In crushing loss to Jamaica, Canada Soccer’s need for long-term plan is laid bare

As the final seconds of nine minutes of frantic, soul-sapping added time slipped away, Milan Borjan stood thirty yards outside of his goal, pacing, gesturing, remonstrating, looking for all the world like a man watching through an airport terminal window as his plane left without him.

In the end, there was nothing he could do to turn things around.

The Canadian men lost at home to Jamaica, 3-2, and so also lost their CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal, and so also lost their place in the Nations League finals in March, and so also have perhaps lost their place at Copa America in June.

Mauro Biello, the interim head coach, has probably also lost his chance to take over the job on a permanent basis. In three games in charge, he lost a friendly to Japan, beat Jamaica away, 2-1, and then watched a comfortable first-half lead evaporate at a wet, sullen BMO Field.

“There was nothing to lose,” Jamaican head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson said after.

What a difference a uniform makes.

“Massive disappointment, for sure,” Biello said. “We shot ourselves in the foot.”

Fateful triple-sub
It’s hard to put into words how unlikely Tuesday’s result was. Headed into the game, the men hadn’t lost at BMO Field in 19 competitive games. They won 13 of those.

Among them: In March 2022, Canada beat Jamaica here 4-0 to earn a berth to its first men’s World Cup in 36 years.

Less than two years later, the Jamaicans made a mockery of those happy memories in a single remarkable, devastating half.

Biello had allowed his team to play fluid, overlapping soccer, including a cut-loose Alphonso Davies up high, and the visitors looked hard-pressed from the opening whistle. By the time Davies narrowly beat Jamaican keeper Andre Blake in the 25th minute to open the scoring, the game felt well in hand.

But the Jamaicans came out possessed in the second frame, taking advantage of Canadian giveaways — “too casual,” Biello said — to score twice in four minutes and even the aggregate score.

Only three minutes later, Ismael Koné headed home a long, curling ball from Davies to pull Canada level. With a draw good enough to earn everything that awaited the winners, Biello decided to make a fateful triple substitution.

Out came Koné, out came Cyle Larin, out came Tajon Buchanan. In came Jonathan Osorio, in came Mark-Anthony Kaye, in came Junior Hoillett.