3 KEY TAKEAWAYS from Canada's comprehensive showing vs. Panama
The CanMNT booked a spot in a final for the first time since 2000, as they defeated Panama 2-0 in the Concacaf Nations League semi-finals in Las Vegas on Thursday.
It might not have been the most dominating performance from Canada, but it was a ruthless showing, as they did what they needed to do on the day.
And that’s key. Good teams win when they play at their best, but great teams find a way even when things aren’t ticking, so Canada showed great maturity to get the job done in the way that they did.
Given that a good chunk of their players are battling fitness issues, and that they’d only had a few days of training ahead of this game, they’ll be pleased to have found a way to win despite that, allowing them to play for a trophy against the US on Sunday.
Something that’s been fuelling them along ever since the 2022 World Cup, they’re now closer than ever to making it a reality, which would be a huge boost for them as they continue to prepare for the 2026 World Cup.
“Yeah, it's a trophy,” CanMNT head coach, John Herdman, said when asked what he’s feeling ahead of Sunday.”It's the feeling of some silverware in our hands, it’s that explosion on the pitch at the end of the game, it’s what I think the fans, both the ones that made it down and everyone at home are all waiting for, so it’s a step (in that direction).”
“As I keep saying to the players, it's about bringing the future to the now. We've got our eyes on 2026 and winning big matches there, but the future is now for us, we’ve got to take some steps to keep building that trust and confidence in our own ability to win matches.”
Cancel your Sunday night plans 🗓
— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) June 16, 2023
There's a trophy on the line 🏆#WeCAN pic.twitter.com/HQna7yhEAV
Before looking ahead to Sunday, however, here’s a look at how Canada was able to book their spot in that final with their win over Panama.
Professional performance seals long-awaited finals appearance
By most metrics, this Panama clash wasn’t the most convincing that Canada have looked under Herdman. Far from it.
To begin the game, they were quite rusty, struggling to string together passes in the middle of the park, before they settled into a nice rhythm,
Then, fatigue seemed to settle in early in the second half, as Canada seemed sluggish on the ball, allowing Panama to take over.
That’s reflected in the stats, as well - Panama ended up winning the possession battle 52%-48, outshot Canada 9-7, and had four shots on target to Canada’s three.
Yet, despite that, Canada were never really threatened on the day. Other than an early scare from a Fidel Escobar free kick that nearly eluded Canada’s Milan Borjan in goal, and second half attempts from Ismael Diáz and Harold Cummings that were easily saved and blocked, respectively, Panama wasn’t able to put Canada under much pressure defensively.
(Canada's shot map on the day, via OPTA).
Then, even though they struggled to ping the ball around with the sort of efficiency that many have become accustomed to, Canada did well to still get into the dangerous areas on the field at the other end.
And when they got there, they made no mistake with them, either. Jonathan David found a way to finish a 25th-minute breakaway, before Alphonso Davies pulled a moment of magic out of nothing off the bench to make it 2-0 in the 69th minute.
From there, they made sure to give up nothing along the way, holding Panama to 0.48 xG despite them winning the shot battle, as Canada hardly gave up much in terms of quality chances on any of those looks.
Led by a strong defensive performance from their back five, as well as Stephen Eustáquio in midfield, they were very hard to play through in this game.
As a result, they were able to not just book their ticket to the final, but were able to do so without much sweat, either.
A sign of how far the #CanMNT have come is that 2nd half
— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) June 16, 2023
Probably one of their worst halves in Concacaf since 2020, they come out of it without conceding a goal, let alone much in terms of chances, and doubled their lead
Professional, and what good teams do in those moments
And that’s key, as they often would have struggled to do that in an important game like this before, showing their growing maturity as a side, as well as their improving status as a top team in the Concacaf region.
“I’m not putting any pressure on them to win the game with 700 passes and 27 shots, we did that against Belgium (at the World Cup), and we came away with nothing,” Herdman said.”In this, if we have to win ugly, given our circumstances, we will win ugly. It's about finding the will to win. And I think tonight, there was a collective mentality. We wanted to score first, as that’s critical in football, and then we protected what we had.”
Direct play in possession catches Panama by surprise
Tactically, it was always going to be interesting to see how Canada approached this Panama side.
One that likes to slow down play in the middle defensively, before bursting forward on the flanks on the ball, Canada had to be diligent in their build-up play in this game.
Which, to their credit, they found a way to do. How they did it, however, was a bit more unconventional - they decided to play a lot more direct.
It wasn’t your typical direct play, as Canada wasn’t sitting behind the ball and just waiting to hit Panama on the break, but instead, they hit a lot of these long balls while building up in possession.
