KEY TAKEAWAYS: David, Larin shine as CanMNT mark return to BMO Field with scrappy 2-1 win vs. Panama
It was the perfect ending to their long-awaited return home.
After a scrappy 86 minutes of action between the CanMNT and Panama in their friendly at BMO Field on Tuesday, it looked like their clash could reach the same conclusion as Canada's last match, a chippy 0-0 draw with Mexico down in Texas last month.
With the game knotted at 1-1, it felt like the game lacked the magic required to break it open, with Canada unable to find their rhythm on the ball and Panama content to disrupt any semblance of flow with physical play.
Despite it being a friendly, one could still tell that this one had lots at stake, with both teams eager to pick up a win to aid them in the quest to improve their Concacaf rankings - albeit in different ways.
Out of that second-half slog, however, came a much-needed moment of brightness in the 87th minute. After a thundering header from centre back Derek Cornelius in the middle of the park, the ball fell to Jonathan David, and after a clever one-two with Liam Millar, he slotted the ball home with a touch fitting of one of the best players in the world to give his team a late victory.
With that, Canada ensured they’d send their fans home happy in their first match back in Canada since November of 2023. It might not have been their best performance under head coach Jesse Marsch, but it was an important win, one that might prove to be valuable down the road as they now get set to face Suriname in the Nations League quarter-finals in November.
After their win over Panama last night, the #CanMNT are still 2nd in the latest Concacaf Ranking Index, which has already been updated this morning
— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) October 16, 2024
That means they’ll play Suriname (🇸🇷) in the Concacaf Nations League quarter-finals in November
First meeting since June, 2021 pic.twitter.com/2yKkBibNYF
With that in mind, here are three takeaways from the CanMNT’s lone match of the October window.
Larin finds long-awaited breakthrough as David shows why he’s one of Concacaf’s best:
Amid the CanMNT’s strong start to life under Jesse Marsch, one big lingering question has been up front - could Cyle Larin maintain his starting spot even as he struggled to find the net to start life under Marsch?
Sitting with zero goals in nine games since Marsch’s arrival heading into this match, and just with one goal in his last 15 games for the CanMNT dating back to June of 2023, it had become a key topic, especially with the emergence of some other forwards who had been finding the net at the club level.
No doubt, Larin has brought a lot of value off the ball for Marsch, both in terms of the work he’s done to adapt to his press defensively, and what he does on the ball. At the same time, given that he’s a striker, he’s ultimately going to be judged on his output - that comes with the territory at that position.
And given that he was struggling to score for both Canada and his club Mallorca (he went on a run where he scored just once in 23 games for Mallorca), that put a lot of pressure on him and his starting spot for Canada.
Now, it’s worth noting that pressure isn’t going away anytime soon, either, especially as Theo Bair finds his feet in Ligue 1 and Tani Oluwaseyi wraps up a strong campaign in MLS action.
What that means, however, is that it’s going to push Larin to perform if he’s to maintain his spot, and that’s made his response over the last month quite encouraging to see.
Having entered this camp having scored once and assisted twice in Mallorca’s last three games heading into this window, it was hoped he could translate that rich vein of form into this camp, helping him bust his slump as the CanMNT gets set for a return to competitive games next month.
And in that regard, Larin found a way to deliver in this game. After a Panama turnover fell to Ali Ahmed, he did well to pick out Larin in the box, and Larin managed to slot it home with his first touch.
GOAL 🇨🇦
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) October 16, 2024
CYLE LARIN makes it 1-0 for the #CanMNT vs. Panama!
It's a lesson in Maplepressing as Canada's high press turns over the ball and Larin scores from the turnover at the stroke of half-time 😎
🔴 Watch LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/Pyo3nEqjvl
After missing several chances over the last few months, often taking too much time when he should’ve rushed things (or vice versa), being denied by goalkeepers and hitting the woodwork, he put away his chance with the confidence of the player who had scored a co-leading 29 goals for the CanMNT heading into this game - a mark he finally pushed to 30 with this tally, the first CanMNT player to hit that milestone.
