Canadian men’s soccer team battles back from two-goal deficit for 2-2 draw with Iceland

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A wintry day in March might seem like a million miles from the suffocating pressure and smouldering temperatures of a home World Cup in June and July, but with just 75 days until the world’s biggest sporting event kicks off, the margins for error are narrowing.

Seen through that lens, the Canadian men’s national team fighting back from a 2-0 deficit to force a 2-2 draw at home against Iceland on Saturday can be at once a glass-half-full as well as a glass-half-empty moment.

That Jesse Marsch’s men allowed the world’s 74th-ranked team to come into Toronto and steal a march on a squad that has designs on advancing past the first round this summer is never going to be good. That he was able to rally it out of a first-half slumber when it dozily handed Real Sociedad striker Orri Steinn Oskarsson a pair of goals inside the first 21 minutes is obviously a positive.

Jonathan David – wearing the captain’s armband for the day – twice showed his nerveless cool from the penalty spot to revive his team’s hopes, as well as those of the 26,328 hardy souls who had braved the sub-zero temperatures and snow squalls.

But just when Canada had the bit between its teeth in searching for a winner, Tajon Buchanan received a straight red card for violent play with 10 minutes remaining. Buchanan’s dismissal, the first of his national-team career, was also the third straight game that Canada has had a player sent off, and the fourth time in the past eight internationals.

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“I do think there’s a lot of learnings at all moments for what these games are and what games will be in the summer,” Marsch said. “But we’ve got to learn from them, that’s the important part, and then not make those same mistakes and other ones that can be fatal.”

Fielding a backline shorn of the experience of Alphonso Davies, Moise Bombito and Alistair Johnston – all in various stages of rehab from assorted ailments – the goat horns were worn most prominently by veteran Kamal Miller, who has more than a half-century of caps to his name. His underhit back pass just nine minutes in was seized on by Oskarsson, who was off to the races, beating Dayne St. Clair with a low shot inside the near post.

Contrary to what many may have thought, Marsch wasn’t unhappy that his team had fallen behind on the first shot on goal from either team, but that it had gotten away from its basic playing principles.

“Often a completed pass backwards, in my mind, is a mistake versus an incomplete forward [pass], where still we have an opportunity to counterpress, still we have an opportunity to win it back,” the coach said. “So that’s where I know that Kamal felt that he let himself down.”

It got worse just 12 minutes later, when Niko Sigur, playing the right-back position that Johnston will probably occupy this summer, was second-best to a ball played over his head at the halfway line. Mikael Egill Ellertsson, who won that race, was then able to find Oskarsson in space to lash home a second.

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But after getting to halftime, Marsch calmly recalibrated his players, re-emphasizing the speed and transition that he was looking for, particularly when it came to playing the ball into behind the Icelandic defence.

“I think every moment that we’ve talked about is preparing us for the World Cup,” St. Clair said. “And we know obviously we don’t want to be in that situation, but you could go down two nil, and you got to be able to fight back to get a result, whether it’s a point or three points.”

David’s two spot kicks – which ended a five-game goalless drought for the national team – brings his national team record tally to 39 goals in 74 appearances. It was also likely a welcome shot in the arm for a Canadian talisman who has struggled in his first season at Italian giant Juventus, scoring just seven goals in 39 games, with question marks already cropping up over his long-term future at the Turin club.

“I mean his nickname’s ‘Iceman’ for a reason, right?” St. Clair said. “I don’t think anything gets to him. So be able to kind of show the composure in that moment of course; even when you take a second one, it becomes even more of a mind game. But I think everyone felt confident.”

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One of the positives to come out of the game was Canada’s ability to blood some new players. While question marks could be raised over the quality of some of the team’s depth pieces after Saturday’s performance, Marsch handed a first Canadian cap to Marcelo Torres, an attacking midfielder from Georgetown, Ont., who had previously played three times for the Mexican national team. He came off the bench just after the hour mark, as did Vancouver Whitecaps defender Ralph Priso, who made his first international appearance.

Both will be in line for more minutes in Tuesday’s match against Tunisia at BMO Field, with Marsch promising four or five changes, including goalkeeper Max Crepeau coming in for St. Clair. Midfielder Ismael Kone, who missed this game after his red card against Venezuela in November, is also likely to feature.

The biggest blight on the game was the red card to Buchanan. While some players played down the severity of the offence – St. Clair said that with video review, which will be in play at the World Cup, it likely wouldn’t be a red card – Marsch understands that some are starting to question the discipline of his team. Possibly worse, his team might be gaining a reputation as players that are unable to keep their heads.

“We’re not a dirty, nasty team,” he said. “We work hard, we were physical, we play hard, but we’re not a dirty team. So I’m not worried about developing a reputation, but certainly cards like that can change momentum in tournaments, right? So we have to find a way to eliminate picking up those red cards.”