Promise David is one of those rare giants who can turn dreams into reality, willing his imagination into existence. Now it’s time for him to show his teammates how they might do the same.
Canada’s men lost to Switzerland 2-1 in a sweltering B.C. Place in Vancouver on Wednesday, ending their hopes of continuing their historic World Cup campaign at home. Their path to local glories had been so clear, so storybook, it had started to feel almost predetermined.
Instead, the Swiss earned first place in Group B, a week’s rest, and a preferable Round of 32 matchup next week in Vancouver.
Needing only a draw to claim the group, Canada slipped to second with the loss. It will now head to Los Angeles for Sunday’s meeting with South Africa, Group A’s second-place team after its stunning 1-0 win over Korea.
Canada’s goal came from David, who in May had foretold in an interview with CBC that he would score in Vancouver. “I have this weird thing where I can call out goals before I score them,” he said.
He came on as a late substitute and took only seconds to keep his word, scoring before the stadium announcer had chance to announce his arrival in the game.
But Canada had conceded two by then, and despite a frenzied push that left nearly every player on his knees or back after, the equalizer didn’t come.
The Swiss took the prize that had seemed Canada’s to claim.
At the same time in Seattle, Bosnia-Herzegovina beat Qatar 3-1 to finish third in Group B and eliminate the Qataris.
Now head coach Jesse Marsch, who had been open about his desire to stay in Vancouver, will need to rally his team for its mission to Los Angeles instead.
David thought the mental turn would begin at the team’s post-game dinner, followed by a long sleep, when better outcomes might start being programmed.
“The same goal,” David said. “With different conditions.”
And, ideally, with lessons learned.
Canadians finish second in Group B at the FIFA World Cup 2026 after falling 2-1 to Switzerland in their final group game at BC Place. Soccer North hosts Anastasia Bucsis and Amy Walsh break down all the actions with Inter Toronto coach Mauro Eustáquio.
Switzerland’s first goal came early in the second half, when Canada’s otherwise impressive backline was pulled too far to the left during a relatively innocuous-seeming Swiss attack. The shift left Rubén Vargas, a lethal finisher, wide open in the box.
When the ball came across to him, Canada’s wild scramble to the right was too late, and he made no mistake with his chance.
“We let our concentration go a little bit,” defender Luc de Fougerolles said after.
That was it. That was all it took for fates and paths to start to change.
Minutes before, with the game scoreless at halftime and a draw victory enough, Marsch said that he’d considered bringing on a fifth defender to “manage the result.” But his team had started the game tentatively, and he had also said that playing for a draw is a good way to lose.
He came to regret his ambitions. Johan Manzambi scored Switzerland’s second goal in the 57th minute after more scrambling, uneven coverage.
Maxime Crépeau got a piece of that ball and would have liked to have done better, but his disappointment after felt more global than specific. David’s goal had provided a chance to rescue a future set in Vancouver. When it finally fell away, Crépeau seemed especially stunned.
“The feeling inside the locker room is disappointment,” he said, almost in a whisper. “We wanted to be here the next two games,” because a win in the Round of 32 would have seen Canada play its Round of 16 game in Vancouver, too.
That would have been something special. But it’s important, just now, for Marsch and his men to remember that they have still made history, and they can still make more. It just won’t be the history they had allowed themselves to imagine.
Before this World Cup, Canada had never earned a point. During a glorious run at home, they collected four, including an opening draw against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto and last week’s spectacular dismantling of Qatar.
If Wednesday’s loss felt like a down note — and it really did feel like it was the end of something before it started to feel like the beginning of something else — it was only because Canada is finally playing World Cup games that matter.
“We’re going to focus on the response,” Marsch said, already finding his resolve. “We’re exactly where we want to be.”
Less than an hour before kickoff, Ismaël Koné was wheeled down the tunnel and emerged to loud cheers at a still-filling B.C. Place. He waved to his supporters, the way he had waved to them last week, when he had been wheeled past them in the other direction with a freshly broken leg.
Once his wheelchair reached the bench, he asked to come out of it. Repaired but still healing, he was handed a pair of crutches, and he made his way to a row of blue coolers. Someone wiped one down with a white towel, and he sat down on it, doing anything he could to look and feel a little more like normal.
Nothing felt normal. Canada’s men had no precedent to rely upon, no happy history they could mine for inspiration. They were about to play the most important game of their lives, and there was no lie they could tell themselves to make it feel otherwise.
The first half, perhaps expectedly, was nervous and physical, steeped in the sort of tension that invites headaches.
The second half broke hearts. Switzerland is ranked 17th in the world to Canada’s 29th, and the hard truth is, their many superiorities — their technical ability, their organization, their experience, their health — began to show.
But now Canada has another chance to show its own character, too.
“I think with the knockout, things become a little bit more tender and important,” David said. “It’s not like we can rely on the next game. You’ve got 90 minutes to gas it out and secure a win. Obviously, we’d like to stay in Vancouver and do that. We came second. Oh well.”
David knows better than most that dreams come true at the World Cup. He knows, too, that more of them don’t. The men, and the teams, that get to realize theirs are the quickest to find a new one.
A new one will be waiting for Canada, on Sunday in Los Angeles.
