Canadian men’s team clinches World Cup berth

Canada 4 (Cyle Larin 13’; Buchanan 44’; Hoilett 82; Mariappa OG 88’), Jamaica 0
Canadians off to World Cup for 1st time since 1986 in Mexico
Larin scored his team-leading 24th international goal

After more than three decades of near-misses, embarrassing losses, blown calls by the refs, and one miserable failure after another, the Canadian men’s team is finally going back to the FIFA World Cup.

Canada officially booked its place at this year’s tournament in Qatar with a convincing 4-0 win over Jamaica on frigid and snowy Sunday, a result that ended its World Cup drought after a lengthy barren run. The Canadians’ only previous World Cup appearance was in Mexico in 1986 when they bowed out following three consecutive shutout losses in the group stage.

Canada punched its ticket for the World Cup thanks to goals from Cyle Larin, Tajon Buchanan and Junior Hoilett, and a Jamaican own-goal before a crowd of 29,122 spectators in Toronto, fulfilling a promise made by coach John Herdman when he was hired in 2018 that Canada would qualify for Qatar.

“Fucking, yeah! Fucking, yeah! We’re going to the World Cup!” Herdman screamed in front of reporters just before doing his pitch-side media scrum.