Canada 5 Honduras 0
June 17 – Canada over the past six years have forced their way into Concacaf’s elite but have so often flattered to deceive. They are the team everyone quite likes but have never delivered the championship title their talent screams for. Re-adjust everyone.
Gold Cup 2025 could be the year they put the ‘nice guys’ moniker behind them forever.
Canada blew away a strong Honduras team at BC Place in Vancouver in a blitz of pace and power that left their opposition shellshocked. What made this more impressive was that Canada arguably left eight players on the bench who you would normally expect to start.
Tajon Buchanan showed why he is a class act with two goals, 22-year-old Niko Sigur showed what a talent he is, and Tani Oluwaseyi sent the message that there is a new goalscorer in town alongside the imperious goal machine Jonathan David, who didn’t score but was influential nonetheless.
Canada coach Jesse Marsch has promised his players will play at speed, will press high and will compete for every ball in every part of the pitch. Commitment is mandatory and nothing will be left uncontested. This wasn’t just high energy and speed, it came with skill, control, aggression and ruthlessness.
Watch out Mexico, this is a Canada like you have never seen before. Eat your heart out USA, if only you could find the same passion and single purpose.
Canada have put a marker down, and for every football fan who craves an all-action, no holds barred contest, this version of Canada is a must-see.
| Grp B | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 |
| El Salvador | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Curaçao | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Honduras | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
This was the fifth all-time meeting between Canada and Honduras in the Concacaf Gold Cup. Honduras holds the edge with two wins, one draw, and one defeat in the tournament’s history.
Canada opened with an urgency to their play, pressing high, and going toe-to-toe in the physical aspect of the game that a hard press requires. In Honduras they had a worthy and seasoned opponent.
Within a minute Canada had a freekick after Ali Ahmed was brought down by Deybi Flores on the edge of the box. The Mathieu Choiniere free kick found man-mountain Joel Waterman in the box but his attempt was wide.
It was high paced end-to-end football, driven by Canada’s determination to keep the intensity at fever pitch. With Nathan Saliba cutting out anything loose in the centre, Canada’s transition was electric.
Canada took the lead in the 26th minute – local Vancouver boy Sigur picked up the ball outside the box and played a 1-2 with David as he drove in and calmly sidefooted past Edrick Menjivar.
Canada grew in confidence. Buchanan fed Saliba who in turn fed David running in from a slightly deeper position only to sidefoot across the goal
Saliba was superb throughout with a work rate and reading of the game that saw him in all the right places at the right time.
On 36 minutes Canada should have been two up. With their intensity forcing another free kick – the eighth by that point in the game – Choiniere elegantly found Buchanan who should have headed home.
Chances for Canada were coming thick and fast and especially down the left hand side. Tani Oluwaseyi again cut the ball back inside to David who could not get a good enough connection to threaten the goal.
The half time break could not come soon enough for Honduras who had been outshot 8-1 by a rampaging Canada.
The ninth shot was a cracker and turned what could have been a half time sigh of relief for the Hondurans into a full-on groan.
Richie Laryea, ever present at both ends of the pitch, fed Oluwaseyi on the left who turned and swivelled to hammer the ball with pace and power across the goal past Menjivar.
There was to be no halftime reset for the Hondurans. Three minutes into the second half things went from bad to worse. The increasingly impressive Oluwaseyi, played down the left by David, hit the ball low across the box to Buchanan who rifled his shot back across the goal and past Menjivar – 3-0.
All three goals had come at speed and with lightening bolt finishes.
The Hondurans are no shrinking violets and on 50 minutes they had their best opportunity. Dayne Sinclair in Canada’s goal blocked Antony Lozano, Romell Quito’s follow up was blocked by Laryea. The resulting corner fell to Quito who toe-poked the ball into a diving St Clair. Nothing was falling right for the Hondurans.
Just after the hour mark Canada had their fourth. Choiniere’s corner fell loose to Buchanan who poked it in for his second.
On 75 minutes the Canadians had a fifth. Promise David, on a sub, evaded a despairing challenge 3m from the goalline to push the ball past Menjivar.
It wasn’t over for the Hondurans just yet. With the clock ticking towards the 90th minute Saliba was once again in the right place at the round time to round off an impressive night for the Canadians.
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