RECAP + HIGHLIGHTS: CanMNT cruise past Honduras to open Gold Cup with a win

The Canadian men's national team's Concacaf Gold Cup is off to a dream start, as Les Rouges battered Honduras 6-0 at BC Place on Tuesday night to open their Group B campaign. Canada, thoroughly in control for the 90 minutes on home soil, took a fairly early lead and never looked back, racing to their second-biggest margin of victory ever at the Gold Cup.

Like many of Canada's previous encounters with Honduras, the opening stages of this game didn't feature the most attractive football, other than one chance in the first minute where Joel Waterman nearly knocked in a perfect Mathieu Choinière free kick delivery. Honduras did well in the first 20 minutes to break up Canada's rhythm and set a physical tone, sending a message that Canada would not be given easy moments on the ball.

As Canada became more and more comfortable in the game, though, they began finding more lanes between the Honduran lines. The game ticked past the 20-minute mark and Jonathan David's influence grew, as sprayed a few excellent passes around the attacking half to set up chances for his teammates.

Before long, the Canadians found their breakthrough moment. Nathan Saliba won the ball back just outside the box to restart an attack for Canada, and Niko Sigur sprung into action from his right-sided position to collect the pass. Sigur laid it off to David and continued his run into the box, into a perfect spot for David to flick it back into his path. From there, Sigur managed to slot a finish into the bottom right corner, putting Canada up 1-0 with his first international goal.

Canada's second goal, just seconds before halftime, was even more impressive; capping off another wave of pressure, Richie Laryea collected a good ball forward from Waterman, and paused long enough for Tani Oluwaseyi to surge into the box between two Honduran defenders. Laryea slipped him the ball and Oluwaseyi bore down on goal in a wide position, managing to get a step on the centre-back marking him and firing an astonishing strike into the top corner at the far post, with remarkable power from a tough angle.

The home side picked up exactly where they left off in the second half, and within three minutes they'd added a third goal. The beneficiary of another gorgeous piece of attacking football, this time it was Tajon Buchanan arriving at the back post to score. David, again, had picked up the ball in the left half-space and played it wide to Laryea, who played it across goal for Oluwaseyi to add a backheel flick, sending it along to Buchanan.

Honduras's best stretch of the game was arguably the five minutes after Buchanan's goal; on the ensuing play, Romell Quioto was almost alone on goal and was only denied by Laryea after he'd bundled the ball past Dayne St. Clair. Moments later, Quioto nearly capitalized with a well-hit ball after bringing down a corner, but St. Clair steered it away with an excellent diving save.

Buchanan added the fourth goal for Canada a little after the hour mark, finally rewarding Choinière for his consistently superb set-piece deliveries. Choinière put a corner directly to the top of the six-yard box, where Oluwaseyi directed it down with his head and Buchanan was in the right spot to knock it in.

Promise David came off the bench for the final 20 minutes, and he wasted no time getting in on the party. Ali Ahmed drew in from the left flank and threaded a great ball in toward David, who took a clever touch around a defender before finishing low past the keeper for his second Canada goal in as many appearances.

Photo: Canada Soccer

As if they needed another Nathan Saliba bagged a goal of his own in the 90th minute; he found himself high up the pitch and cut into the box toward the middle, releasing a well-hit shot from well out with his left foot to make it 6-0 for Canada. The six-goal margin of victory is not only Canada's second-highest ever at the Gold Cup, but also joint-fifth highest in tournament history.

Overall, dominant might not be the word but Canada were inarguably the better side in this game, with very few moments spent under pressure. There's a calm confidence around the Canadians at the moment, which felt in this case like a direct result of having proven they can perform against high-quality opponents. In comparison to a Copa América game, or a clash with Ukraine or Côte d'Ivoire, this game against Honduras was far more familiar territory for Canada.

By the end, the scoreline was lopsided, as were most other statistical categories. Canada outshot Honduras 19 to five, won 61 per cent of the duels, and made 27 tackles to Honduras' 15. The Canadians were direct and aggressive, not allowing the Hondurans to slow the game down with physicality and cynical fouling; though in some years past it would be Honduras beating Canada with pace on the counter, this time it's Canada who showed they can get forward with speed and punish an opponent.

Canada made an emphatic statement to the rest of Concacaf on Tuesday night, particularly the other top teams favoured to win this tournament. The United States won their first game 5-0, so Canada went ahead and did one better (against a higher-ranked opponent). Mexico conceded twice to the Dominican Republic, and even Jamaica suffered an upset to Guatemala.

There's a long road still to go in this Gold Cup, but Canada are living up to their own hype and expectations at this early juncture.

Box Score

Lineups

Canada: St. Clair; Sigur, Waterman, De Fougerolles (Miller 63'), Laryea (Bassong 63'); Buchanan (Shaffelburg 82'), Saliba, Choinière, Ahmed; J. David (Larin 63'), Oluwaseyi (P. David 71')

Honduras: Menjivar; Melendez (Crisanto 68'), L. Vega, Montes, Rosales; Arriaga, Flores; Quioto (Arboleda 82'), A. Vega (Álvarez 46'), Palma (Mejía 46'), Lozano (Benguché 68')

Goals

27' -- Niko Sigur (Canada)
45+2' -- Tani Oluwaseyi (Canada)
48' -- Tajon Buchanan (Canada)
65' -- Tajon Buchanan (Canada)
75' -- Promise David (Canada)
90' -- Nathan Saliba (Canada)

Discipline

None

Player of the Match

Tani Oluwaseyi, Canada

Frankly, the entire Canadian team could've been listed here, but we'll go with Tani. The Minnesota United striker scored a phenomenal goal and also provided a clever assist to Buchanan, opening up acres of space up front throughout the game with his intelligent runs and workrate to stretch Honduras's backline.

What’s Next?

Canada's Gold Cup continues this Saturday, June 21, when they travel to Houston, Texas to play Curaçao (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT). Honduras's Group B campaign also takes them to Houston next, where they play El Salvador later on Saturday night (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT).