TORONTO (AP) \u2014 Canada earned its first World Cup point in seven matches on soccer\u2019s biggest stage, and coach Jesse Marsch noted the sea of red-clad, maple leaf-waving fans who continuously belted out chants of \u201cGo Ca-na-da!\u201d helped get it.<\/p>\n
A slow start and an early deficit turned into a rousing celebration once late substitute Cyle Larin scored in the 78th minute for a 1-1 draw against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Friday in Canada\u2019s tournament debut on home soil.<\/p>\n
Playing in the shadow of Toronto\u2019s iconic CN Tower, and with hockey star Connor McDavid and actors Ryan Reynolds and Mike Myers in the stands, Larin converted Promise David\u2019s pass a mere two minutes after entering the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe crowd, I think, willed us into the game as (the players) could feel that energy in the second half tilting more and more,\u201d said Marsch, who took particular delight upon learning Myers, who portrayed international man of mystery Austin Powers in the movies, was on among those on hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, sweet,\u201d Marsch said.<\/p>\n
It was an even better feeling for Larin, who normally starts but had to bide his time watching on the bench until late in the second half.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was amazing feeling, just to score a goal on home soil, where I\u2019m from, and just to celebrate with the fans, amazing atmosphere,\u201d said Larin, who plays for second-division English club Southampton and is from Toronto\u2019s suburb of Brampton.<\/p>\n
The goal was only the second in World Cup play scored by Canada after the team lost all three of its games at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and again four years ago at Qatar.<\/p>\n
Injury fill-in Jovo Lukic headed in a corner kick in the 21st minute for Bosnia-Herzegovina, which is making its second World Cup appearance. The team previous played at the 2014 tournament in Brazil but failed to advance out of group play.<\/p>\n
Starting in place of Edin Dzeko (shoulder) and Haris Tabakovic (undisclosed), Lukic was in an ideal position to cap a set piece with captain Sead Kolasinac flicking along a header off Ivan Basic\u2019s corner kick. The goal was Lukic\u2019s first in international play and coming in the 27-year-old attacker\u2019s fourth international appearance.<\/p>\n
Despite giving up the lead, the small Balkan nation of about 3 million people keeps coming up big on the international stage \u2014 including eliminating four-time champion Italy in the European playoffs.<\/p>\n
Bosnia coach Sergej Barbarez couldn\u2019t help but feel relief in how his team persevered amid such a tough environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is huge pressure and it\u2019s a huge compliment for my team to have not succumbed to that pressure and I\u2019m very satisfied with that aspect of the game, too,\u201d Barbarez said through a translator.<\/p>\n
Though a large majority of the 43,000 fans filling the temporarily expanded Toronto Stadium along the shores of Lake Ontario were Canadians, a small but vibrant group of Bosnian fans in blue also stood out in the upper deck of the stands.<\/p>\n
The Bosnians now head west, with games against Switzerland on June 18 in Los Angeles and Qatar on June 24 in Seattle.<\/p>\n
Canada also heads west, to Vancouver, for its final two group games, against Qatar on June 18 and Switzerland on June 24.<\/p>\n
Marsch\u2019s challenge is to get his team off to a better start.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told them after the match that if we play like that second half the whole match, we win, right?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to find a way to have a bit more confidence and a bit self-belief,\u201d he added. \u201cThe good part was is in a difficult moment we responded.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before Larin\u2019s goal, Canada\u2019s best scoring chance came in the 54th minute when captain Stephen Eustaquio fed the ball to Richie Laryea in front of a wide-open net. The ball deflected off Kolasinac\u2019s foot and hit the crossbar.<\/p>\n
Canada was playing without Alphonso Davies (hamstring), who scored the nation\u2019s first World Cup goal four years ago in Qatar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TORONTO (AP) \u2014 Canada earned its first World Cup point in seven matches on soccer\u2019s biggest stage, and coach Jesse Marsch noted the sea of red-clad, maple leaf-waving fans who continuously belted out chants of \u201cGo Ca-na-da!\u201d helped get it. A slow start and an early deficit turned into a rousing celebration once late substitute … Continue reading Larin scores in 78th minute to rally Canada to 1-1 draw with Bosnia-Herzegovina in World Cup opener<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1452],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1515354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-06-14 23:05:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1515354"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1515355,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515354\/revisions\/1515355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1515354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1515354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1515354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}