It wasn’t the prettiest of performances for Jesse Marsch’s usually high-pressing, high-octane Canadian men’s national team. But, two goals buoyed by another top Richie Laryea display was just enough for Les Rouges to end their 2025 international calendar in the win column in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday night.
The CanMNT rolled into Chase Stadium this week with the talk of the virtual town being the team’s recent goal drought, having last scored in their Sept. 9th win over Wales from a Derek Cornelius free-kick pearler, and from open play against Romania four days before that in Bucharest.
Marsch was distinctly “not worried” by the lack of offence to go around following the team’s goalless ten-man draw against Ecuador on Thursday; a match, which had been preceded by a similarly dry October window which saw a 1-0 defeat to Australia and a nil-nil effort against Colombia.
Their opponents on Tuesday night, Venezuela, had already been wobbled out of CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying in September after a disastrous end to their campaign saw three straight losses and an eighth place finish — one spot outside advancing to the intercontinental play-off.
Still, the CanMNT had to ensure that they didn’t sleepwalk into a third-consecutive goalless draw after the loss of winger Ali Ahmed to suspension given his high boot on Alan Franco on Thursday.
A first-half strike from Ismaël Koné successfully allayed those fears, as the Canadian dry spell was finally broken with the Sassuolo midfielder making a late-arriving run into the Vinotinto box in the 24th minute.
The sparse crowd, another impact of the current political climate in the U.S. and rumours last month of the match potentially being relocated as a result, watched Vancouver Whitecaps forward Jayden Nelson play in Laryea directly in front of them.
The Toronto FC wide option saw his cutback underhit by Nahuel Ferraressi, falling square for Koné to smash into the back of the net.
GOAL 🇨🇦
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) November 19, 2025
Ismael Kone gets the scoring started for the CanMNT 🇨🇦 vs. Venezuela 🇻🇪 with a great first touch setting up his finish 🎯
🔴 Watch LIVE on OneSoccer & TSN pic.twitter.com/RAYLPW7WEx
It wasn’t the last item on the scoresheet to involve Koné on the night.
The altogether ‘fever dream’ of a night, as some described it, played on throughout the second half, as both sides were shown red.
MLS regular Rubiel Vazquez was swift to his pocketbook on both occasions, dishing out sanctions to LAFC’s David Martínez and Koné in the 57th and 62nd minutes, respectively. Both were contentious decisions, especially given the ‘friendly’ nature of the match.
Martínez had himself come off the bench just past the half-hour mark after an injury seemingly out of nowhere resulted in FC Cincinnati forward Ender Echenique requiring to be withdrawn from the match. He was shown red when he kicked out at Laryea, a long-known master of the Concacaf dark arts.
RED CARD 🟥
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) November 19, 2025
After Venezuela 🇻🇪 went down to 10 men just moments before, Ismael Kone is shown a straight red for a high foot...
...which didn't appear to make any actual contact 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/Lwg1xpMKnX
At ten a-piece, Marsch’s men would press on against 50th-ranked Venezuela, finally finding their insurance marker in the 84th minute through Promise David.
Almost a carbon copy of the first, Joel Waterman would this time be the provider to Niko Sigur streaking down the Canadian right flank. David trapped Sigur’s simple square ball after the Hajduk utilityman broke through the high defensive line, sweeping it past José Contreras.
GOAL 🇨🇦🇨🇦
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) November 19, 2025
PROMISE DAVID finishes a perfect low cross by Niko Sigur to give the CanMNT a 2-0 lead over Venezuela 🇻🇪
🔴 Watch LIVE on OneSoccer & TSN pic.twitter.com/vPTRCwtpkg
Though tempers flared towards the final whistle, both teams managed to keep their remaining players aboard as David’s goal was solidified as the final major action of both teams’ November windows.
The win saw Canada marginally better their 2024 record, finishing the calendar year on seven wins, five draws and two losses — reminder that losses on penalties officially count as draws — from their 14-match slate.
Two steps forward, one step back
Back, in that sense, literally meaning the back line.
Mired in the questions of ‘who is the best strike partnership?’ and ‘where had the goals gone?,’ Marsch’s side have quietly produced three-straight clean sheets (and four, in their last five matches), conceding just one goal to Australia in that span.
That all without big names like Moïse Bombito, Alistair Johnston, and for all but 30 minutes this window, Derek Cornelius.
The Rangers centreback was rested by Marsch on Thursday after suffering a lower body muscle issue, the head coach told reporters after the red-card affair against Ecuador.
Despite starting Tuesday, evidently, something went wrong enough for Cornelius to be taken off as a precaution just after the half-hour mark in Florida.
That left yet another hole on the banged up Canadian back line — but, like in Thursday’s match at BMO Field, the void was again filled effectively by now-member of the Chicago Fire, Joel Waterman.
Waterman was 4-for-6 on aerial and ground duels Thursday, tacking on four clearances, an interception and winning his one attempted tackle. His angled ball that became the secondary assist to Promise David’s goal that cushioned Les Rouges’ lead was one of two accurate long balls from the centreback, also finishing 21 of his 23 passes, good for 90-plus per cent completion.
Next to him, Canadian fans got their first taste of Middlesbrough centreback Alfie Jones’ game.
After a protracted saga with the Bristol, UK native chasing down threads to take his oath of citizenship, Jones was finally named to the starting lineup Tuesday — and, likewise, won 7 of 10 duels, 4 of 5 tackles and recovered the ball eight times while successfully doling out over 80 per cent of his passes.
“Amazing. Incredibly proud moment for me and my family, and it was nice to get the win and the clean sheet, so that tops it off,” Jones told TSN in the post-match cool-down, of his debut for the red-and-white.
But, the name on everyone’s mind was once again Richie Laryea. Lining up on the left side to account for Niko Sigur on the right, Laryea was a livewire, completing two dribbles, including one in the lead up to Koné opener, on top of all his intangibles as a leader within the squad. Oh, and what would’ve been of his assist, had his cutback to Koné not deflected off Ferraresi.
It seems highly likely, even with high-profile returns still on the cards, that Laryea has entered ‘lock’ territory to start Canada’s first group stage game at next summer’s World Cup. But not so fast, suggested Marsch after the final whistle.
“There’s real clarity with how we play. You can go through all the players we’ve had now playing on the back line and performances continue to be strong and I think it’s because of a lot of the work that we’ve done in terms of understanding the tactics and the ideas when we’re defending together, and then the overall commitment from the team.”
‘Camp Poutine’ and 2026
While Tuesday’s win brought an end to the 2025 campaign for Marsch and Les Rouges, much is still rumoured to be in the pipeline.
Still to come: the final two windows before the World Cup finally lands in Toronto and Vancouver — March, and the first week of June — and, whispers of a January camp, pending the culmination of World Cup qualifying cycles abroad.
2020 remains the last time Les Rouges held a January camp in true form, with a set against Barbados and a third match against Iceland in Irvine, California.
A camp of this nature could give fringe national team players in MLS and winter European leagues a chance to put their names in the hat for the 2027 Gold Cup, looming over the World Cup horizon.
Suffice it to say, there’s still a lot of boxes left to check and a lot of football still to be played.
