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Octavio Zambrano confirmed as Canada Men's National Team head coach

The former MetroStars manager is Canada's coach now.

Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

The winningest head coach in MetroStars (and, therefore, New York Red Bulls) history, Octavio Zambrano was confirmed as the new manager of the Canada Men's National Team on Friday, March 17.

The announcement was not unexpected, and Zambrano wasted no time in getting himself in front of Canada's soccer media to introduce himself.

He won't formally coach his first game for the Canada MNT until it starts preparations for this summer's Gold Cup in June, but Zambrano will watch the team play Scotland in an international friendly on March 22. The roster for the game will have the first shot at impressing the new head coach and penciling themselves in for the Gold Cup.

The summer tournament doesn't have to go all that well for Canada for it to face the USA in the quarterfinals. If all goes according to pre-tournament expectations, the USMNT is expected to win Group B, booking a place against the third-placed team from Group A or Group C.

Canada looks a decent bet to finish third in Group A: behind Costa Rica and Honduras, but perhaps ahead of French Guiana. There's a little more to it than simply finishing third for Canada to play the USA, but it looks one of the more likely match-ups.

A Canada-USA Gold Cup match would see Zambrano face another former RBNY head coach - Bruce Arena is now reinstalled at the helm of USMNT.