The Canadian men’s national team booked their ticket to the second round of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying with a convincing 4-0 win over Suriname Tuesday evening in Chicago.
Although the result was comfortable at the final whistle — particularly with a draw being enough to see them over the line to face Haiti in a do-or-die second round — it was from smooth sailing from the off as the Surinamese looked a threat on set-piece situations early on.
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The first big chance of the match fell to A-Selektie winger Sheraldo Becker who’s 14th-minute strike beat Milan Borjan in the Canadian goal only to be kept out by the crossbar.
That fortuitous bounce seemed to spark Canada as the attack begun to find some rhythm as the half went on. Deployed as a left wingback in a 3-5-2, Alphonso Davies was rewarded for his energy down the left flank in the 37th minute, beating the Suriname keeper between the wickets after a slip pass in behind from Jonathan David.
GOAL ??
Say it loud with us right now:
ALPHONSO DAVIES:
SUPERSTAR ⭐️
? https://t.co/hishXepRT3 | #CanMNT pic.twitter.com/RPSBEHRpOZ
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) June 9, 2021
Canada would take their 1-0 lead into the second half and with Suriname needing two goals to advance, space for the attackers to flourish came much easier than the opening half-hour.
Jonathan David — who was excellent all night — doubled the Les Rouges advantage in the 59th minute with a composed left-foot finish at the near post as Davies returned the favour in putting the Lille OSC frontman in alone.
The dynamic duo of Davies-David were at it again 14 minutes later, combining for a third time on the evening with the latter applying the all-important finishing touch.
David would complete the second-half hat trick from the penalty spot in the 78th minute to see Canada go ahead 4-0, a scoreline that would hold up at full-time.
Winning Group B means Canada will faceoff against Group E winners Haiti in a two-legged tie starting on Saturday (5pm ET/2pm PT) and finishing up next Tuesday night (9pm ET/6pm PT) with a place in the third and final round of Concacaf qualifying up for grabs. Both matches will be live on OneSoccer.
With that result, #CANMNT have advanced to the Second Round of Concacaf Men's World Cup Qualifying!#WCQ2022 pic.twitter.com/sbWTy3HPzw
— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) June 9, 2021
BOX SCORE
Goals
37’ Alphonso Davies (Canada)
59’ Jonathan David (Canada)
73’ Jonathan David (Canada)
78’ Jonathan David (Canada)
Discipline
20’ Ridgeciano Haps (Suriname)
67’ Alphonso Davies (Canada)
MATCH NOTES
- Jonathan David moves into a tie for seventh on the CanMNT all-time scoring list with Ali Gerba at 15 goals in just 14 caps for his country. The hat trick was his second for Canada — the first coming against Cuba at the 2019 Gold Cup.
- Canada also last faced Haiti at the 2019 Gold Cup where the Haitians came from down 2-0 to win 3-2 in their quarterfinal matchup.
- Les Rouges can advance to the final qualifying stage by advancing past Haiti in the second round — a feat they’ve not accomplished since the France 1998 World Cup qualifiers.