VANCOUVER — There is no doubt about it. On Thursday, in front of 52,497 fans in Vancouver, the Canadian national team played the best game in the country’s men’s soccer history.

“I’m trying to think of one that would be comparable,” said former Nashville SC and CF Montréal defender Alistair Johnston. “I think [it is].”

After picking up the CanMNT’s first World Cup point with a 1–1 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina last week in Toronto in their Group B opener, Les Rouges throttled Qatar on the West Coast. Jonathan David scored a hat-trick, and Nathan Saliba, Cyle Larin, and LAFC’s Jacob Shaffelburg helped push the score to an emphatic 6-0 over the tournament's 2022 hosts.

Yet, for as much as the moment will be everlasting in its positivity, Canada couldn’t fully embrace the dominance. Instead of explosive celebrations, the group came together at the final whistle and huddled with all players and staff on the pitch. They leaned on each other after midfielder Ismaël Koné was forced to leave the match after sustaining a serious leg injury.

“It’s such a bittersweet night,” Johnston said, after his head coach Jesse Marsch and those on the bench described a shot-like sound when Koné suffered the tackle and hit the grass in shock and pain.

“It's tough, but now it's given us another reason for what we're gonna play this tournament for... we’re going to look at 6-0 in a World Cup game. I don't care who you're playing against, what the situation is, that's something that puts ourselves in the history books and sets us up really well.”

A special night

Even after losing the creative maestro in midfield, the victory marked a defining moment for Canadian soccer.

The day will transcend the result. Before the match, veins of red and white streamed through Vancouver streets, with the stadium as the heartbeat, before spilling into celebrations that stretched late into the night throughout downtown. 

At the same time, the match itself showcased Canada's arrival as a nation that can command attention on the world's greatest sporting stage.

Beyond being the first win, it marked the first time the team scored multiple goals in a single World Cup match and put them in a strong position to reach the knockout rounds for the first time in history.

“No Canadian will forget this day,” Marsch said. “There will be 41 million people that said they were here, and it's an incredibly seminal moment for everyone to understand that there's talent in this country, that there's mentality, desire, that there's a lot of things that make this country special.”

“I’ve learned in this business that big moments don't come so easily, and you have to appreciate them, and you have to celebrate them, and I wanted to make sure that the stadium did.”

David makes history

Even the most optimistic of Canadian soccer fans wouldn’t have expected the type of game David played. The Juventus striker was electrifying from the start, leading an unrelenting attack after facing harsh criticism due to his struggles against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the opener.

It all came just 18 hours after Marsch told a room full of reporters to “put on their seatbelts,” as he assured that David’s goalscoring form would return. 

“I said buckle up, so I hope you guys had your seat belts on today,” Marsch told reporters Thursday. “I never had any doubts in Jonny, and the one thing I said is, for us to really be successful as a team, we need him driving what we do in the attacking part of the pitch.”

Already the all-time leading goalscorer for Canada (42 goals), the 25-year-old forced a save that created Larin’s opening goal before perfect linkups, thunderous strikes and elusive runs brought him to the hat-trick moment. 

By the end of the match, David had 15 of Canada’s record 97 touches in the opposition’s penalty area, becoming the first player since 1966 to score a hat-trick for a host nation. 

“It was amazing,” David said of the atmosphere. “After each goal, it got louder, and it gave you even more hunger, more determination to get the next goal and the next one... It was very difficult, especially in a game that was basically won already, but we had to stay strong for [Ismael].”

Unified momentum

With the monumental moments through the first two matches of this World Cup, Canada have a chance to make even more history when they take to the pitch against Switzerland back in Vancouver on June 24. 

Heading into the match, Canada are atop Group B, tied on four points with their UEFA foes, holding the tiebreaker on goal differential. If Les Rouges can secure at least a draw, it would mean a Round of 32 knockout match in Vancouver and the power of the over 52,000 fans behind them. 

It won’t be easy. The 6-0 win doesn't carry the same feeling it otherwise would have after Koné’s injury. For as celebratory as it could have been, the mood amongst the players was closer to that of a bad news call — not a resounding, era-headlining win.

For better or worse, the team knows this feeling all too well. Two summers ago, star winger Tajon Buchanan broke his leg in training, a moment not dissimilar to Koné’s, bouncing back to reach their first Copa América semifinals behind an enhanced unity.

“The guys rallied around Tajon [Buchanan] at that time, and also used it as motivation to achieve some big goals. You can see the brotherhood... that came from [previous coach] John [Herdman] when he was here, before I came, and that was one of the first things I noticed when I took on this role,” Marsch said.

“In a moment like this, I don't think they need me so much. I think they have each other, and they know that... I said to [the team], even at the hydration break, that Ismaël would want us to finish the job here in this game and then we'll figure out how we want to deal with everything else after. That's what the guys did.”