Canada vs Bosnia & Herzegovina ratings: Larin rescues a first World Cup point

Canada needed a lift late on against Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Cyle Larin provided it. He came off the bench with just under 15 minutes of normal time remaining, scored from just inside the area with the aid of a deflection, and turned a frustrating night into Canada vs Bosnia & Herzegovina’s first-ever World Cup point on Canadian soil.

How Larin changed the match

The raw numbers back up the eye test. Larin finished with a 7.6 rating, the best attacking mark among Canada’s late changes, and he did it in only 18 minutes. That is the kind of substitute impact managers want and rarely get: enough time to make a difference, not enough time for the game to drift away from him.

Jesse Marsch’s substitutions changed the game, and Larin was the one who actually cashied that into a result. Canada had gone into the final 15 minutes trailing after Bosnia’s 21st-minute opener, but the bench gave them the response they needed before the night ran away from them.

Why Jonathan David’s night stood out for the wrong reasons

The other end of the attacking story was much less convincing. Jonathan David was withdrawn after just over an hour, and he had already wasted a glorious first-half chance. He finished on a 6.2 rating, with only one shot on target from two attempts.

That is a poor return for Canada’s main forward. The miss did not just look bad in isolation, it came in a match where chances were not exactly falling apart from all angles, and it left Larin to undo the damage from the bench.

Canada were not fluent enough for long spells, even if they had plenty of the ball. SI.com said they dominated possession for long stretches, and Stephen Eustaquio added three key passes to the attack, but the final ball and finishing were too uneven until Larin arrived.

The ratings split tells the story cleanly. One forward delivered the equaliser, another left the pitch after a wasted chance, and Canada still had to settle for a draw. For all the noise around the performance, the important fact is simple enough: Larin’s cameo delivered the point, and David’s night did not.