ANALYSIS + HIGHLIGHTS: CanMNT claw past 9-man El Salvador to top Group B

The Canadian men's national team is headed to the Gold Cup quarter-finals as Group B winners, as they defeated El Salvador 2-0 in Houston on Tuesday night in a heated, physical affair. After a tough first half in which El Salvador had two players sent off, Canada took over in the second frame and scored twice quickly before the hour mark to claim all three points and move on to play Guatemala.

Jesse Marsch made significant changes to his XI for this game after the disappointing draw with Curaçao, the only players staying in the lineup being Jonathan David, Niko Sigur and Jacob Shaffelburg. Promise David came back into the team to start up front, while Maxime Crépeau got an unexpected start in goal after Dayne St. Clair played the prior two group games.

It was clear from the very first minute that this would be exactly the difficult match that Marsch hinted it might be in his pre-game comments. El Salvador were comitted to a physical game plan with an objective to disrupt any flow or rhythm, and get under Canada's skin. The first half-hour was incredibly stop-start, including a roughly seven-minute delay after the first minute because of a Salvadoran player needing treatment for a cut on his head.

There were 14 fouls in total in the first 30 minutes of the game, and three yellow cards — though the only one to Canada was a perhaps undeserved one, as Luc de Fougerolles was punished for an aggressive tackle where he got the ball cleanly.

In the 35th minute, El Salvador became early victims of their own aggression. Santos Ortiz came flying clumsily into a tackle on Sigur after losing the ball to Mathieu Choinière, and was shown a second yellow card less than 20 minutes after his first, putting his side down to 10 men.

Shortly before halftime, Shaffelburg came blistering into the penalty area from the left side and outstripped full-back Jefferson Valladares toward the byline. The Salvadoran defender, a step behind, swung a leg out that caught Shaffelburg's shin to bring him down, conceding a penalty kick to Canada — which Jonathan David hit at mid-height toward the right post, where goalkeeper Mario González saved it.

As the game continued to spiral out of control in the aftermath of the saved penalty, El Salvador's antics bit them again. After a whistle, winger Jairo Henríquez planted a cynical elbow in Alistair Johnston's face, and after a VAR check he too was sent off, meaning El Salvador did get to halftime at 0-0, but with nine players on the pitch.

It was a bizarre first half in general, the narrative almost entirely dominated by El Salvador's cynical play. Not only had two of them been sent off, but they'd made a number of other dangerous challenges. Emerson Mauricio backed into a leaping Derek Cornelius to cause him to land on his back, while a couple of other sliding tackles came in deliberately late. Certainly, they executed their plan of stopping Canada's attacking flow, but at the expense of playing much football of their own.

Canada had around 70 per cent possession in the opening half, but they would've been disappointed not to do much with it; Promise David had a golden chance near the 45th minute but couldn't get good contact on a wonderful Derek Cornelius cross. Five total shots, just one of them on target, from the first half was a disappointment in a game where they clearly had the upper hand in quality — although they had very few opportunities to show it thanks to the slow, disjointed pace of play.

It was, therefore, encouraging that Canada came out of the interval with urgency, trying to make use of every second of open play they could get.

At last, in the 53rd minute, a moment of magic: Choinière took the ball in the left half-space and fed a pinpoint through ball to Jonathan David, who turned and finished from a difficult angle about 15 yards from goal to give Canada a lead.

Heartened by the opening goal, it took Canada just a couple of minutes to find another; Sigur picked off an errant pass from El Salvador trying to launch a transition, and with a few deft touches he danced forward and threaded it to Tajon Buchanan. The Inter Milan winger made no mistake with his finish, and suddenly Canada found themselves up 2-0.

Those two goals in quick succession were a perfect way to settle the game for Canada. Now that they no longer needed to chase the game, they could aim for a little more self-preservation. Marsch picked that moment to take Cornelius and Alistair Johnston — the two players whose minutes had been limited previously — out of the match, as well as Jonathan David, in an effort to protect all three and ensure they'd be in top form for the quarter-final, rather than risk them in the final half-hour. Sigur went into Johnston's right-back position, while Joel Ismaël Koné took up his spot in midfield. 

After that, the match had lost much of its earlier bite; the frustrated Salvadorans continued trying to throw Canada off, but Les Rouges were unbothered from there. They managed the final half-hour well, threatening a few times but mostly looking to move on from the game as quickly as possible.

Even the referee wanted to wrap things up quickly, as he blew the full time whistle right on 90 minutes to seal Canada's victory.

It was far from the most attractive game of football Canada have played, and it also wasn't their most convincing performance, with how they get sucked into some of the hostility in the first half. However, it was a successful result in a match where they knew they needed to get a job done.

Box Score

Lineups

Canada: Crépeau; Johnston (Kone 57'), De Fougerolles (Knight-Lebel 77'), Cornelius (Waterman 57'), Laryea; Buchanan, Choinière, Sigur, Shaffelburg; J. David (Jebbison 57'), P. David (Larin 61')

El Salvador: González; Cerritos (Rivera 88'), Romero, Domínguez, Flores; Henriquez, Ortiz, Ceren (Tejada 60'), Valladares, H. Osorio (Landaverde 60'); Mauricio (Sibrian 60')

Goals

53' — Jonathan David (Canada)
56' — Tajon Buchanan (Canada)

Discipline

17' — Yellow: Santos Ortiz (El Salvador)
20' — Yellow: Roberto Dominguez (El Salvador)
25' — Yellow: Luc de Fougerolles (Canada)
35' — 2nd Yellow: Santos Ortiz (El Salvador)
45+9' — Red: Jairo Henríquez (El Salvador)
58' — Yellow: Emerson Mauricio (El Salvador)
59' — Yellow: Promise David (Canada)

Player of the Match

Niko Sigur, Canada

The Hajduk Split man started this game in central midfield and did an outstanding job, setting up Tajon Buchanan's goal beautifully, then he stepped back into a full-back role and executed that job to a tee as well. Sigur is quietly emerging as a key player for Canada at this tournament, who's looking like he may be locking down a starting role in the knockout stages.

What’s Next?

Canada head now to the Gold Cup quarter-finals this Sunday, June 29 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where they'll play Guatemala (4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT).