El Salvador's Santos Ortiz (12) trips up Canada's Niko Sigur (23) during a CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer match in Houston, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Ashley Landis

HOUSTON — Canada is headed to the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup to face Guatemala after a 2-0 win over nine-man El Salvador in a chaotic, ill-tempered game Tuesday.

Captain Jonathan David and Tajon Buchanan scored for No. 30 Canada at Shell Energy Stadium. No. 81 El Salvador took no prisoners in a shocking performance rife with ill will — and soon paid for it.

The Central Americans were reduced to 10 men in the 35th minute when veteran midfielder Santos Ortiz, after scything down Niko Sigur, was shown a second yellow card. And midfielder Jairo Henriquez, after video review, was shown a straight red for elbowing Alistair Johnston in the face during first-half stoppage time.

The second red came soon after El Salvador goalkeeper Mario Gonzalez stopped David's penalty after Jacob Shaffelburg was taken down in the box by Jeferson Valladares.

"Typical CONCACAF," said David. "I think a bit chaotic, a lot of fouls. But we knew (this), we expected this so we were just ready for it."

"El Salvador, they're looking to provoke, they're looking to fight and battle," added Sigur. "In these kind of games it's tough to keep your head. But in the end we did and we move on."

Canada had 80.3 per cent possession, outshot El Salvador 14-2 (4-0 in shots on target) and had a 13-1 edge in corners. There were 30 fouls on the night, 19 against El Salvador.

American referee Joe Dickerson showed six cards, four to El Salvador and two to Canada, as well as the straight red. A member of the El Salvador support staff was also shown a red card at the end of the first half.

There were 22 fouls in the first half alone, with El Salvador called for 13.

Canada dominated the second half, making the most of its numerical advantage. Canadian goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau could have taken the night off. El Salvador completed just 18 passes in the second half, according to Opta.

David put Canada ahead in the 53rd minute, picking the corner of the goal after a slide-rule pass from Mathieu Choiniere. It was David's 35 goal for Canada, adding to his national men's record.

Buchanan, in his 50th appearance for Canada, added to the lead in the 56 minute, roofing a pass from Sigur after an El Salvador turnover. It was his eighth international goal.

Canada coach Jesse Marsch emptied his bench in the second half, likely to protect his starters, as Canada controlled play.

By winning the group, Canada avoids No. 33 Panama, which won all three of its matches to top Group C, in the quarterfinal. Instead it will face No. 106 Guatemala, the Group C runner-up, on Sunday in Minneapolis.

Canada has a 10-2-2 record against Guatemala but drew 0-0 the last time the two met in group play at the 2023 Gold Cup in Houston.

Panama will next face No. 75 Honduras, which finished second in Group B after beating No. 90 Curaçao 2-1 with a stoppage-time goal in San Jose, Calif.

The winner of the Canada-Guatemala match will face the winner of the United States-Costa Rica match in the July 2 semifinals in St. Louis.

Marsch was back on the sideline after serving a two-game ban arising from being sent off in the CONCACAF Nations League third-place match in March, protesting the lack of a penalty call. He said later he was doing so at the behest of his players, who felt disrespected and had asked him to stand up for them.

The Canadians could have secured their place in the quarterfinals on Saturday with a win over Curaçao. But they had to settle for a 1-1 draw after conceding a 94th-minute goal.

Canada still went into the Group B finale in the driver's seat, one point ahead of Honduras, two ahead of Curaçao and three ahead of El Salvador with a sizable points differential advantage.

In Group C play earlier Tuesday, Panama beat No. 63 Jamaica 4-1 and Guatemala downed unranked Guadeloupe 3-2, with CF Montreal midfielder Olger Escobar scoring one of the Guatemala goals.

Guatemala defeated Jamaica 1-0 and lost 1-0 to Panama in earlier play. Canada opened with a 6-0 win over Honduras in Vancouver before facing Curaçao and El Salvador in Houston.

It was 28 Celsius, feeling like 32 C, at kickoff for the 9 p.m. local time kickoff on Tuesday.

Marsch made eight changes to his starting 11 with only Jonathan David, Shaffelburg and Sigur retaining their place. Tuesday's starters went into the game with a combined 343 caps compared to 220 for the starting 11 in the Curaçao game.

It was Marsch's 20th game in charge of Canada. His record is 9-4-7 with two of the draws turning into penalty shootout losses (against Ivory Coast and Uruguay) and one into a shootout win (Venezuela).

The game was delayed for some eight minutes soon after kickoff for Ortiz to receive treatment after taking an accidental boot to the head from Richie Laryea in taking the Canadian down. Ortiz, who was cautioned on the play, remained in the game — at least temporarily.

El Salvador played a physical game from the get-go. Ortiz could have been sent off for a nasty studs-up tackle on Shaffelburg in the 16th minute, but escaped with a yellow card.

Roberto Dominguez got a yellow in the 20th minute for a clothesline that sent Buchanan flying through the air.

Soon after, Harold Osorio came close with a header off an El Salvador free kick that went just wide.

Canada defender Luc de Fougerolles saw yellow in the 25th minute for a challenge that replays showed him getting all ball.

Canada's Promise David (no relation to Jonathan David) missed a sitter in first-half stoppage time when he could not head Derek Cornelius' cross into the goal at the far post.

El Salvador's squad is almost entirely comprised of players with domestic clubs other than midfielders Brayan Gil (FC Baltika, Russia), Enrico Duenas (Top Oss, the Netherlands) and Harold Osorio (Chicago Fire, MLS).

El Salvador played Curaçao to a scoreless draw and lost 2-0 to Honduras in its first two outings.

The Canadian men came into the game with a 10-5-4 record against El Salvador, winning 3-0 and 2-0 when they met in September 2021 and February 2022.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2025.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2025