Canada qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 36 years on Sunday with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Jamaica in Toronto.
Goals from Cyle Larin, Tajon Buchanan, Junior Hoilett and an Adrian Mariappa own goal secured all three points after Canada dominated against a Jamaica side already eliminated from contention in the CONCACAF region’s qualifying tournament for this year’s finals in Qatar.
The win sparked wild celebrations at Toronto’s 30,000-capacity BMO Field, where an expectant sell-out crowd had gathered to watch Canada clinch World Cup qualification for only the second time, having last appeared at the 1986 Mexico tournament.
Canada’s English manager John Herdman – who took over the men’s team in 2018 after a successful stint in charge of Canada’s women’s team – said the qualification was proof that Canada was a “football country”.
“You know what, you can play in a Champions League final, Canadians can play for Bayern Munich, and now they’re going to World Cups,” Herdman said in a reference to injured Canada and Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies.
“Canada is a football nation and we better believe it. We’re going to keep going. We’ve only just got started.”
After a dominant qualifying campaign had left them three points clear with two games remaining, Canada needed only a point from Sunday’s fixture to assure themselves of qualification.
That objective was never in doubt as Canada went on the attack from the whistle.
Larin could have opened the scoring after only five minutes, but his shot after Jonathan David’s surging run and pass was well saved by Jamaican goalkeeper Andre Blake.
But Larin made no mistake in the 13th minute to bag Canada’s opener.
Christian Pulisic scored a hat trick as the United States thrashed Panama 5-1 on Sunday to all-but guarantee their qualification for the 2022 World Cup finals.
Pulisic of Chelsea scored a pair of first-half penalties– both given against Panama captain Anibal Godoy – before completing his treble with a virtuoso goal in the second half to leave the US with one foot in this year’s finals in Qatar.
Jesus Ferreira and Paul Arriola scored the other goals for the US in a victory at Orlando’s Exploria Stadium that ended Panama’s hopes of qualifying from the CONCACAF region.
The win means the United States need only avoid a catastrophically heavy defeat in their final game against Costa Rica on Wednesday to qualify automatically.
The United States have 25 points from 13 matches, while Costa Rica are three points behind following their win over El Salvador earlier Sunday.
With the US possessing a vastly superior goal difference, Costa Rica would need to win by six goals to snatch one of the three automatic qualifying berths on offer for teams from Central America, North America and the Caribbean.
“On a night where we needed to get a resounding win, we did so,” US coach Gregg Berhalter said. “We helped our goal difference and the effort was tremendous.
“Panama were fighting for their lives and the guys did a great job.”