After coasting through group play with four straight emphatic wins and a +26 goal differential, the Canada men's national team is moving onward with their Concacaf World Cup Qualifying campaign with home-and-away second-round playoff against Haiti that kicks off on Saturday in Port-au-Prince.
To get there, Canada needed a win or a draw in their last group stage match against Suriname, and got the result they needed with a 4-0 victory paced by a hat trick from Jonathan David and after an opening tally from Alphonso Davies, allowing them to finish atop Group B. That sets up a rematch with Haiti side that Canada has a 7-2-2 all-time record against, but lost to the last time the sides played, as Haiti knocked Canada out of the quarterfinals of the 2019 Gold Cup with a 3-2 victory that saw the Canadians blow a 2-0 lead.
Here's everything you know ahead of Leg 1 kickoff.
When
- Saturday, June 12 | 5 pm ET
Where
- Stade Sylvio Cator | Port-au-Prince, Haiti
How to watch and stream
- OneSoccer in Canada
- Paramount+ in the US
What to know: Canada
Canada will certainly have revenge on their mind to some degree for that aforementioned Gold Cup defeat, but John Herdman's men also have bigger worries as it pertains to their World Cup dreams. The winner of this matchup with Haiti will advance to the final round of qualifying with seven other teams in the region, with the top three finishers earning automatic berths to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the fourth-place finisher moving to an intercontinental playoff.
For a Canada group that is considered to have as much talent in its pool as ever before, the historical implications are hard to overstate, as the Canadians haven't reached the final round of qualifying in the region since 1996-97.
What to know: Haiti
Haiti, currently ranked No. 83 in the world, also emerged undefeated in Group E, winning all three of their matches against Nicaragua, Belize and Turks and Caicos Islands while putting up a +13 goal-differential. They feature an MLS representative in the form of Columbus Crew attacker Derek Etienne, who scored the game-winning goal in the 63rd minute of Tuesday's 1-0 victory over Nicaragua, with forwards Duckens Nazon and Frantzdy Pierrot two other key players to keep an eye on.
