It was a celebratory return to Canadian soil for the senior men’s national team on Oct. 15, defeating Panama 2-1 in an international friendly in Toronto, playing in their first home match of 2024.
Jonathan David’s 87th-minute goal stood as the winner, as the 24-year-old striker continues his impressive run — scoring his fourth goal in his last eight games for Canada — which includes a pair of goals at this summer’s Copa America where the Canadians finished fourth.
“It felt really good, especially with not a lot of time left,” said David after the game. “Obviously, we wanted to win here; it’s been a long time since we’ve been here, so I think it was important for us to win and I’m happy that I got the goal.”
David’s winning goal which was the 30th of his international career, tied teammate Cyle Larin for most in the history of the men’s national team, who also scored his 30th Canadian goal in the game.
After a successful Canadian press forced a Panamanian turnover, Ali Ahmed found an open Larin in the box who roofed it past goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera — who made eight saves in the match — to give the Canadians the 1-0 lead in the 44th minute.
“Cyle (Larin) is in a good way in his career right now. He plays more at Mallorca (in Spain’s La Liga), scoring at Mallorca, he’s a bigger part of what they’re doing,” said head coach Jesse Marsch, who was coaching his first home game in Canada as the leader of the men’s program.
Marsch’s philosophy since becoming head coach of the national team in May 2024, has been to develop younger players in anticipation of the CONCACAF Gold Cup next summer and ultimately the 2026 FIFA World Cup which will be co-hosted by Canada.
In fulfilling his mission, Jamie Knight-Lebel, Kwasi Poku and Santiago Lopez were all named to the Canadian squad for the first time, with Poku — who formerly played at Hamilton’s Forge FC of the Canadian Premier League — making his international debut off the bench.
“It was a great feeling to get my debut but an even better feeling to get the win,” said Poku. “It was definitely physically demanding.”
The match’s physical nature and intensity picked up in the second half, especially with Panama’s Jose Fajardo levelling the game at one in the 69th minute after a turnover in the midfield by Canada.
But despite the miscue, Marsch remains positive, using the match as a lesson for his young squad as they prepare for the games ahead.
“It was nice to see that when the game wasn’t so easy, we rose to the challenge,” added Marsch. “We actually got better after it was 1-1, and I thought that was our best stretch of the game.”
The Canadians outshot Panama 15-6 in the match with 10 shots on goal compared to Panama’s one and controlled 54 per cent of the possession.
Canada now has two wins and a draw in their past three international friendlies since Copa America, beating the United States 2-1 on Sept. 7 and drawing 0-0 with Mexico on Sept. 10, as they now rank second in CONCACAF — behind Mexico and ahead of the U.S. — approaching the November international window.
In that window, the Canadians will face Suriname (seventh-ranked in CONCACAF) in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Nations League with the first leg on Nov. 14 in Suriname and the second leg in Toronto on Nov. 19.
For more information on the Canadian men’s senior national team, head to canadasoccer.com.