Canada and Bosnia played one of the least expected games of this World Cup, but they delivered excitement. The hosts snatched a 1-1 draw in a beautiful move and overturned a taboo: they won the first point in the country’s history in the World Cup.
Until this Friday (12), there were 6 matches in 2 World Cups (1986, in Mexico, and 2022, in Qatar), with 6 defeats, 2 goals scored and 12 conceded.
The home team ran hard to try to assert control of the field and advanced against the Europeans throughout the game. They pressured the ball throughout the first half, supported by winger Millar, a fast number 11 and a dribbler, who pulled the ball towards the baseline in an attempt to find some space in the attack.
But the Bosnian defense, stationed in the area, left few opportunities.
The Canadians, unable to enter the area with the ball on the ground, insisted on an aerial game, an inefficient solution against a team whose specialty is precisely high-flying competition.
And that’s how the Bosnians opened the scoring: in a rehearsed corner, Kolasinac hit the first post, and center forward Lukic, 1.93 m tall, headed the ball into the goal in one of the team’s only shots of the period.
The absence of standouts Alphonso Davies (Canada) and Edin Dzeko (Bosnia), both on the bench due to physical problems, worsened the prospects of an already less technical game.
For the remainder of the first half, the European team, tall and physically strong, managed to protect their penalty area despite failing to score a few ball possessions.
More agile, but lacking aim, the Canadians were unable to take advantage of the few opportunities they had to score on goal.
In the second half, Canadian Oluwaseyi shook up the match with two plays that almost resulted in a goal.
The game turned into a rush: there was a ball hitting the crossbar and a lot of counterattacks from Canada.
In the 33rd minute of the second half, Larin came on for Oluwaseyi and, shortly after, received a beautiful pass from Promise David to score with a volley from the edge of the area.
This was the first game at the Toronto stadium, which will host six other matches in this World Cup. The country will have seven more games in Vancouver.
Next group B game
Qatar and Switzerland face each other tomorrow (13), at 4pm Brasília time.
The broadcast is exclusive to CazéTV, on YouTube.
