Canada open their World Cup campaign against Bosnia-Herzegovina tonight with plenty of pressure on Jesse Marsch’s side to deliver.
The tournament co-hosts have been dubbed ‘the best Canadian side ever’ and they will be expected to come through Group B, which appears one of the weakest pools in the tournament and includes Switzerland and Qatar.
Bosnia showed great resilience in qualifying for the tournament through the UEFA play-offs, coming from a goal down in the semi-final against Wales and in their final with Italy to win both ties on penalties.
They are looking for just their second win at a World Cup finals, having previously beaten Iran 3-1 in 2014 in their only previous appearance since the country gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1992.
Though friendly draws with North Macedonia and Panama in their warm-up games hardly served as inspiring results, Bosnia head into the game with an impressive run of form in competitive fixtures, losing just one of their last 11 (W5, D5).
Where to watch Canada v Bosnia-Herzegovina: TV and online streams
Canada v Bosnia-Herzegovina kicks off at 8:00pm UK time on Friday. It will be broadcast on BBC One in the UK and will also be available to watch on the iPlayer and on the BBC Sport website.
Stats for Canada v Bosnia-Herzegovina
- This will be the first meeting between Canada and Bosnia.
- Each of the last six competitive Bosnia games have seen both teams score.
- Canada have scored only two goals in their previous six World Cup finals games.
- Jonathan David will score his 40th goal for Canada if he finds the net.
- Edin Dzeko scored six goals for Bosnia in qualifying. He has netted in five of his last eight competitive internationals, while Haris Tabakovic has scored in three of his last four.
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