mathematically eliminated from the postseason, TFC is the last-place team in the Eastern Conference, with 19 points from 26 matches. It’s safe to say we will wait until next year to begin to see the real effects Herdman has on Toronto FC.