Canada’s Gold Cup opener was going okay, I guess, until it wasn’t

Buh. So I watched the first Canadian game in the Gold Cup. Are you sure you want to hear about it?

Martinique aren’t bad so much as they’re static, drawing from a player pool that’s half French oldsters and half natives of the French overseas department. They spent most of the time pushing Canada without finding any luck, going into second-half injury time tied 0-0. That’s sort of a result if your expectations were shattered by the most recent World Cup qualifying campaign but not at all a result when you think that six years ago, Canada were ranked fourth in CONCACAF and now they’re getting bossed around by a non-FIFA team. Milan Borjan was dependable. Canada’s rising stars need more time with each other, and Canada was not without chances.

That would have been something you could settle for, until they scored from outside the box on 93 minutes. By all accounts, Canada need 4 points to succeed, which would mean they need at least a point against Mexico. So there’s that.