The Canadian men’s national soccer team is back on the friendly circuit on Tuesday night, as they host fellow CONCACAF opponent Panama for the third of three late summer/early fall exhibition matches. Can Les Rouges wrap things up with a positive result and go undefeated in this cycle? Let’s take a look at what’s on the line Tuesday at Toronto’s BMO Field.
7:30 p.m. ET Matchup: Canada vs. Panama
| Canada Win | -209 | Panama Win | +475 | Draw | +300 |
| Over 2.5 Goals | -125 | Under 2.5 Goals | +100 | Broadcast | OneSoccer |
As mentioned, it’s been a pretty great window for the Canadians. After a fourth-place finish at Copa America recaptured the hearts of the nation, these friendlies became more than tune-ups and practices, but also served as a proving ground that June and July’s strong results wasn’t just a flash in the pan.
So far, they’ve accomplished this in spades, beating the United States on American soil for the first time in 67 years, and drawing against Mexico three days later. The latter game didn’t go quite as we expected – we thought Canada’s aggressive play style and Mexico’s need to show that they could generate offensively following a coaching change would lead to a wide-open affair, but what we got instead was a stingy defensive battle. To Canada’s credit, they fared pretty well, turning possession into a coin flip and forcing a 0-0 draw. Sure, one could ask for a bit more opportunity and some urgency to “play to win”, and perhaps that’s more of what’s at stake Tuesday, but it’s hard to argue with four theoretical points against their two biggest continental rivals.
Coach Jesse Marsch has used the month between these games to do a bit more national outreach, wanting the team to feel like more than a Toronto and Vancouver affair. Training last week was held in Montreal and included an open practice, along with having players do outreach to youth clubs in the area. They also played a closed-door game against MLS squad CF Montreal, handily winning 5-0.
Panama arrives in poorer form. Still feeling the wounds of their 5-0 Copa America quarterfinal against Colombia, they opened their friendly window against the United States on Saturday and struggled, spending most of the game behind the ball and losing 2-0 on a pair of second-half goals.
Historically, Canada has a slight edge in the head-to-head between the two nations, with three wins, two losses, and four draws. Most of their history is a decade or further behind us, though they’ve played each other three times in the past three years. In the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, Canada won their home match 4-1 before losing 1-0 in Panama. Their most recent matchup was last year in the Nations League semi-finals, which Canada took 2-0 on the backs of goals from stars Jonathan David and Alphonso Davies.
Bet on Canada vs. Mexico
CAN -209
PAN +475
Game Bets To Consider
- Jonathan David to score anytime, +160 – This one didn’t work out for us in the last game against Mexico, but we’re going back to the well. David has had success against Panama in the past, scoring twice in the last three games, and it would be momentous to break the nation’s all-time men’s goal record on home soil. The stars are aligning here for a big moment.
- Goal Before 28:00, -120 – Given both the home crowd and the previous 0-0 result against Mexico, I expect Canada to press at full force to start this game. This could go both ways – it could be a blessing, like it was in their last win against Panama, or it could be a wake-up call, like the goal they conceded five minutes into their 4-1 win against them in October 2021. Canada’s four games previous to the Mexico match all had first tallies that would qualify in this “Early Goal” bracket.
