Veteran forward’s clutch goal came two minutes after he was subbed into World Cup opener
For a kid who grew up a few kilometres down the road in Brampton, the thought of lining up at Toronto Stadium to kick off at a home World Cup is the stuff that dreams are made of.
With more than 43,000 fans crammed into the stadium, and an array of stars from Michael Bublé to Alanis Morrisette on hand to open the event on Canadian soil, the scorer of 30 national-team goals found himself on the bench when the lineups were announced. Head coach Jesse Marsch had decided to start Tani Oluwaseyi in his place, and while the 26-year-old Oluwaseyi may have youth on his side – five years Larin’s junior – he had also scored 28 fewer goals in the red jersey of Canada.
Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press By the time the final whistle went, the only regret Larin would have had was that he hadn’t scored two to lead Canada to a come-from-behind victory. Instead, he had to settle for the equalizer – just the third World Cup goal for the Canadian men’s team – as his 78th-minute marker secured an all-important first World Cup point for his country.
“It was an amazing feeling, just to score at home,” said the striker, who plays for Southampton in the English Championship. “Haven’t scored in a while, but I knew it was coming, and I’ve always come up when Canada needed me, so I think it is special for the fans, especially for getting a point.
”The goal – Larin’s first in his country’s colours since October, 2024 – came just two minutes after he entered the field as a substitute for Oluwaseyi. The message from Marsch was simple: get a goal.
“I knew Cyle wasn’t happy about not starting and we had a brief conversation about that,” Marsch said. “But I said to him, ‘Look, you had a great year at Southampton. Whether you started or came off the bench, you had an impact in every game. ’” His impact transcended the match.
While he was denied a second goal in the dying seconds when he took one touch too many, allowing Bosnian captain Sead Kolasinac time to block, his teammates were overjoyed to see him come through in their hour of need.
“Before I even came into the program, I used to watch Cyle, and then I saw Cyle score very important goals for Canada,” said Promise David, who teed up Larin for the goal. “I was maybe 18, 19, watching Cyle be up front for Canada. So to be able to fast forward to 2026 and he’s still here, and I’m up there with him, it felt kind of cool to assist somebody you watch on TV.
” When Canada was in desperate need of a spark, Larin entered the match and instantly capitalized on an opening. David added the move – which saw man-of-the-match Ismaël Koné pass the ball to him, before he fed Larin for the right-footed volley past Nikola Vasilj in the Bosnian goal – was exactly the same one they had worked on in training on Thursday.
“Pass for pass,” he laughed. Given Canada had nine corners to Bosnia’s four – with zero success – it was one of the only rehearsed plays that paid off for Canada. Larin has endured an up-and-down season at the club level. His loan to Feyenoord in the Netherlands was cancelled in February without him scoring a goal in the Dutch league.
But he regained his scoring touch with Southampton, scoring eight goals in 16 league games to help the Saints reach the playoffs, earning himself a permanent move to the south coast of England last week. The persistence he showed at club level paid off handsomely Friday, both for Larin and the Canadian national team.
Oluwaseyi, who added that Marsch had started him in Larin’s place because of the tactical matchup with Bosnia, appreciates what his teammate has been through to get to this point.
“Every single one of us loves him,” he said. “We know how hard guys have been on him in the past, but he’s one of the greatest players, if not the greatest player to put on a jersey for Canada. So, for him to get that first goal on home soil, we’re over the moon for him.
” But if Larin had a chip on his shoulder, he did little to hide it when he celebrated his goal by putting his two fingers in his ears. In his moment of glory, he said that was for the doubters.
“I mean, that’s for the fans, the reporters and the journalists who say I shouldn’t be where I’m supposed to be,” he said. Fans in Vancouver celebrated Larin's goal on Friday at the FIFA fan festival.
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