Larin’s late strike earns Canada a historic first World Cup point

Cyle Larin had been on the pitch for barely two minutes when he settled a question that had hung over Canadian football for forty years. His finish in the 78th minute at BMO Field cancelled out Jovo Lukic’s first-half header, and the 1-1 draw with Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12 gave Canada the first point they have ever collected at a men’s World Cup. For Indian viewers it arrived deep in the night, the match wrapping up in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The result carried more weight than a single shared point on the table. This was the first men’s World Cup match staged on Canadian soil, and a raucous crowd in Toronto had spent the evening waiting for a reason to roar. Larin, an Ontario native, gave them one.

Bosnia draw first blood

For an hour it looked as though the occasion might run away from the hosts. Bosnia and Herzegovina, back at a World Cup for the first time since 2014, were the calmer side and took the lead through Lukic, who rose to meet a corner and head past the goalkeeper. The visitors defended their advantage with the kind of organisation that had carried them through qualifying, and Canada’s early energy began to curdle into anxiety.

Jesse Marsch has built this Canadian team on pressing and tempo, but neither was landing cleanly against a Bosnian block that sat deep and refused to be drawn out. The home side needed a different idea, and Marsch went to his bench to find it.

Marsch rolls the dice

The substitutions changed the texture of the match. Fresh legs stretched Bosnia where the starters had not, and the introduction of Larin gave Canada a genuine focal point in the box. It took him almost no time to repay the decision, finishing to level the score with twelve minutes of normal time still to play.

BMO Field erupted. The goal rescued a point and spared Canada the unwanted distinction of becoming only the second host nation to lose a World Cup opener. The remaining minutes were frantic, both teams sensing that a winner was there to be taken, but the scoreline held through six added minutes at the end.

A first point that ends a long wait

Canada had come into the tournament carrying an uncomfortable record. Across their two previous appearances, at Mexico 1986 and Qatar 2022, they had played six matches and lost every one of them, scoring sparingly and never once troubling the standings. The draw against Bosnia ends that run and gives Marsch’s group something tangible to build on in Group B.

There is plenty still to sharpen. Canada were second best for long stretches and relied on a substitute’s instinct rather than a controlled performance to claim their reward. Bosnia, for their part, will feel they let two points slip after leading for so much of the night. Both sides leave Toronto with a point and a clearer sense of what the group will demand of them.

For a country hosting the biggest event in its sporting history, though, the details mattered less than the moment. Forty years after Canada first walked out at a World Cup, they finally have a point to show for it, and a stadium full of people who will remember exactly where they were when Larin scored.

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