Canadian men down El Salvador in ill-tempered, chaotic game at CONCACAF Gold Cup
HOUSTON - Canada is headed to the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup to face Guatemala after a 2-0 win over nine-man El Salvador in a chaotic, ill-tempered game Tuesday.
Captain Jonathan David and Tajon Buchanan scored for No. 30 Canada at Shell Energy Stadium. No. 81 El Salvador took no prisoners in a shocking performance rife with ill will — and soon paid for it.
The Central Americans were reduced to 10 men in the 35th minute when veteran midfielder Santos Ortiz, after scything down Niko Sigur, was shown a second yellow card. And midfielder Jairo Henriquez, after video review, was shown a straight red for elbowing Alistair Johnston in the face during first-half stoppage time.
The second red came soon after El Salvador goalkeeper Mario Gonzalez stopped David's penalty after Jacob Shaffelburg was taken down in the box by Jeferson Valladares.
'Typical CONCACAF,' said David. 'I think a bit chaotic, a lot of fouls. But we knew (this), we expected this so we were just ready for it.'
'El Salvador, they're looking to provoke, they're looking to fight and battle,' added Sigur. 'In these kind of games it's tough to keep your head. But in the end we did and we move on.'
Canada had 80.3 per cent possession, outshot El Salvador 14-2 (4-0 in shots on target) and had a 13-1 edge in corners. There were 30 fouls on the night, 19 against El Salvador.
American referee Joe Dickerson showed six cards, four to El Salvador and two to Canada, as well as the straight red. A member of the El Salvador support staff was also shown a red card at the end of the first half.
There were 22 fouls in the first half alone, with El Salvador called for 13.
Canada dominated the second half, making the most of its numerical advantage. Canadian goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau could have taken the night off. El Salvador completed just 18 passes in the second half, according to Opta.
David put Canada ahead in the 53rd minute, picking the corner of the goal after a slide-rule pass from Mathieu Choiniere. It was David's 35 goal for Canada, adding to his national men's record.
Buchanan, in his 50th appearance for Canada, added to the lead in the 56 minute, roofing a pass from Sigur after an El Salvador turnover. It was his eighth international goal.
Canada coach Jesse Marsch emptied his bench in the second half, likely to protect his starters, as Canada controlled play.
By winning the group, Canada avoids No. 33 Panama, which won all three of its matches to top Group C, in the quarterfinal. Instead it will face No. 106 Guatemala, the Group C runner-up, on Sunday in Minneapolis.
Canada has a 10-2-2 record against Guatemala but drew 0-0 the last time the two met in group play at the 2023 Gold Cup in Houston.
Panama will next face No. 75 Honduras, which finished second in Group B after beating No. 90 Curaçao 2-1 with a stoppage-time goal in San Jose, Calif.
The winner of the Canada-Guatemala match will face the winner of the United States-Costa Rica match in the July 2 semifinals in St. Louis.
Marsch was back on the sideline after serving a two-game ban arising from being sent off in the CONCACAF Nations League third-place match in March, protesting the lack of a penalty call. He said later he was doing so at the behest of his players, who felt disrespected and had asked him to stand up for them.
The Canadians could have secured their place in the quarterfinals on Saturday with a win over Curaçao. But they had to settle for a 1-1 draw after conceding a 94th-minute goal.
Canada still went into the Group B finale in the driver's seat, one point ahead of Honduras, two ahead of Curaçao and three ahead of El Salvador with a sizable points differential advantage.
In Group C play earlier Tuesday, Panama beat No. 63 Jamaica 4-1 and Guatemala downed unranked Guadeloupe 3-2, with CF Montreal midfielder Olger Escobar scoring one of the Guatemala goals.
Guatemala defeated Jamaica 1-0 and lost 1-0 to Panama in earlier play. Canada opened with a 6-0 win over Honduras in Vancouver before facing Curaçao and El Salvador in Houston.
It was 28 Celsius, feeling like 32 C, at kickoff for the 9 p.m. local time kickoff on Tuesday.
Marsch made eight changes to his starting 11 with only Jonathan David, Shaffelburg and Sigur retaining their place. Tuesday's starters went into the game with a combined 343 caps compared to 220 for the starting 11 in the Curaçao game.
It was Marsch's 20th game in charge of Canada. His record is 9-4-7 with two of the draws turning into penalty shootout losses (against Ivory Coast and Uruguay) and one into a shootout win (Venezuela).
