It hadn’t been a full week yet since Canada began their Octagonal journey, and yet, here we were six days later back at BMO Field to watch them take on El Salvador. In between these two matches, Canada picked up an additional point in Nashville with their surprising 1-1 draw against the United States. I say surprising because the United States should have taken the win in this one, but sloppy defense in the 62’ led to Cyle Larin’s second goal of this third round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying. But a point is a point, and we’ll take whatever we can get this early on.
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| 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualification - CONCACAF Third Round - Canada vs. El Salvador |
Heading into this match, Canada was ranked at Number 59 in the FIFA rankings, and just sat above a few positions above El Salvador, who hadn’t qualified for the World Cup since 1982. Like Canada, El Salvador was also heading into this match with back-to-back draws – both at home and with identical 0-0 scores against the United States and Honduras. Both squads were coming into this match hungry for their first win in the Octagonal with additional pressure on Canada as hosts.
Per Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, capacity was capped to 50% of available seating again and masks were mandatory when not at your seat. Otherwise, the Voyageurs section was full of die-hard fans waving Canadian flags and cheering their hearts out from the get-go – the only resemblance of “normalcy” in these strange times. Speaking of “normalcy,” Canada jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with goals from Atiba Hutchinson in the 6’ minutes followed by Jonathan David’s 11’ tally. Canada had a couple more scoring chances and were the more dominant team in this first half – a sign of the nerves slowly dissipating from the young squad.
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| 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualification - CONCACAF Third Round - Canada vs. El Salvador |
The second half saw more Canadian dominance as Jonathan David created a two-on-one
opportunity that saw Tajon Buchanan put the game away in the 59’ with Canada’s
third goal of the match. By now, the stadium
erupted in jubilant chants of “this is our house” knowing our first win of the
Octagonal was well within our grasp. El
Salvador’s best chance during the entire match came at the 67’ minute when
Milan Borjan made a fantastic reaction save while Richie Laryea’s last-ditch
tackle stopped a clear chance. When the
final whistle blew, Canada stood victorious with a dominant 3-0 win and the
much needed three points to close out this first window of the Octagonal.
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| 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualification - CONCACAF Third Round - Canada vs. El Salvador |
2022 FIFA World Cup Qualification – CONCACAF Octagonal Standings
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| 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualification - CONCACAF Third Round - Canada vs. El Salvador |
After three matches, Mexico sits comfortably on top with 7 points from two wins and a draw in this first window. Canada is currently in a three-way tie with the United States and Panama at 5 points each. El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Jamaica round out the bottom half of the table. With FIFA expanding this next World Cup to 32 teams, CONCACAF gets three guaranteed spots. Thus, it’s crucial that Canada keeps pace with Mexico and the United States if we want to avoid an Inter-Continental Playoff for a ticket to Qatar.
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| 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualification - CONCACAF Third Round - Canada vs. El Salvador |
Our next window of matches won’t begin for at least a month, but it will be our biggest test of the Octagonal. Starting off in Mexico, we have our work cut out for us in the legendary Estadio Azteca where Mexico has only lost two World Cup Qualifying matches here throughout the stadium’s entire 55-year history. Getting a draw against the United States in Nashville in this first window is one thing, but trying to replicate a similar result at Azteca would be anything short of a miracle. We then round out the second window with an away match in Jamaica followed by a home match against Panama here at BMO Field. Now we just sit back and wait to see what the Soccer Gods have in store for us!
2022 FIFA World Cup
Qualification – CONCACAF Third Round (Octagonal)
Match: Canada vs. El Salvador
Stadium: BMO Field – Toronto, ON
Date: Wednesday, September 8, 2021
Kickoff: 7:30pm EST
Attendance: 14,926
Score: 3 – 0 (Canada)
06 ‘– CAN – Atiba Hutchinson
11’ – CAN – Jonathan David
59’ – CAN – Tajon Buchanan
Disciplinary:
CAN – Tajon Buchanan (Yellow Card – 18’)
SLV – Alexander Larin (Yellow Card – 33’)
CAN
– Samuel Adekugbe (Yellow Card – 73’)
