Takeaways: Canada dominates in second half for convincing win over Uzbekistan

Say the word “Iceteca” to any soccer fan in this country, and it’ll instantly bring a smile to their face as they recall one of the best moments in the history of the Canadian men’s team.  

It was on a cold, snowy night at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium on Nov. 16, 2021, that Canada earned a memorable 2-1 win over Mexico, a result that set Les Rouges on a path towards qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. 

Fast-forward to Monday: On a cold, rainy and miserable night, Canada marked its first time back at Commonwealth Stadium with a convincing 2-0 win over Uzbekistan in its penultimate match before this summer’s FIFA World Cup. Substitutes Jonathan Osorio and Jayden Nelson scored for the Canadians in this international friendly, while Tani Oluwaseyi also made an impact off the bench with a pair of assists. 

Here are three takeaways from the match. 

A game of two different halves from Canada 

Canada sits 30th in the current FIFA world rankings, 20 spots above Uzbekistan, which will make its World Cup debut this summer.  

But it was the visitors who carried the bulk of play and looked far more dangerous in the first half, as evidenced by their 9-3 edge in total shots. While Canadian forwards Jonathan David and Cyle Larin were rather anonymous, the best chances of the opening 45 minutes fell to Eldor Shomurodov. If not for the Uzbekistan forward’s lack of finishing, the visitors could have easily gone into halftime with a 2-0 lead. 

Canada looked timid and erratic before the break and needed to do something to give itself a jump start. It came in the form of wholesale changes by coach Jesse Marsch, who brought seven players off the bench at the start of the second half, including both eventual goal scorers Osorio and Nelson, as well as Tani Oluwaseyi. 

The new blood injected some much-needed life into Canada, which dominated the final 45 minutes, with Oluwaseyi playing the role of playmaker in setting up both goals from Osorio and Nelson, who is one of the players keen to replace the injured Marcelo Flores in Canada’s World Cup roster. Nelson did himself no harm with his marvellous attacking display, Oluwaseyi made a case for himself to start next to Jonathan David in leading Canada’s attack at the World Cup, and Osorio (Canada’s most experienced player with 9 caps) reminded everyone that he still has a lot to offer.

Forward Promise David didn’t score, but he did get into dangerous scoring positions after being subbed on in the 70th minute, an encouraging sign in his first game back for Canada after suffering a hip injury in February. And defender Alfie Jones, also coming back from injury, helped Canada lock things down after his introduction into the match with 20 minutes left in regulation. 

Monday's win allowed Marsch to look at some players ahead of Canada's World Cup opener versus Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12 at BMO Field, even though he insisted that's not what this friendly was mostly about. 

"My focus is less on evaluating individuals and making sure that everybody understands their roles and understands the kind of behaviours we want, and that we're clear with exactly what the game needs to look like," Marsch said. "And so, for the most part, I thought we executed that, but there's still little things in there that we can tighten up, and we will."

Les Rouges finally score from open play 

Both Nelson and Oluwaseyi looked especially lively after being subbed on at the start of the second half, and it was the latter who played a role in Osorio’s opening goal.  

Canada forced a turnover inside Uzbekistan’s half, and the ball eventually found its way to Oluwaseyi as he played a great pass into the penalty area for the TFC captain. Osorio took a touch and then fired a low shot at the near post that snuck in underneath goalkeeper Abduvohid Nematov to break the deadlock.    

Nelson put the game away in injury time with his third goal for Canada via a lovely chip shot off a setup from Oluwaseyi after he forced a turnover inside Uzbekistan’s half of the pitch. 

The goals were Canada’s first from open play in three games in 2026. Both goals in a 2-2 draw with Iceland in Toronto on March 28 were scored by Jonathan David from the penalty spot, while Canada was held to a 0-0 draw versus Tunisia three days later. Before those matches, Canada hadn’t scored from open play since Ismaël Koné’s first-half strike in a 2-0 win last November versus Venezuela ended the team’s overall goal drought at 342 consecutive minutes. 

Needless to say, Osorio and Nelson’s well-taken goals versus Uzbekistan will give Canada a major confidence boost going into the World Cup. 

“There had been a lot of talk about (how) we haven't scored goals from the run of play, understandably so, because we hadn't. But I kept saying the goals are coming, because I know that we have a lot of firepower,” Jesse Marsch said. 

Did Maxime Crepeau win the starting goalkeeper job? 

Jesse Marsch hasn't yet declared who'll be Canada's starting goalkeeper at the World Cup, as Maxime Crépeau and Dayne St. Clair have been involved in a tightly contested battle for the job for close to two years. 

Marsch revealed in the buildup to Monday’s match that both would play one half each against Uzbekistan, while stating nothing should be read into the fact that Crépeau was going to start.  

Crépeau made the most of being the first goalkeeper in the spotlight, coming up with a big save to deny Eldor Shomurodov in the 27th minute. The Uzbekistan forward went on a probing run after latching onto a dangerous through ball and unleashed a driving shot from just outside of the box, only to see Crépeau do well to get down low and tip it wide of the far post. 

Crépeau’s positioning was spot on as he perfectly read the play as it developed in real time and bailed out his defenders with a brilliant stop.  

St. Clair replaced Crépeau at the start of the second half and made a decent stop on Igor Sergeev’s left-footed shot after the Uzbek forward managed to peel away from Canadian defender Luc de Fougerolles. 

But overall, Crépeau was more impressive on the night and was put under far more pressure in the first half when Uzbekistan controlled the game than in the final 45 minutes when St. Clair was between the posts and Canada dictated terms. 

Canada’s final World Cup tune-up match is Friday versus Ireland in Montreal, and Marsch still isn’t saying who’ll be Canada’s starter this summer. But don’t be surprised if Crépeau gets the nod based on the strength of his display in Edmonton. 

“We would like to make a decision about the goalkeeper this week," Marsch said. "Once again, they both delivered really good performances, which is what I expected, and now I have to make a decision. So, there's some responsibility on my shoulders, right? But again, I can't make the wrong decision, because we have two really good goalkeepers that have delivered performance after performance for the national team. They both deserve to be the starter."