Koné Readies Canada Vs Bosnia And Herzegovina For Toronto Opener
Canada vs Bosnia and Herzegovina opens Friday at BMO Field in Toronto, and Canada will do it on home soil for the first time in a men’s World Cup game. The No. 30 Canadians enter Group B knowing four points should secure a round-of-32 spot, but they also carry six straight World Cup losses from 1986 and 2022.
Koné Sets The Tone
Ismaël Koné said this week the wait has been long enough. “I just want the game to start. We've been practising and pushing and speaking about tactics. Speaking about the opposite teams. Speaking about ourselves. Speaking about the moment. Speaking about the country.... The moment is now. I feel like the work has been done. So, I can't wait to get it started,” he said ahead of Friday’s opener.
That urgency fits a team trying to break a pattern that has lingered for years. Canada is 30th in the current FIFA rankings, well ahead of Bosnia and Herzegovina at No. 64, and the group also includes No. 56 Qatar and No. 19 Switzerland.
Davies Misses The Opener
Canada will have to begin without captain Alphonso Davies, who is expected to miss the opener while recovering from a hamstring injury. That leaves more pressure on the attack to start cleanly after a stretch that has included four shutouts in 13 matches dating back to last summer.
The front line has shown flashes, but not enough of them at once. Jonathan David has 39 goals for Canada and Cyle Larin has 30, yet Larin has gone 14 consecutive games without scoring and has not scored since 2024. David scored two penalty goals against Iceland in March, but aside from those penalties he has no goals in eight appearances over the last nine months for Canada.
Canada’s Recent Scoring
Last week’s 2-0 win over Uzbekistan in Edmonton offered a cleaner readout. Jonathan Osorio and Jayden Nelson scored from open play, ending Canada’s drought since Ismaël Koné’s goal against Venezuela in November, when the team snapped a 342 consecutive-minute scoreless run.
Canada has scored two or more goals five times in its last 13 matches, and Jesse Marsch now has a side that has to turn occasional bursts into a result that changes the group picture. Tani Oluwaseyi and Promise David have five goals in 34 appearances between them, which leaves the scoring load concentrated on the veterans and whoever can finish first on Friday.
Larin said the finishers are in the squad and the goals should come if the chances are there. “I never thought there was a problem about the ball going into the back of the net. We have four guys who can put the ball back there … So, I don't think that's a problem. I think it will come. I think we just have to keep doing what we do, and then guys just give us the ball, and we'll score if we get,” he said. Bosnia and Herzegovina arrives ranked 34 places below Canada, but the real test is whether the hosts use the opener to stop the slide that has defined their World Cup record so far.
