{"id":67103,"date":"2026-05-30T01:49:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T01:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/67103\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T01:49:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T01:49:14","slug":"richie-laryea-world-cup-profile-canada-toronto-fc-defender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/67103\/","title":{"rendered":"Richie Laryea: World Cup profile | Canada & Toronto FC defender"},"content":{"rendered":"

The veteran fullback brings energy and versatility to Canada<\/a>‘s roster as they look to make history at the 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Laryea is one of two MLS defenders on Canada’s roster alongside Joel Waterman<\/a> (Chicago Fire FC<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Age: 31
\nHometown: Toronto, Ontario<\/p>\n

\n MLS background<\/p>\n

After being selected in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft by Orlando City<\/a>, Laryea played 21 matches for the Lions before moving home with Toronto FC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now back with Toronto after brief stints at English side Nottingham Forest and Canadian rivals Vancouver Whitecaps FC<\/a>, Laryea has recorded 15g\/26a in 155 appearances across all competitions for TFC.<\/p>\n

\n Awards & stats<\/p>\n

15g\/20a in 166 MLS appearances
\n2025 MLS Comeback Player of the Year finalist<\/p>\n

\n International experience<\/p>\n

The 11th-most-capped player for Canada, Laryea brings ample experience to the World Cup.<\/p>\n

The fullback appeared in every game for Canada at the 2022 World Cup and 2024 Copa Am\u00e9rica<\/a>, helping earn a fourth-place finish at the latter tournament.<\/p>\n

Trusted by head coach Jesse Marsch, Laryea could be a key starter at this summer’s big tournament.<\/p>\n

\n World Cup schedule<\/p>\n

Canada\u00a0are in Group B alongside Bosnia & Herzegovina, Qatar and Switzerland.<\/p>\n

June 12:\u00a0Canada vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina, 3 pm ET | Toronto, Ontario
\nJune 18:\u00a0Canada vs. Qatar, 6 pm ET | Vancouver, British Columbia
\nJune 24:\u00a0Canada vs. Switzerland, 3 pm ET | Vancouver, British Columbia<\/p>\n

The 2026 World Cup has expanded from the usual 32 nations to 48 total. The top two teams advance from each group, and the top eight third-place finishers also make the knockout phase (Round of 32).<\/p>\n

The tournament, which is co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, spans from June 11 to July 19.<\/p>\n

\n World Cup history<\/p>\n

Canada have made two previous World Cup appearances (1986, 2022), exiting at the group stage without a point in each edition.<\/p>\n

\n How Canada qualified<\/p>\n

Canada earned automatic qualification as one of three tournament co-hosts, alongside Mexico and the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The veteran fullback brings energy and versatility to Canada‘s roster as they look to make history at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,28202,5380,1072,330,3543],"class_list":["post-67103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-player-profiles","tag-richie-laryea","tag-sendtonews","tag-toronto-fc","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}