Canada vs Ivory Coast

On Tuesday, Canada and Ivory Coast will face off for the first time at BMO Field, wrapping up the Canadian Shield Invitational tournament.

Last week, Canada triumphed over Ukraine 4-2, placing them level with New Zealand at the tournament's top, who had earlier shut out Ivory Coast 1-0.

After a two-month break, Canada continued their winning form with another impressive victory on Saturday.

Under Jesse Marsch’s leadership, the team has secured five victories in their last six matches, with only one loss in eight games since the 2024 Copa America ended (a 2-0 defeat to Mexico).

When leading at halftime, Canada has won their last six matches across all competitions and remained unbeaten in such scenarios since Marsch took charge.

The team is on a three-game winning streak at BMO Field, conceding just one goal during this run.

However, when conceding the first goal, Canada has lost their last seven competitive matches and hasn’t won in 11 consecutive games under those circumstances.

Canada hasn’t defeated an African team this century, with their most recent loss coming against Morocco, a 2022 World Cup semifinalist, in a 2-1 match.

On Saturday, Ivory Coast played their third consecutive 1-0 match but suffered their first defeat of the year against New Zealand, marking their first goal conceded in 2025 and their first home loss since January 2024 (1-0 to Nigeria).

Coached by Emerse Fae, Ivory Coast risks back-to-back losses for the first time since dropping two straight Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers between October and November 2024.

Since a 1-1 friendly draw with Morocco in October 2023, Ivory Coast has won every match in which they scored first.

Tuesday’s game is their final outing before World Cup qualifying resumes, with Ivory Coast holding a one-point lead over Gabon for an automatic World Cup spot, having not conceded in five qualifying matches.

The last time Ivory Coast faced a CONCACAF opponent was in June 2014, when they edged out El Salvador 2-1 in Texas.