Despite Larin’s milestone goal, however, it’s worth noting that he didn’t last very long back on top of the CanMNT’s top scorer list, as David’s late tally was also his 30th for Canada.
Yet, speaking of David, it wasn’t too surprising to see him find the net in this game, as he’s continued not just to be one of Canada’s best players, but one of the best in all of Concacaf and even globally.
Having scored eight goals in 13 games to start the season for Lille, including a perfect hat trick in Ligue 1 action vs. Le Havre and the winner in a 1-0 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League, he’s been one of the best players in the world to start 2024-2025.
To his credit, he’s done well to translate that form over to Canada, too. Now, with this goal against Panama, he’s quietly scored three times in Canada’s last four games and has tallied four of the eight goals Canada has scored under Marsch, doing well to blossom into a key piece under his new head coach.
Plus, he’s also done well to contribute in different ways other than his scoring, too. Against Panama, for example, even had he not found the late winner, he had already put in an excellent performance, doing well with his link-up play, work on and off the ball, and his positioning - the goal was the cherry on top of his performance.
And that’s what makes David so exciting to watch. Even when he’s not scoring goals, he can have a big impact on games.
When he’s finding the net, however, he seems to hit a whole new level, and he’s showing that right now.
If he keeps this up, Canada will continue to profit off it, and it’ll only be a matter of time until he’s thought of as one of the best players in Concacaf - assuming he isn’t in that discussion already. When seeing the level of performance he put up in this match, it’s certainly hard to look at many others around the region currently playing at a better level, that’s for sure, and he’ll hope not to slow down anytime soon.
GOAL 🇨🇦🇨🇦
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) October 16, 2024
JONATHAN DAVID GIVES #CANMNT THE 2-1 LEAD 💥
Combining with Liam Millar, the Lille OSC star puts Canada ahead of Panama with just minutes left in this one with the cool tap-in 🥶
🔴 Watch LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/vjaFQtJZXH
Canada’s still finding rhythm in possession:
Despite their victory, that doesn’t mean Canada won’t have plenty to dissect from this one.
The main thing that stood out? They struggled to play with the sort of rhythm one would’ve expected from them in a game at home against a team where they were expected to dictate play.
In particular, their passing game was quite choppy - despite holding 54% of possession, they completed only 76% of their passes. By comparison, they completed 82% of their passes in their recent win over the US on the road, before dropping to a 69% pass completion in an extremely chippy draw against Mexico.
Given that they were at home for this Panama game, it was hoped their performance would mirror the US game and not the Mexico one, but unfortunately, it didn’t end up being the case.
Certainly, credit has to be given to Panama for that - they were extremely organized defensively and did well to limit Canada’s time and space on the ball, even if that meant resorting to the dark arts at times to slow things down.
At the same time, it felt like Canada could play through that, but for large parts of the night, that didn’t end up being the case. In particular, they struggled to play with the sort of direct ability needed to break down Panama.
That ended up frustrating Jesse Marsch - at one point in the first half, he was heard on the broadcast shouting “Everything’s too **** slow!” while Canada was in possession, as he felt that they were playing the game at their opponent’s pace, instead of setting the tempo themselves.
Some notes from that #CanMNT first half:
— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) October 16, 2024
-Not much ryhthm that 45'
-🇨🇦's final 3rd entries:😃, 🇨🇦's final 3rd actions😢
-Moïse Bombito: 💨
-Jonathan David's movement👌
-🇨🇦's press keeps causing problems
-The attack was too slow for Marsch's liking: something to watch after HT
But that’ll be a big challenge for them going forward. As seen in some of their best performances under Marsch, such as their friendly win over the US last month, they do some of their best work off the ball with their pressing.
They proved that once again in this game, with their first goal coming as a direct result of the pressure they employed off the ball throughout the half - they’re making teams uncomfortable with their press, and it’s creating several dangerous transition moments a game while limiting helping Canada’s defensive play, as shown by the fact they limited Panama to just six shots in this game.