The game was delayed for some eight minutes soon after kickoff for Ortiz to receive treatment after taking an accidental boot to the head from Richie Laryea in taking the Canadian down. Ortiz, who was cautioned on the play, remained in the game — at least temporarily.
El Salvador played a physical game from the get-go. Ortiz could have been sent off for a nasty studs-up tackle on Shaffelburg in the 16th minute, but escaped with a yellow card.
Roberto Dominguez got a yellow in the 20th minute for a clothesline that sent Buchanan flying through the air.
Soon after, Harold Osorio came close with a header off an El Salvador free kick that went just wide.
Canada defender Luc de Fougerolles saw yellow in the 25th minute for a challenge that replays showed him getting all ball.
Canada's Promise David (no relation to Jonathan David) missed a sitter in first-half stoppage time when he could not head Derek Cornelius' cross into the goal at the far post.
El Salvador's squad is almost entirely comprised of players with domestic clubs other than midfielders Brayan Gil (FC Baltika, Russia), Enrico Duenas (Top Oss, the Netherlands) and Harold Osorio (Chicago Fire, MLS).
El Salvador played Curaçao to a scoreless draw and lost 2-0 to Honduras in its first two outings.
The Canadian men came into the game with a 10-5-4 record against El Salvador, winning 3-0 and 2-0 when they met in September 2021 and February 2022.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2025.
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He's typically cool, calm and collected in the net and has a lengthy resume of above-average netminding, but he's also coming off the worst season of his career, in which he was actually waived to the American Hockey League for a stretch in mid-January. The Penguins would have to retain some money, given the $5.375 million cap hit for two more seasons. Jarry has worked with Oilers goalie coach Dustin Schwartz, so the organization would have some familiarity with him. After a disastrous 2023-24 in Ottawa, Korpisalo bounced back with a solid debut season with the Boston Bruins last year. He wasn't spectacular, with a .893 save percentage, but he put up superior statistics compared to Jeremy Swayman in 24 starts. Considering that the Senators are still retaining $1 million per season for the remaining three years on his deal, his $3 million cap hit is a bit lower than the other options. The Oilers know him well, having faced him in the 2023 playoffs when he was a Los Angeles King. Pyotr Kochetkov proved in 2024-25 that he's capable of handling a bigger workload, starting 47 games for Carolina while starter Frederik Andersen was out. He fared well in those starts, and showed a lot of promise – especially considering he's only 25 years old. Advertisement Then, in the playoffs, Carolina showed it still clearly prefers Andersen as its starter, then signed the veteran to a one-year, $2.75 million contract extension in May. Considering Andersen's age and the fact that he hasn't started more than 33 games in the last three years, it's unlikely the Hurricanes are looking to deal Kochetkov, but they might listen to offers. After all, Carolina did trade Alex Nedeljkovic after his spectacular rookie season in 2021. St. Louis' Joel Hofer is another young backup goalie who is trending positively and could be ready for more responsibility, but is stuck behind an entrenched starter. Jordan Binnington has now strung together two excellent seasons in a row, suggesting the hand-off to Hofer may be delayed longer than initially anticipated. That, combined with Hofer's contract status — he's a restricted free agent in need of a major raise from his previous cap hit of only $775,000 — could mean the Blues are willing to listen to offers. He's only 24 years old, moves well for a big, blocking-style goalie and is an excellent puckhandler. Blues GM Doug Armstrong sure doesn't sound like someone who's interested in letting Hofer go, though. Both Kochetkov and Hofer have upside, maybe even significant upside, but it seems like it would be asking a lot of either to backstop a team with Stanley Cup aspirations. Bringing in one of them means that having an experienced and capable goalie to work in a tandem is a must. Prior to the beginning of last season, the 2025 goalie free agent class was looking bountiful. Then Igor Shesterkin, Joey Daccord, Mackenzie Blackwood, Logan Thompson, Charlie Lindgren, Karel Vejmelka and Adin Hill all signed long-term extensions. General managers across the league anticipated a desolate free-agent market for starting netminders and locked theirs up early. Of the available unrestricted free agents, veteran Jake Allen had the best 2024-25 season by a big margin. The 34-year-old had arguably the most impressive season of his 12-year career statistically, stopping an impressive 19.07 goals above expected. He's an ultra-reliable backup, and he came up big for New Jersey with a fantastic stretch of play in February when Jacob Markstrom was out with an MCL sprain. Is Allen an upgrade as a starter for Edmonton? Unlikely. Does he make any team feel more comfortable with their goaltending room as a whole? Unquestionably. 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