Canada 1-1 Bosnia & Herzegovina: Co-hosts pick up their first-EVER World Cup point in thrilling draw in Toronto – as referee imposes tough five-second law in crackdown on time-wasting

Here, inside the World Cup’s smallest stadium, stood a side containing the greatest expectations of all participating nations.

Canada’s World Cup history is full of infamy. Four years ago they were the only team other than hosts Qatar to finish the group stage with zero points. In 1986, their only other World Cup experience, they lost all three matches and failed to score a single goal.

Still, as fans marched through the streets before kick-off, there was great hope and great expectation. This may be a land of ice hockey and lacrosse, but this is Canada’s golden generation of football. Pressure is on.

When Bosnia and Herzegovina, this tournament’s biggest underdogs, took the lead through Jovo Lukic’s first international goal, there were groans and concerns about Jesse Marsch’s team, suggesting perhaps a wild miscalculation.

But it’s hard to leave Canada behind in Toronto; They’ve only lost one of their last 29 games there until 2023, so they’ve kept pushing.

“We could see they were fading, and I told them to put their foot down and go for the goal,” Marsch said.

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Larin’s second-half strike gave Canada its first point of the World Cup

Richie Laryea believed he had scored in the second half, but former Arsenal defender Sead Kolasinac cleared the line spectacularly with the help of the crossbar.

Then Promise David, sent off the bench, was convinced he had scored when he saw his header come off the line.

Marsch’s style, popularized as ‘Maplepressing’, is a high-octane, up-tempo thing and even as Bosnia tried to cover and protect (the referee cut the tempo from the start when he invoked one of the new laws that reverse the throw-in after Kolasinac had taken more than five seconds to get the ball in) Marsch stuck to his guns and the reward eventually came.

David’s clever move turned into the path of Cyle Larin, who spun with the grace of a dancer and captivated an entire nation with his masterful finishing.

“I was disappointed with the first half,” Marsch added. ‘I felt like we were experienced and didn’t play as aggressively as we wanted to.

‘When we say we want to be aggressive and we say we want to be intense, we have to find a way to actually do that. “I told them, ‘We need to learn these lessons and we need to learn them quickly.’

The celebrations spoke of relief; It’s an act of exorcism that puts pressure on this group, which up to this point has had no World Cup skills to fall back on when the going gets tough.

This remains a victory for the Bosnian side, who eventually came up empty-handed.

They shouldn’t even be here. They should have lost against Wales in Cardiff but they didn’t. They should have lost to Italy, who hugged each other in celebration when they discovered they would face Bosnia in the World Cup play-off, but they didn’t.

Sead Kolasinac made a spectacular move over his own crossbar to stop the goal

Jovo Lukic scored the opening goal of the Bosnia-Herzegovina match

Here in sunny Toronto, Bosnia, bottom of Group B, was expected to lose to Canada. But they still didn’t lose this either.

Both will be confident about moving forward, but both will reflect on a missed opportunity, especially Canada.

While Jonathan David and Tani Oluwaseyi turned away golden opportunities in the box in the first half, those two improbable goal-line shots will sting for Bosnia when the dust settles.

But this was Canada’s football history; They got their first points in the World Cup. You can celebrate a band as a golden generation all you want, but success is built step by step.

Now it’s up to Marsch and Co to show how far they can go.