Canada vs Ukraine

The Canadian Shield Invitational tournament kicks off with Canada facing Ukraine on Saturday at Toronto’s BMO Field.

This marks the first game for both teams since March, when Canada secured a 2-1 victory over the USA, while Ukraine fell 3-0 to Belgium in their last outing.

Coming off a bronze medal in this year’s CONCACAF Nations League, Canada is set to play two tune-up matches ahead of the Gold Cup, which starts this weekend.

Under coach Jesse Marsch, Canada has lost only once in their last six competitive matches and remains unbeaten on home soil since a 3-2 defeat to Jamaica at BMO Field in November 2023.

Since that Nations League loss, Canada has won five of six matches when scoring multiple goals, without a defeat in normal time in those games.

Marsch’s squad has a perfect record when scoring first but has lost every match where they conceded the opening goal.

The Canadian roster, while featuring players with experience in major club competitions, is youthful, with 13 of the 23 players aged 25 or younger.

Canada hasn’t beaten a European team since March 2011, when they defeated Belarus in a friendly in Turkey.

Ukraine, after missing out on promotion to the UEFA Nations League’s top tier this year, is now focused on qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.

Drawn in a tough group with former two-time world champions and 2022 finalists France, alongside Azerbaijan and Iceland, coach Serhiy Rebrov believes his team can at least secure a playoff spot.

Ukraine has lost only one of their last six competitive matches, though the 3-0 defeat in Belgium kept them out of League A for the next Nations League season.

Four of their five losses since June last year have been away games, with three goals conceded in each of those matches.

Ukraine risks losing back-to-back games for the first time since September 2024 and could face their second consecutive defeat on Saturday.

The two teams have met only once before, in 2010, when Ukraine came back from a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2 with Canada in Kyiv.