Canada defeat Honduras 1-0 in World Cup qualifier at BC Place

Turns out BC Place and the Canadian men’s national team are a pretty good match.

Canada opened the fourth round of CONCACAF qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup with a big 1-0 win over Honduras on Friday in front of a fantastic home crowd in Vancouver. The attendance of 20,108 set a record for a Canada men's national team home match in British Columbia.

• HIGHLIGHTS

Orlando City SC striker and 2015 MLS Rookie of the Year Cyle Larin was the goalscorer, with the ball rolling off his back after a Will Johnson header in the 38th minute. It was the give-and-go combination of Junior Hoilett and Atiba Hutchinson that moved the ball down the left side before Hoilett delivered the goal-setting cross.

This was the Canadian men’s national team’s first match in Vancouver in 11 years.

"It was fantastic," Johnson told reporters. "Probably the best Canada crowd that I've played in front of in my career. They were unbelievable tonight. It was a real treat to come in and see a lot of red everywhere and outnumber the blue by tons, and that's not always a given in this country. So it's just nice to see us taking steps in the right direction on the field and off the field."

Canada was the stronger side for many parts of the match. Oddly enough, Johnson would be denied a second goal in the 63rd minute after one of his free kicks was stopped by the goalpost.

In the second half, goalkeeper Milan Borjan's big save stopped a Mario Martinez shot from the right side. Through 90 minutes, Borjan and his defenders kept the clean sheet, the team's eighth clean sheet this calendar year.

In CONCACAF Group A, both home sides Canada (1-0 over Honduras) and Mexico (3-0 over El Salvador) picked up three points on the opening night of the fourth round. For the second matchday, El Salvador will host Canada (5:30 p.m. PT) while Honduras will host Mexico on Tuesday. 

Following these two matches in November, Canada will play two matches in March 2016 (at home and away against Mexico) and two matches in September 2016 (away against Honduras and at home against El Salvador). The top two teams from three groups will advance to the hexagonal CONCACAF final round, otherwise known as "The Hex". Three CONCACAF will eventually earn automatic bids to the World Cup while a fourth will participate in a playoff with the fifth-place finisher from Asia.

INTERNATIONAL 'CAPS

Darren Mattocks was the only 'Caps player to get minutes on Friday. The striker started and played 61 minutes for Jamaica in a 2-0 loss to Panama. Meanwhile, Kendall Waston was on the bench as Costa Rica defeated Haiti 1-0 and Sam Adekugbe, Kianz Froese, and Russell Teibert were all on the bench for Canada. 

Fourth Round

GROUP A

Group A Schedule