Now, however, they’ve struggled to impose that same level of control on the ball, which was clear in a game like this where Panama pushed them to dictate more of the play by sitting deeper.
But that’s something that’ll need to come with time, because the beauty of Canada's pressing system is that they can see how their opponent is playing and then try and match then beat that tempo with their press. On the ball, however, it’s much harder to set a higher tempo, as seen in this game.
But given that they haven’t had much of an opportunity to be the aggressor on the ball in games under Marsch, it’ll take time for them to get used to doing that. That’s important to remember especially when seeing what they could do on plays where it all clicked offensively, such as on their winning goal and other key opportunities throughout the match, such as this excellent sequence below.
At the same time, they’ll want to find a way to build on that, because if they’re going to get through their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final match-up against Suriname, the pressure will be on them to initiate the tempo in that tie. Plus, as they continue to grow as a team, more and more teams will be content sitting back and letting them dictate the tempo, which will put pressure on them to be more dangerous on the ball.
So look for them to build on this game.
For as much as they struggled to get the sort of rhythm they craved, they still passed the test and managed to get a win, showing that they’ve got a good baseline to build off of as they look to find that next level offensively.
The importance of managing games:
For as pleasing as David’s late winner was for this CanMNT side and their fans, it’s worth noting that they’ll feel it was quite avoidable, however.
Having taken the lead as they did before half time, it felt like Canada was in the driver’s seat to comfortably close out this game, doing well to reach the break with an edge of 7-2 in shots and with a 1-0 lead.
Unfortunately, they were unable to build on that in the second half, however, as Panama started to take over and pushed after the 45th minute. Because of that, while their 69th-minute goal still came as a bit of a shock, it was a deserved marker for the guests, who had looked like the better team after the break.
Part of that is a credit to them - they’re a good team, one that beat the US at the Copa América for a reason, and they showed that in spells.
At the same time, it felt like Canada had a key issue crop up, and it’s a familiar one - they ran out of gas early in the second half. Much like they did in the second halves of both games in the last window, their legs started to get heavy early, and that allowed Panama to take over the match.
Of course, that’s going to remain a challenge as they continue to adapt under Marsch - one key aspect of his demanding high-pressing and direct system is that it can lead to strong starts but it can be hard to maintain that energy throughout the 90 minutes.
Because of that, Canada must find a way to put matches away earlier, and they failed to do so in this one.
GOAL 🇵🇦
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) October 16, 2024
José Fajardo finds the equalizer for Panama vs. the #CanMNT as he slips through the defence and gets his effort past Max Crepeau for 1-1 🥲
🔴 Watch LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/uT7vzE9BE4
As time goes on, they’ll get better at closing games out, to be fair, and that was even evident in this game - their response to Panama’s goal was impressive with David’s goal capping off a strong period of play from the 70th minute onwards. If that’s a sign of what their improved fitness levels can yield later in games going forward, that’s good to see.
At the same time, it’ll be important for Canada to not put themselves in situations where they need late goals to win, especially not in games where they appeared to be in full control like this one.
But ultimately, it’s a reminder of the key lessons they’re learning under Marsch. This is why he’s been so demanding of them, and a game like this showed both the reward of what that hard work can look like, while also serving as a reminder of where they’re at in their evolution.
And the former is key - given that they were without regulars like Ismaël Koné and Alistair Johnston, it’s important to remember this team could still hit another level when they’re back in the fold going forward, too.
After seeing the performance of someone like Moïse Bombito vs. Panama, who was arguably the best player on the pitch (and earned rave reviews from Marsch afterwards), that’s exciting to remember, and another reminder of how far Canada has come under Marsch, with the emergence of players like Bombito ensuring this team can handle absences like Koné’s and Johnston’s and not miss a beat. 
It's clear to see - the player pool is growing and Marsch’s tactical plan is coming together; now, they’ll look to take their next step in their evolution against Suriname next month.
