Cyle Larin’s strike unleashed joy and saved Canada from the curse of ‘almost’ as Les Rouges secured their first point in men’s World Cup history. The 1-1 draw with Bosnia and Herzegovina lifted pressure on a team scarred by disappointment on the biggest stage.
A moment of relief
Ismaël Koné almost passed out. Cyle Larin was almost deafened. Seventy-eight minutes into a Friday lunchtime where “almost” looked like becoming a Canadian curse, the jarringly definitive nature of that one swivelling moment sparked an uproarious outpouring of emotion.
Until last week, Toronto Stadium was BMO Field. In his post-match press conference, Jesse Marsch’s head was still scrambled enough from the afternoon’s events that he tripped over the stadium’s name: “It doesn’t feel like the same BMO … I guess … you guys didn’t hear that,” Canada’s coach said.
No one has heard the home of Canadian football sound like it did when Larin lashed in his late equaliser to grab a first-ever men’s World Cup point for the tournament’s co-hosts. The wild joy, the depth-of-the-chest relief, and the vocal cords still stretched as brains began Group B mathematics and permutations all came out.
“Honestly, I felt like I was going to faint. It was crazy,” said Koné, whose slaloming run from the left sparked the breakthrough. “I felt like we did everything to give ourselves the chance to score. We were on top of them, we were pushing the game, we had momentum, we hit the bar. We deserved it. It was just a relief.”
Larin’s response to critics
Larin had been dropped to the bench for this long-awaited home opener, and he took just two minutes to prove his point after coming on. Wheeling away to the southwest corner, he put an index finger into each ear—not protecting his cochleae, but silencing critics.
“That’s for the fans, the reporters, and the journalists who say I shouldn’t have been where I’m supposed to be,” said Larin after the game. His first international goal in 18 months arrived when his country needed it most. “But I’ve always proved them wrong. And I did it again. Hopefully now they can shut up.”
Marsch’s tactical decisions
Marsch had reshuffled his attack after two insipid displays in warm-up games against Uzbekistan and Ireland. Larin and Jonathan David, Canada’s record scorer, hadn’t clicked, and the lack of finishing caused the coach to get cranky. “We’re going to score more goals,” Marsch insisted on Monday. “So I don’t have to put up with any more stupid questions from you guys.”
Marsch was 12 minutes away from a full press conference of questions he’d find stupid. Larin helped him avoid feeling foolish. David’s glaring early miss and otherwise ineffective performance was the biggest negative from an afternoon that ended with positivity. Tani Oluwaseyi, who replaced Larin in the starting XI, blazed an equally great opportunity over. On the hour, Marsch called David ashore to replace him with Promise David, chasing the game and those scoring demons. That lasted only 16 minutes until Larin was unleashed and did the business, thanks in part to a delicious flick from Promise David.
Marsch was asked if he hoped this would be the dam-buster for his entire attack. “On one level you can say the subs we made had a big impact so they were some good decisions,” he said. “But I gotta figure a way to get more out of the starters too.”
Looking ahead
Next, Canada jets across the country to Vancouver to play Qatar on Thursday. One luxury afforded the co-hosts is an extra day’s break between games. Marsch could use it as he weighs his options. He admitted Jonathan David “didn’t have his best day” but argued that Larin’s goal could spark a wider release.
“A home World Cup is a different occasion. It’s a different feel,” the American added. “I do think we’ll learn from this. Historically, it doesn’t matter if it’s Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia last World Cup or different scenarios where it starts tense. Then games come more to life and you see truer versions of teams.”
In the second half, when Canada built momentum, Alphonso Davies sat on a cooler on the edge of the home dugout, chin in hand. The captain needs time to recover from injury, as does defender Moïse Bombito.
Perhaps the greatest gift Larin delivered was time. The equaliser also gave Canada its moment of belonging at its own World Cup. “I haven’t scored in a while, but I knew it was coming,” he said. “I’ve always come up big when Canada needed me.”
