David, Biello react to dominant CanMNT victory over Honduras: 'A really promising performance'
The Canadian men’s national team began the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup with a statement of intent in a 6-0 victory over Honduras at BC Place.
It was Canada’s first victory on home soil in a Gold Cup match, and they did so in emphatic fashion. Niko Sigur’s first goal for Canada opened the scoring in the 27th minute, before Tani Oluwaseyi added a second in first-half stoppage time. The rout was on in the second half, with Tajon Buchanan adding a brace, Promise David off the bench, and a first Canada goal for Nathan Saliba rounding out the scoring.
With El Salvador and Curaçao drawing 0-0 earlier on Tuesday, Canada finishes the first matchday in Group B two points clear atop the group. Considering Canada scored just six goals total between the 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015 Gold Cup tournaments combined, it was a clear message of how far this team has come.
“The scoreline, the fact that we were able to put six today, I think it’s a good sign that we’re progressing,” said Canadian captain Jonathan David told OneSoccer’s Kristian Jack after the match. “We talked about it this whole camp, that we need to be more ruthless in front of goal.”
POST-GAME INTERVIEW 🎙️
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) June 18, 2025
Hear from the #CanMNT's 🇨🇦 skipper on the night Jonathan David as he helps his team to a 6-0 win over Honduras to open their Gold Cup campaign 🏆
"Scoring 6 today? It's a good sign that we're progressing" pic.twitter.com/dJnGXrCdsf
Mauro Biello, who was filling in for the suspended Jesse Marsch on the touchline, echoed those sentiments.
“Really, really proud about the team’s performance,” Biello told media following the game. “It was a total team [performance]. I can’t really look at one guy and find someone who had an off game. I mean, everybody came out with the right mentality. We played within our identity, and in the end we were able to not give them much and score goals.”
As Biello touched on, it wasn’t just the scoreline that impressed for Canada, but many of the individual performances as well, particularly from those still early in their Canadian national team careers.
In the starting lineup on Tuesday night, 19-year-old Luc De Fougerolles got just his fifth cap, 21-year-old Sigur his sixth and 21-year-old Saliba his fourth – with the latter two scoring their first goals for country. Off the bench, Promise David scored his second goal in as many appearances with the Canadian men’s national team. All of them were excellent, which is a great sign for the continued growth of this team.
“Moving towards the World Cup, it was about how could we expand the depth of this team?,” said Biello. “Tonight was a perfect example of the good young players in this country, and we wanted to continue to give them opportunity, continue to help them develop and become the players that we think that they could be.”
Perhaps the most impressive area of the pitch on Tuesday was the way that a double pivot of Saliba and Mathieu Choinière, starting together for the first time ever in a Canada shirt, dictated the midfield. Given central midfield was a position in question for Canada heading into this tournament, especially with Stephen Eustáquio away at the Gold Cup, the pair delivered.
“They were amazing,” said Biello. “I think they were so aggressive. They didn’t give the other team any type of opportunity to go forward. They smothered them. So they brought that aggressiveness. I was just talking on the bench just towards the end of the game, saying how well Nathan did, and then he goes and scores a cracker of a goal.”
In the end, Canada couldn’t really have asked for a better start to the 2025 Gold Cup, one that will only bolster their confidence going forward, while answering some key questions as to who can step up in multiple positions as this tournament progresses.
“The first game sets the tone for the tournament,” said Biello. “We wanted to get off to a good start.
“We know that there’ll be tough games ahead, and we’ll have to deal with that, but it was a really promising performance by the group today.”
Canada are next in action on Saturday against Curaçao (7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT, live on OneSoccer) at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, Texas. Should Canada win, they book a place in the knockout round.
