Canada advances to CONCACAF Nations League final four with decisive win over Suriname

TORONTO — The Canadian men ended their year on a winning note Tuesday, dispatching Suriname 3-0 for a 4-0 aggregate win in their two-legged CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal.

With the win, Canada advances to the Nations League Finals in March at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., and qualifies for the 2025 Gold Cup.

Jacob Shaffelburg scored twice and Jonathan David added another to move into top spot among Canadian men's goal-scorers as 35th-ranked Canada had its way with No. 136 Suriname.

It had been a harder slog on artificial turf in the heat of Suriname on Friday when Canada needed an 82nd-minute goal by substitute Junior Hoilett to triumph in Paramaribo. Canada dominated that game too but lacked clinical finishing and polish on set plays.

Coach Jesse Marsch got both Tuesday.

David's fourth goal in his last six games for Canada moved him past Cyle Larin for top spot among Canada men with 31 goals in 59 internationals. The recently retired Christine Sinclair holds the Canadian and world record with 190 goals (from 331 games).

Canada has scored 12 goals in 13 games under coach Jesse Marsch with David involved in eight of them (five goals and three assists).

"He seems to score every match," said Marsch. "He's dangerous every match. He sets up goals. He's a complete player."

"He's unbelievable … He's in great form," added fullback Richie Laryea. "He's unplayable."

Canada's semifinal opponent will be No. 16 Mexico, which scored goals in the 85th and 97th minute in Toluca on Tuesday to recover from a 2-0 first-leg deficit and defeat No. 77 Honduras 4-0 on the night and 4-2 on aggregate.

Canada tied Mexico 0-0 in a September friendly in Arlington, Texas.

The other semifinal pits the 18th-ranked U.S. against No. 39 Panama, who booked their tickets to the semifinals on Monday by defeating No. 61 Jamaica and No. 50 Costa Rica, respectively.

Canada was seeded first by its quarterfinal performance (six points, plus-four goal difference) with Mexico fourth (three points, plus-two goal difference).

After a sloppy opening by both teams, David put Canada ahead in the 23rd minute when Suriname failed to deal with a short Canada corner that saw Mathieu Choiniere send a dangerous ball into the Suriname penalty box.

An attempted clearance hit Shaffelburg and bounced back towards goal, finding David who calmly knocked it home. The goal survived video review despite Suriname arguing the ball had hit Shaffelburg's arm.

The pacey Shaffelburg made it 2-0 in the 30th minute, beating Suriname goalkeeper Etienne Vaessen to a long ball from Moise Bombito. Shaffelburg neatly shifted the ball around the 'keeper and deposited it into the empty net.

The announced crowd of 13,239 at BMO Field dogged Vaessen the rest of the evening, with sarcastic cheers every time he managed a successful clearance.

A Bombito goal in first-half stoppage time was negated on video review after it was ruled Alistair Johnston had fouled a defender in getting to Stephen Eustaquio's free kick. The ball bounced off Johnston's shoulder to Bombito, who poked it home from close range for what would have been his first goal for Canada.

An unmarked Shaffelburg scored again in the 67th minute, knocking in a Larin cross for his sixth for Canada.

Larin hit the goalpost in the 80th minute, prompted a premature in-stadium fireworks celebration and Larin to fall over in disbelief that he hadn't scored his 31st.

Surname found itself in a shooting gallery as the clock wound down.

The Canadian men fell at this hurdle in last year's competition, losing to Jamaica on the away goals rule after the two-legged quarterfinal finished knotted at 4-4.

Canada was runner-up to the U.S. in 2022-23 and failed to make the semifinals in 2019-20.

Tuesday's game, which extended Canada's unbeaten run to five matches (4-0-1), was the last of the year for the Canadian men.

It was a windy, wet evening with temperature at kickoff listed at eight C but feeling colder. Suriname kept warm by bundling Canadian players to the ground at will.

Marsch opted for a more experienced lineup, making three changes to his starting lineup with Miller, Choiniere and Larin slotting in for Joel Waterman, Ismael Kone and Tani Oluwaseyi.

The starting 11 went into the game with a combined 400 caps, compared to 299 for the starters in Suriname.

Niko Sigur, Ismael Kone, Tajon Buchanan, Jamie Knight-Lebel, Theo Bair and Hoilett came on in the second half for Canada, allowed an extra sub for Miller's head injury. It was a debut for the 19-year-old Knight-Lebel.

Canada is 5-3-5 under Marsch, albeit against some elite opposition at Copa America, with one of those ties turning into a penalty shootout loss to No. 14 Uruguay and another to a shootout win over No. 44 Venezuela.

Located on the northeast coast of South America between Guyana and French Guiana, Suriname (whose population is around 650,000, was granted independence in 1975 by the Netherlands. As a result, its football has a Dutch flavour.

Suriname has star power in Becker, a forward who scored in Real Sociedad's recent 1-0 win over Barcelona in Spain's La Liga. The Suriname starting 11, the same as the first leg, also included players from clubs in Cyprus, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Serbia, Sweden and Turkey.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 19, 2024