By Daniel Feuerstein | Montreal, QC | June 5th, 2026
The final international matchday for the Canadian Men’s National Team as they hosted the Republic of Ireland at Stade Saputo in Montreal, Quebec. The final tuneup for Les Rouges as they get ready to head to BMO Field in Toronto to face Bosnia & Herzegovina in their first group stage match in Group B. Facing Ireland was a true test to see what they will face when the World cup begins, and they ended their match in a one-goal draw.
Canada would get on the board first and got help from an unknown source. They earned a corner along the near side. As they prepared to take it, the ball was sent toward the far post, and as it bent inside the six yard box, Ireland’s Jake O’Brien was trying to defend against Tajon Buchanan, but lost sight of the ball and it hit him on the chest and deflected inside the net as an own goal to give Canada the lead in the 24th minute.
In the second half Ireland was fighting back and trying to level the match. They got that chance when Cyle Larin accidentally lifted his right boot and kicked a Ireland player into the face and earned a yellow card in the 57th minute. The foul occurred inside the Canada area. Troy Parrott got the ball and went to the spot. As the referee blew his whistle, Parrott took the penalty and it was saved by Maxime Crepeau, but the rebound went back to Parrott and he conveted the equalizer in the 60th minute.
Within the final half hour both sides were trying to get ahead and take the victory, but at the end of the full 90 minutes with five of second half stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle and the match ended in a draw. Ireland will be heading home, while Canada will move ahead to play in the World cup as a tri-host. While a draw might not be the best result to get ready for the big tournament, for Head Coach Jesse Marsch, he feels confident and ready to put his team into this journey.
“A lot of guys, 90 minutes. Performance, guys like Derek and Luke, I’ve been playing 90 minutes in a while. Uh… Liam. Johnny. Tayshaun all with good minutes, like, you know, a lot of guys I thought put good efforts in and looked really sharp. Look, I thought we were in… very much in control of this match. And, you know, we just lack a little bit of quality in the final actions, but… I believe that will come. This group is really strong. This group is really committed. They’re fit, they’re ready to push. Like, I love this team. So, yeah, we’ve got to score some goals, but we will,” said Jesse Marsch.
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