They did so through two triggers, too.
The first one was pretty simple - either Steven Vitória or Stephen Eustáquio got the ball centrally, and they tried to hit one of Canada’s wide players on the run with a switch of play.
Meanwhile, the other one saw them funnel the ball to either of their outside centre backs in possession, Kamal Miller or Alistair Johnston, who then played the ball directly in behind Panama’s defensive line, which was usually high as they pushed right up the field to press Canada.
The latter proved to be quite effective, too, as seen below.
In fact, Canada wouldn’t have won without it, as it was that exact sequence of play that got them their opening goal.
After a nice sequence of possession, Eustáquio played the ball out to Miller, who dropped a dime of a pass in behind the line for Jonathan David to chase. There, he made no mistake in running onto it, striking it with his left foot, and slotting the ball between the goalkeepers' legs.
GOAL 🇨🇦
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) June 15, 2023
JONATHAN DAVID hits his 25th goal in the 25th minute for the #CanMNT as he rounds off a perfect pass from Kamal Miller with a nutmeg on the 'keeper 😎
It's 1-0 for Canada vs. Panama in this Concacaf Nations League semi-final, LIVE on OneSoccer 🔴 pic.twitter.com/s459yN8AUF
It might not have been the sort of goals Canada typically wants to score, as they usually focus their attack on throwing numbers forward in wide areas or trying to break down teams in possession, but having seen Panama’s aggressive defensive tactics in past meetings, the tweak paid off.
“Yeah, the last time we played against Panama, in Panama, they had a very high line, they trusted the athleticism of what was a back four at the time, and now they’ve moved to a three center back system,” Herdman explained. “So we knew we only needed one chance in behind, just one with the quality that we've got.”
“For me, it's a high-risk strategy, but we've been working on that in the day and a half before this when we got to build on our attacking work, we worked on a couple of those patterns, as we knew if we got Jonathan David, Cyle Larin or Tajon Buchanan in behind once, that was a high xG moment for a goal.”
“So yeah, it was a big moment for us, and congrats to the boys for sticking to the game plan.”
Jonathan David thrives in free role up top
There’s no doubting Jonathan David’s quality as a striker.
Fresh off a season where he scored 24 league goals for Lille in Ligue 1 (and 26 in all competitions), he’s proven it at the club level, which is why he’s about to make a big move to a big European team this summer.
Yet, it’s often easy to forget that he’s versatile enough to play elsewhere. He reminds people of that at times with his play, as he drops back into space to combine a lot more than most strikers, and is quite good at it, but most view him as a goal scoring striker.
But if you look back, that hasn’t always been the case. Early games in his Canada career often saw him play on the right wing, while his stint at his first club, Gent, saw him play #8, #10 out wide and up front for the Belgian outfit.
Really, it’s only been at Lille where he’s found the most stability in his position, as other than a small stint as a right winger at the beginning of this season, he’s played the majority of his games up front across his three seasons in France.
In this game, however, he got a chance to return to those Gent roots, as he was deployed as more of a #10 on the ball.
With Canada opting not to start Junior Hoilett or Jonathan Osorio in midfield, with both of Canada’s preferred #10 options coming off injuries, David filled in that position, tasked with getting involved in the build-up play, while then making late runs. 
(Jonathan David's heat map from this game via OPTA)
And it worked masterfully. With Cyle Larin and Tajon Buchanan making the runs up front to try and get on the end of those direct balls Canada were playing in behind, while wing backs Sam Adekugbe and Richie Laryea tried to stretch the field, David tried to link that all together centrally.
This would not just be to his benefit, as he found the space to make the run for his goal thanks to the space opened up by Larin, but also to his team's benefit, too, as his link-up play saw him then tee up Davies for the second.
GOAL 🇨🇦
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) June 15, 2023
JONATHAN DAVID hits his 25th goal in the 25th minute for the #CanMNT as he rounds off a perfect pass from Kamal Miller with a nutmeg on the 'keeper 😎
It's 1-0 for Canada vs. Panama in this Concacaf Nations League semi-final, LIVE on OneSoccer 🔴 pic.twitter.com/s459yN8AUF
As a result, he finished with two key passes, two passes into the final third and one dribble, as he did well to capitalize on the space his different role offered.
Yet, that’s just what David can do, and why teams across Europe will be looking to secure his services this summer. He can score goals, yes, but he does so much more to help a team tactically, something that Herdman made sure to shout out after the match.
“There was a real moment of tactical excellence from our players that was finished by a high-quality final act from Jonathan David,” he said. “I'm really hoping that kid goes to that next level (this summer) because he deserves it.”
