Canada dodged Italy in its opening World Cup matchup on Tuesday in Toronto, learning that Bosnia will be the opponent instead after Bosnia and Italy went to penalties. The switch ended a four-month wait for Canada and sent the team into its final run-up to the tournament with a clearer path ahead.
Jesse Marsch called Tuesday an odd day, and it was. Canada players followed the Bosnia-Italy match on mobile phones while traveling to BMO Field for a friendly with Tunisia, then waited through a lightning delay that pushed the coach’s post-match comments almost into a new month. Marsch said the final pre-tournament window brought clarity for Canada, even as the team had spent months wondering whether it might face Italy, the 12th-ranked team in the world, rather than Bosnia, which is ranked 65th.
The weight of the result was obvious in Toronto because Canada had built its bracket around uncertainty since December, when Wayne Gretzky pulled the team’s possible opener opponent from a bowl at the draw. Bosnia’s relentless mid-press had already done the work against Italy, producing 30 shots and dozens of crosses over 120 minutes before the match was settled on penalties. For Canada, that meant the opening test is a manageable one on paper. Bosnia will visit Toronto on 12 June.
Canada still has problems to solve. The team wants defensive colossus Moïse Bombito back from injury, and he was back among his teammates this week, though Marsch said a return with Nice may be weeks away. With Bombito and Alfie Jones out, Derek Cornelius and Luc de Fougerolles were not fit to start, while Joel Waterman and Kamal Miller showed ill-timed jitters against Iceland and Tunisia. Miller started all three games at Qatar 2022, but Canada has not yet found the same stability at the back.
The attack has been just as blunt. Over two games, the only imprint on the scoreboard was 2 Jonathan David penalties, and Cyle Larin and Tani Oluwaseyi failed to lead the line with much effect. Marsch also apologized for saying, “if it’s Italy, man, we should be ripping those blue jerseys [off Italian-Canadians] and burning them.” After the week Canada has just lived through, his point was simple enough: the squad needed the clarity, and now it finally has it.
