Move over hockey, Canada is quickly becoming a soccer country. Cyle Larin moved past Dwayne De Rosario for sole possession of the Canadian Men’s goal scoring record, netting his 23rd career tally for the home side as Canada defeated the US 2-0.
It was a frigid day at Tim Horton’s Field in Hamilton, ON as the 40th ranked Canucks downed their cross border rivals in CONCACAF competition. The Americans came into the match ranked 11th in the world, but were soundly outplayed by a Canadian squad missing their best player in Alphonso Davies. Prior to today, Canada hadn’t beaten the US in World Cup qualifying since 1980.
Tickets for the event sold out on the first day they were available, however organizers were forced to void the first sale and open a second smaller offering owing to pandemic restrictions. In front of a reduced capacity crowd of 12,000 fans, the Canadian Men took advantage of the opportunities they were given in the victory.
While the US dominated possession numbers in the first half, they weren’t able to muster much in terms of legitimate scoring chances. Sam Adekugbe added an insurance goal in the 95th minute to send the home crowd into a frenzy, and ice the game for Canada.
The two sides previously tied 1-1 in Nashville when they last met. The win moves Canada to 6-0-4 (22pts) in qualifiers, while the Americans could now see Mexico move past them for 2nd place in the standings pending the result of their next game.
John Herdman’s team is now 12-0-4 since last March in World Cup Qualifiers. Depending on what happens in other matchups, Canada could mathematically clinch a spot in Qatar 2022 as early as Wednesday if they’re able to beat El Salvador.
The top 3 teams in the group will automatically qualify for the World Cup whereas the 4th place team will need to win further qualifiers to punch their ticket. With only 4 matches remaining in CONCACAF qualifiers, Canada is now tantalizingly close to securing the nation’s 2nd ever World Cup birth and first since 1986.
Canada travels to El Salvador for their final game of the current International window on Wednesday.