Canada's Tajon Buchanan fires past Ukraine goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk to score his team's fourth goal during the Canadian Shield tournament in Toronto on Saturday.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
The last 18 months have not been especially kind to Tajon Buchanan.
Losing his place in the national team, a broken tibia, and limited opportunities at Inter Milan that necessitated a loan move to Spain’s Villarreal all conspired to rob the livewire winger of some of the verve that made him one of Canada’s breakout players at the last World Cup.
As a result, the 26-year-old Brampton, Ont., native had started just four of Canada’s first 15 national team matches since Jesse Marsch took over as head coach in May last year.
Slowly but surely though, Buchanan has been working his way back to full health and confidence – even scoring the winning goal as Villarreal came from behind to beat Spanish champion Barcelona last month.
However, he chose Saturday’s game against Ukraine – in the opening fixture of the four-team Canadian Shield tournament at Toronto’s BMO Field – to signal a return to his best form in the national-team shirt. It was the kind of display that earned him a move to Serie A in the first place.
Canada rolled to a 4-2 victory – its first over a European team since beating Belarus in March, 2011 – and Buchanan was at the heart of almost everything Canada did, setting up the first two goals for Jonathan David before grabbing one himself late on.
Almost exactly one year out from a World Cup campaign that will begin at the same venue – Thursday marks the 365-day countdown – Buchanan provided a timely reminder of what he brings to this team when he is at his free-flowing best. His goal was his first for his country since scoring at BMO Field three years ago in the match that clinched Canada’s qualification for Qatar, while the two helpers were his first assists since providing the cross for Alphonso Davies to net this country’s first goal at a men’s World Cup.
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“I’m starting to feel good again. I feel like my old self,” he said after playing the full 90 minutes for Canada the first time since the 2022 World Cup. “I think the move to Villarreal helped me a lot to gain my fitness back, to gain my confidence.
“I’ve been working extremely hard to get back to this level and I’m very happy with the way I played today.”
Whatever Canada’s aspirations at the World Cup – and getting out of the group stage and would seem to be the minimum impact it hopes to make – a motivated, fit Buchanan will be integral to those ambitions.
Buchanan celebrates his goal against Ukraine with Daniel Jebbison.Mark Blinch/Getty Images
Despite the recent successes in reaching the semi-finals of both the Nations League and Copa America in the past 12 months, one of the criticisms levelled at the men’s national team since Marsch took over last year has been its inability to create offence.
With just 14 goals in his first 15 games in charge, the team has often found itself frustrated, particularly when supposedly weaker opposition teams set up shop in a low block in and around their penalty area. The onus has then fallen on Canada to unlock a defensive wall, which March’s team has frequently been unable to do.
On Saturday, playing against a Ukraine team ranked five places above it in the FIFA rankings, Canada was handed a different kind of test.
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With Ukraine enjoying most of the possession, Sergiy Rebrov’s team surprisingly played a more open game, allowing Canada to showcase its athleticism. Both Buchanan and Jacob Shaffelburg, the speedster on the left wing, were the beneficiaries of open space behind the fullbacks in transition, with Buchanan enjoying the freedom of his right wing to set up the opening two goals.
And Canada’s third goal, scored by Promise David on his debut, was the result of Canada’s pressing, with the Union Saint-Gilloise striker – fresh off leading his team to its first Belgian league title in 90 years – catching centre-back Valeriy Bondar in possession before clinically dispatching it past goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin.
But when Canada returns to playing teams that don’t want to be so expansive – perhaps on Tuesday when it plays the 41st-ranked Ivory Coast – Marsch and his team still need to find a creative spark to unlock routes to goal.
Perhaps Buchanan can help provide that X-factor. After all, the way he nutmegged fullback Mykola Matviyenko on the opening goal Saturday showed a rare streak of artistry on this team.
Marsch is certainly aware of the importance he brings, commenting last month that the “best version of our national team has Tajon in the starting lineup.”
After seeing Buchanan’s influence as his team scored four goals for the first time in his 13 months on the job, Marsch’s thoughts on the winger are likely even more concrete now.
As for Buchanan, Saturday’s win was just another step on the road to 2026, and the global soccer showcase set to arrive on these shores in 12 months’ time.
“This is the standard we hold ourselves to,” he said. “We want to change football in this country, and over the past years, we’ve been doing that.”