Canada ekes out 2-1 win in Toronto against a tough team Panama

 

To the dismay of the 23,315 spectators who turned out on a chilly, windy October evening, nights like Tuesday at BMO Field will probably become more of the standard than the exception on the long and winding route to 2026.

Although it was difficult going for much of the match, Canada managed to win 2-1 against Panama, who is ranked one spot higher in FIFA. Jonathan David's late goal saved Canada's blushes.

Though head coach Jesse Marsch's team put out one of its less cohesive efforts in some time, Canada's World Cup, which opens on this field in less than two years, will offer more difficult opponents than Panama.

However, 20 months remain till the World Cup. With an eye toward next month's Nations League quarterfinal, where Canada will host the second leg on November 19 against an opponent yet to be announced, Tuesday night was more about commemorating the recent past. Nine of the eleven players who began the semi-final match against Argentina are pictured here, indicating that, as one might anticipate, the team's recent fourth-place performance at the Copa America last summer is still very much on their minds.

When the men's team played a game on Canadian territory for the first time since last November, Marsch finally felt the love from the home crowd after spending the first ten games of his time with the Canadian national team playing in Europe and the US.

Before the game, devoted Canadian employees Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David, and Richie Laryea were honored for reaching the 50-appearance milestone for their nation. However, over the majority of the first half, there were few smiles as Panama forced the Canadians to earn everything on their own.

However, Moise Bombito, whose exceptional summer campaign made it possible for him to join OGC Nice in France's Ligue 1, believed his club was more than capable of rising to the occasion.

“I think during Copa America, the whole backline played against really physical strikers,” he said. “So for us to be able to be in that environment for at least a month, a month and a half, and us to be able to play against another physical team like Panama, just it was just another day in the office for us.”

As might be expected for an all-CONCACAF friendly, the game was tetchy from the off, with consistent fouling the order of the day, particularly from the visitors. Panama, which had suffered a 2-0 road loss against the United States last weekend – in Mauricio Pochettino’s first game in charge of the Americans – were clearly in no mood to go home with a double dose of defeat.

One of the signature tenets of this Canadian squad under head coach Jesse Marsch is to match fire with fire, and many of the players – Laryea and Stephen Eustaquio in particular – are no strangers to soccer’s dark arts. It was something that stood them in good stead over the summer coming up against some of South America’s finest exponents of soccer simulation, and their patience was tested equally as much here.

With just a minute left in the half, the pressure finally paid off when the Panamanian back four gave in to Canada's intense pressure and coughed up the ball on the boundary of their own penalty area. The ball dropped invitingly to Ali Ahmed, a winger for the Vancouver Whitecaps who was earning his tenth cap. Ali Ahmed expertly rolled the ball into Larin's path, and the Real Mallorca striker only needed to side-foot the ball past Mosquera.

With his goal, Larin became the first Canadian player to join the 30-goal club for the national team and briefly overtook his international teammate David, who had 29 goals for his country.

Canada, which warmed up for this match with a match against CF Montreal selects when another international opponent could not be found, looked well off the form it had shown last month in beating the U.S. on American soil, as well as earning a draw with Mexico.

Marsch continued to shuffle, introducing Theo Bair for Larin with a little over 10 minutes to go, and the Auxerre forward almost won it late on with a looping header than forced a full-stretch save from Mosquera.

But the fans didn’t have to wait much longer, and David got brought BMO Field to its feet with three minutes left in regulation, redirecting a cross from Liam Miller into the corner far beyond the despairing dive of Mosquera.