LAS VEGAS — Canada, powered by its superstars, defeated Panama 2-0 on Thursday night in the CONCACAF Nations League semi-finals to secure their ticket to Sunday night’s final.
Thus, Canada was victorious in the third match in a row, after defeating Curaçao and Honduras in March in the Nations League. The Canadians capitalized on goals from Jonathan David and Alphonso Davies to take the lead and make their way to the final.
In the final, Canada will face the United States, who beat Mexico 3-0 thanks to a brace from Christian Pulisic in a turbulent semi-final where each side was presented with two red cards. The match was also stopped before reaching the scheduled 12 minutes of extra time due to homophobic chants by Mexico fans.
On Sunday, the Maple Leafs will have the chance to win their first title in 23 years, while Canada won the Gold Cup in 2000.
It only took Canada a few minutes before seriously threatening Panama. From the seventh minute into play, Sam Adekugbe launched alone past the opposing goalkeeper, but missed his shot on a gesture that would have been considered offside anyway.
The Canadian representatives came back a little later in the first half with an even bigger hit. In the 23rd minute of play, David got past the opponent’s defense with a nice shot from Kamal Miller, then David put the ball between the legs of goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera to open the scoring.
A few minutes later, it was Canada’s goalkeeper Milan Bojan who made a fine diving save to keep the Canadians’ lead at the halfway point.
Coming on in the 61st minute, Davies quickly made his presence felt. Minutes after entering the pitch, Davies charged into the opposition net from the end of the penalty area and fired a powerful shot into the top of the net to double Canada’s lead with over 20 minutes left.
Panama’s Eric Davis was shown a red card in the 89th minute as Canada cruised to victory.
Canada is 5-2-6 against Panama, who won their final match 1-0.
It was March 2022, in Canada’s last World Cup qualifier.
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