Tajon Buchanan, left, battles for the ball with Ivan Roman during an international soccer friendly in Toronto on Saturday. Canada coach Jesse Marsch says he liked his team’s first 20-25 minutes but not the rest.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Canada’s first outing since the World Cup was anything but pretty but came with a win, which in the end was all that mattered.
Jonathan David scored his 43rd international goal as the Canadians defeated nine-man Chile 1-0 in a chippy international friendly Saturday. David put Canada ahead in the 12th minute, then headed to the sideline to hold up a Derek Cornelius jersey in a tribute to the defender, a close friend who dislocated his hip in training Wednesday.
Nathan Saliba did the same for fellow midfielder Ismaël Koné in Canada’s 6-0 World Cup win over Qatar after Koné suffered a broken leg.
Koné and Cornelius were both spectators Saturday.
David, who had accompanied Cornelius by ambulance to hospital, had asked that the jersey be ready on the sideline.
“I’m always expecting to score every game,” said the Atlético Madrid forward. “So I just asked them for it to be prepared.”
The game got ugly after that.
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Chilean midfielder Lucas Cepeda, upended as he tangled with Richie Laryea in a tackle, was sent off in the 35th minute after his flailing high boot carved open the Canadian fullback’s face.
No. 49 Chile was reduced to nine men in the 50th minute when captain Gabriel Suazo was shown a second yellow card for elbowing Niko Sigur in the head during an aerial challenge.
“It’s games like that that we want to play,” said Canadian midfielder Mathieu Choinière. “It’s men’s football. We like it that way.”
It was one-way traffic the rest of the way, albeit with 30th-ranked Canada unable to convert a bushel of chances. Laryea hit the post with a rocket of the shot in the final minutes.
It made for a nervy ending, with Chile unable to knock home a dangerous free kick that went through the penalty box in the 87th minute.
Chilean players went down with regularity, sometimes legitimately but often theatrically, as the game wore on. The mood grew uglier late in the second half with Canadians Cyle Larin, Jamie Knight-Lebel and Promise David shown three yellow cards.
Canada coach Jesse Marsch liked his team’s first 20-25 minutes but not the rest.
“I don’t think (the) second half was very good,” he said. “Chile remained aggressive, even down two men. And the way to make them pay was to be cleaner with the ball and cleaner with ideas and actions around the goal. And we were too wild, not enough shots on frame, not enough final actions with good connections.”
“But a good win,” he added, somewhat optimistically. “And we’ll move on and get ready for the next two in this window.”
The Canadian team pressures the Chilean goal during their international soccer friendly at BMO Field.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
The Canadian men now head to Montreal where they host No. 50 Peru next Saturday. Then it’s on to St. Paul, Minn., for a date with the 16th-ranked U.S.
The contest was the first for Canada since exiting the World Cup in a 3-0 loss to No. 6 Morocco round-of-16 play July 4 in Houston.
And it was the first at BMO Field for the Canadian men since a 1-1 draw in their June 12 World Cup opener against No. 61 Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The 15 veterans of Canada’s World Cup squad on the current roster were honoured prior to kickoff by a loud crowd announced at 23,310.
In addition to Cornelius, Canada was missing defenders Moïse Bombito, Alistair Johnston, Joel Waterman and Alfie Jones. Midfielders Ali Ahmed and Jeevan Badwal are also sidelined.
Veteran goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau wasn’t called up due to an unspecified personal matter. Honeymooning captain Alphonso Davies also got a pass.
Vice-captain Stephen Eustáquio, who got married Tuesday in Portugal, started on the bench after arriving in camp Thursday. He entered the game in the 61st minute.
The Canadian starting 11 came into the game with a combined 459 caps with Larin (94), Laryea (90), David (82) and Tajon Buchanan (65) accounting for 331 of those appearances.
David served as captain with 20-year-old Luc de Fougerolles and 24-year-old Ralph Priso paired in the heart of the defence.
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Canada controlled most of the play in a frenetic first half with Jacob Shaffelburg and Laryea causing Chile problems down the left flank.
David’s opening goal came on a rapid-fire attack that saw Chile goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux, a teammate of Eustaquio’s at Swansea City in England’s second-tier Championship, stop Larin’s initial shot only to see David knock home the rebound and add to his Canadian men’s scoring record.
A Chilean goal, an elegant flicked header by César Pérez, was waved off for offside in the 34th minute.
Junior Hoilett came on in the 76th minute for his 70th cap in his international swan song. The 36-year-old midfielder from nearby Brampton made his senior debut in October, 2015.
Jovan Ivanisevic, a 21-year-old defender who plays for FK Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and 18-year-old Toronto FC defender Richard Chukwu earned their first caps off the bench.