TORONTO – Canada came to play. Panama came to disrupt.
Welcome to the new reality within Concacaf for Jesse Marsch’s Canadian men’s team.
Cyle Larin and Jonathan David scored to guide Canada to a 2-1 win in an international friendly on Tuesday night at BMO Field in its first home game under Marsch, who was appointed the side’s new coach in May. It was also the team’s first match on home soil since a loss to Jamaica on Nov. 21, 2023 in Toronto.
This was far from a pretty and flawless performance from the Canadians, as they were made to work for the result before an announced crowd of 23,315.
But Canada continues to make progress under Marsch, who led Les Rouges to a historic semifinal run at this summer’s Copa América. Canada also showed that it can grind things out with the best of them in Concacaf as it looks to build momentum ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup that it will co-host with the U.S. and Mexico.
Panama proved to be an overly physical opponent, systematically fouling Canada in order to disrupt the flow of the contest and prevent the hosts from getting into any kind of an attacking rhythm. That led to a game that was slow and plodding at times. It was also ill-tempered with seven yellow cards being brandished by the referee.
When José Fajardo’s goal in the 69th canceled out Larin’s opener in the first half, it looked as though the pesky Panamanians’ cynical tactics would allow them to walk away with a stalemate. But David’s goal with three minutes remaining in regulation time lifted the Canadians to a victory that can best be described as scrappy.
“It was nice to see that when the game wasn’t so easy that we rose to the challenge,” Marsch told reporters in the post-match press conference.
Canadian captain Alphonso Davies concurred: “We’re resilient. We don’t give up easily.”
Panama is No. 37 in the current FIFA world rankings, one spot above Canada, but don’t be fooled by that. The Canadians are head and shoulders above their Panamanian counterparts and can rightly be considered one of the elite nations of Concacaf.
As such, nations that used to take a win against Canada for granted now have a different approach when they are faced with the task of playing Marsch’s men, many of whom play at some of the biggest clubs in Europe.
We saw this last month in a 0-0 draw between Canada and Mexico in another friendly in Texas. Rather than try to create and attack, manager Javier Aguirre had his team just lump the ball forward and focused on frustrating Canada. Forty-three fouls were called by the referee, 24 of which were committed by El Tri, who showed no genuine interest in trying to play football.
For decades, Mexico was considered the undisputed king of Concacaf, ruling its fiefdom with an iron fist, and historically had a very easy time of it against Canada. But times change and Canada now rules the roost in Concacaf and looks down upon Mexico.
After September’s draw, Marsch commented that it was a compliment to the progress made by Canada that Mexico adopted such a defensive strategy. But that was just a small taste of what Marsch’s side can expect going forward against future Concacaf opponents.
This is the new norm for the Canadians, so they better get used to it, because they’re not always going to be able to win games playing champagne football or in the aggressive attacking style that Marsch prefers to see from his teams. Sometimes, Canada is going to have to give as good as it receives and get down and dirty with its opponent.
Marsch’s team held its collective nerve against Panama and asserted its physical dominance. That’s a big reason why the Canadians walked away with the win.
“We knew that Panama would do this. They’re a physically dominant present team, but we are too, and we wanted to make sure that, as much as when the pitch isn’t perfect, then the game becomes a little bit tougher in terms of now, what the tackles look like, what the duels look like, what the aerial duels look like,” Marsch explained.
“I’ve been challenging them through all of the different matches and all the different experiences to know that that side of the game becomes incredibly important.”
Marsch is also trying to instill his players with the required mental toughness they’ll need to be a competitive force at the 2026 World Cup on home soil. No player on Tuesday night exhibited the steely attitude that Marsch wants to see more than Moïse Bombito, who plays for Nice in France’s first division.
The youngster was outstanding in working in concert with fellow centre back Derek Cornelius, anchoring a back line that gave very little away.
As Canada pressed forward in search of goals, the defence was left exposed at times, which put more pressure on Bombito to thwart the counter-attacking Panamanians. He barely put a foot wrong as he made some timely tackles and great recovery runs, and was never beaten for pace. His reading of the game was also exemplary, allowing him to snuff out danger before it fully developed.
Bombito’s name didn’t appear on the scoresheet, but his stellar efforts didn’t go unnoticed by the fans in Toronto who chanted his name in appreciation.
“[That was] a surreal moment because I grew up watching Canada my whole life. And to be able to represent my country in front of 23,000-plus fans, some of them chanting my name, was a really surreal moment which I will cherish for a long time,” Bombito said.
John Molinaro is one of the leading soccer journalists in Canada, having covered the game for over 25 years for several media outlets, including Sportsnet, CBC Sports and Sun Media. He is currently the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic, a website dedicated to in-depth coverage of Toronto FC and Canadian soccer. TFC Republic can be found here.