Canada crushes Honduras 6-0 in Gold Cup opener

Canada opened its 2025 Gold Cup campaign with a dominant 6-0 victory over Honduras on Tuesday, showing off its newfound depth and sending an early message to the rest of the field at the tournament.

After a largely uneventful start to the contest at BC Place in Vancouver, Niko Sigur opened the scoring in the 27th minute with his first goal for Canada. The versatile 21-year-old found the net after a slick combination with Jonathan David, who captained the team in the absence of both Alphonso Davies and Stephen Eustaquio. The former, who was in attendance, continues to recover from a torn ACL, while the latter is with FC Porto at the Club World Cup.

Canada didn't miss either star Tuesday.

Tani Oluwaseyi doubled the lead just before the halftime interval with a wicked shot from a tight angle. Tajon Buchanan put the result beyond doubt three minutes into the second stanza and then scored his second goal of the match in the 65th minute.

Substitute Promise David got his name on the scoresheet in the 75th minute, and Nathan Saliba completed the rout with a ferocious left-footed strike in the 90th minute.

The 6-0 triumph is Canada's biggest scoring outburst since netting seven goals against Aruba in a World Cup qualifier in 2021. It's also the team's largest win since Jesse Marsch took over as head coach last year.

Ironically, Marsch wasn't on the bench Tuesday. The American tactician was serving the first of a two-match ban he received after being shown a red card during the CONCACAF Nations League third-place game in March.

Mauro Biello assumed coaching duties in Marsch's absence.

"Tonight was a perfect example of some of the good young players in this country. And we wanted to continue to give them opportunities, continue to help them develop and become the players that we think that they could be," Biello said, according to John Molinaro of Sportsnet. "And tonight, we saw a really good performance by a number of young players that have a handful of caps, and I think it's exciting. It's exciting to put a team with players with those (few) caps, and then put in a performance like that."

In addition to Davies and Eustaquio, Canada was without usual starters Alistair Johnston, Moise Bombito, and Derek Cornelius.

"We have a solid group. We don't only have a certain (starting) 11," David said of the team's depth, which has gone from a glaring weakness to an obvious strength under Marsh. "We have guys that can step up at any moment to make the difference."

Canada, sitting atop Group B after the first round of fixtures, is back in action Saturday against Curacao at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston. It will wrap up group play June 24 versus El Salvador.

Canada, the Gold Cup champion in 2000, is looking to win the tournament for a second time.