TORONTO — A historic first World Cup victory continues to elude the Canadian men’s team. 

But Les Rouges collected their first-ever World Cup point on Friday courtesy of a come-from-behind 1-1 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina in a thrilling contest before an announced crowd of 43,002 fans at BMO Field. 

Substitute Cyle Larin came off the bench to level the score and then nearly netted the go-ahead goal deep into injury time for Canada, who lost all six of its previous World Cup matches dating back to its tournament debut in 1986. 

“We knew that Bosnia has experience, that they’re aggressive and that they’re savvy and confident. They showed that they are a stable team that’s up for the fight in the qualifiers to get into the World Cup, so they were pretty much exactly what we thought they would be,” coach Jesse Marsch said in the post-match press conference. 

“We just needed to represent ourselves better, and we did that better in the second half. We knew that our fitness and our youth and our speed had the potential to wear them down as the game went on. You have to give Bosnia a lot of credit; to come here in a first home World Cup match for Canada, not an easy situation for them to deliver that kind of performance and hang on for a point. 

I think it could have gone either way. They had chances to make it maybe two-nil. We had chances to find the win. So, in the end, I think that a draw is a fair result.” 

This draw sets the Canadians up quite nicely in Group B as a win over Qatar in Vancouver next Thursday would give them four points and likely send them through to the knockout stage. 

Here are three takeaways from Friday’s match.  

Canada nearly undone by lack of finishing 

A draw was a fair result and the one point earned was well deserved by Canada. At the same time, Marsch’s side will be kicking themselves after this one. 

The Canadians’ effort and fighting spirit was in abundance on the day; if only their execution was more precise, we’d be talking about a Canadian victory right now. 

Canada spurned far too many scoring chances and could have easily won the game in a comfortable manner had it been more clinical in front of their opponent’s goal. 

It was a lively start to the game by the Canadians who immediately were buzzing in and around the penalty area as they pinned the Bosnians deep inside their half of the pitch. 

Midfielder Ismaël Koné made a probing run before playing a through ball for Tani Oluwaseyi that didn’t lead to a shot on goal. Moments later as part of the same attacking sequence, the ball fell kindly to forward Jonathan David, who instead of burying it from close range could only shoot right at goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj.   

After the visitors opened the scoring in the 21st minute, Canada regrouped and poured on even more pressure, tightening the screws on Bosnia and Herzegovina via an endless string of corner kicks. Oluwaseyi fought off Tarik Muharemović inside the 18-yard box as the ball sat up nicely for him, but he blazed his angled shot well over the crossbar.   

Early in the second half, Oluwaseyi turned with limited space and burst into the area as he drilled a pass across the face of the goal, only to see Vasilj palm it away. A lovely one-touch passing sequence ended with Canada’s Stephen Eustáquio sliding the ball to an unmarked Richie Laryea inside the 18-yard box, but Sead Kolašinac got his foot on the TFC fullback’s low shot to tip it onto the crossbar before the visitors cleared the danger. 

Canada looked totally snake bitten on the day, unable to unlock Bosnia and Herzegovina’s defence before super-sub Larin came off the bench in the 76th minute and scored the equalizer just three minutes later to send BMO Field into a state of delirium. 

In the end, Marsch’s decision to bring on Larin, as well as making several other attacking substitutions, paid dividends and allowed Canada to rescue a point. 

“Given performances from some of our front players and given the weapons that we had on the bench, I wanted to make some changes, and I wanted to bring in some guys that I thought could bring in a little bit more energy. As much as the start of the first half was better, I felt like we needed to really push the game and find some ways to be sharper,” Marsch said of his decision to bring on Larin  

Cyle Larin comes to the rescue for Canada 

Marsch’s starting 11 featured one big surprise as forward Oluwaseyi was tabbed to start alongside David, the Canadian men’s team’s all-time top scorer. 

It was a bold move by Marsch, as Larin has far more experience than Oluwaseyi and ranks behind only David in career goals for the men’s team. But the Canadian coach felt Oluwaseyi could offer something different, namely an ability to stretch the defence with his speed and press Bosnia and Herzegovina as they tried to build out from the back. 

“Cyle wasn’t happy about not starting, and we had a brief conversation about that,” Marsch revealed. 

Oluwaseyi was lively throughout the game, and he had some very good looks on goal. But his finishing ability let him down — and not for the first time in his international career. 

With Canada needing a goal, Marsch rolled the dice in the 76th when he subbed on Larin for Oluwaseyi. Maybe it was an act of desperation from Marsch. And maybe you can argue that Larin should have started.

What’s undeniable is the immediate impact that Larin made when he entered the match. Just three minutes after stepping onto the pitch, Larin took a feed from fellow substitute Promise David, overpowered his defensive marker inside the box and drove home a shot that deflected off Nikola Katić and beat goalkeeper Vasilj at the near post. 

The goal snapped a 14-game scoring drought for Larin, whose previous goal for Canada came in 2024. 

Larin punctuated his first World Cup goal with a celebration that featured him running with his fingers plugging both ears, a clear message to his many doubters during his goal dry spell. 

“That’s for the fans, the reporters, the journalists who said I shouldn’t be where I’m supposed to be. But I’ve always proved them wrong, and I did it again. Hopefully now they can shut up,” Larin said.  

Youngster Luc de Fougerolles steps up in a big way 

Centre back Moïse Bombito stayed glued to the bench on Friday, reduced to a role with which he’s completely unfamiliar with Canada: spectator. 

Bombito and fellow starting centre back Derek Cornelius have served as the backbone of Canada’s defence ever since Jesse Marsch was installed as coach in the spring of 2024. But Bombito has been slow to recover from a broken leg suffered last October with his French club OGC Nice, so Marsch was forced to make a big change at the back and tabbed youngster Luc de Fougerolles to start alongside Cornelius. 

It wasn’t that long ago that de Fougerolles, still only 20, had more caps for Canada than he had games at senior club level under his belt. But Marsch has always trusted de Fougerolles despite his age and lack of experience. 

“I’m not concerned about Luc. I think the mentality he’s shown so far for us really makes him fit our group very well. His teammates call him la machina (a machine) because he really is; he is a really big machine, physically. He’s young, but he shows a lot of experience on the pitch,” Marsch said in the buildup to Friday’s match. 

De Fougerolles lived up to his moniker against the Bosnians and was not overwhelmed by the occasion in the least. In the biggest game of his short career, the young centre back was a tower of strength in the centre of Canada’s defence as he barely put a foot wrong. 

More often than not de Fougerolles was in the right place at the right time, finishing the match with a team-high eight defensive clearances while also making three tackles. 

“I’ve worked really hard for this. I’ve had a tough season in Belgium this year, and it’s been a tough year for (Canada) dealing with injuries. I think Jesse’s always believed in me. He’s always given me opportunities for Canada. I think at one point I had about 10 caps and one professional appearance for my club, so that just shows his belief in me. So, today was another one of those moments, and I can’t thank him enough for all the opportunities given me,” de Fougerolles said.