Canada just beat Qatar 6-0 at the World Cup. Their first win in men’s FIFA World Cup history, ever, in eight tries, and they got it on home soil with a Jonathan David hat-trick that will be replayed on Canadian sports broadcasts until approximately the heat death of the universe.
I need to sit with that for a second. Canada’s first actual win in men’s FIFA World Cup history came at BC Place in Vancouver, against a team that had two players sent off and still somehow looked competitive for portions of it. Eight tries to get here. The 6-0 scoreline ties the biggest margin of victory ever recorded by a host nation, matching Italy in 1934, Brazil in 1950, and Argentina in 1978.
Jonathan David — “The Iceman,” 26 years old, currently of Juventus, Canada’s all-time leading scorer — put the ball in the net three times. Right-footed volley in the 29th minute, scrambling rebound off the crossbar just before halftime, hat-trick completion in the 90th. He joins Lionel Messi as the only players at this tournament with a hat-trick. The guy who didn’t even make Canada’s Olympic qualifying roster in 2020, the guy who has spent his entire career being slightly more famous in Belgium than in the country he actually plays for — that guy just had the most important individual performance in Canadian soccer history.
My dad just texted me “WHO IS THIS GUY” and he doesn’t watch soccer.
The Koné situation is hanging over all of this and it should be. Ismaël Koné took a tackle from Qatar’s Assim Madibo in the 50th minute that broke his leg. Stretchered off. Madibo got upgraded to red after review, Qatar’s second of the match, but none of that helps Koné. His replacement, Nathan Saliba, scored five minutes after coming on and held up Koné’s jersey in celebration, and the whole thing was genuinely moving.
The full demolition, if you need it: Cyle Larin opened it in the 16th, David hit two before halftime, Saliba scored at 64’, Mohamed Manai turned one into his own net off a Shaffelburg shot at 75’, and David closed it in stoppage time. Qatar finished with nine men. This was not a competitive soccer match for about 70% of its runtime.
https://twitter.com/CANMNT_Official/status/2067762024302751962
Jonathan David is now the first CONCACAF player with a World Cup hat-trick since Bert Patenaude for the USA in 1930, and the first to do it on home soil since Geoff Hurst in the 1966 final. He’s the most dangerous striker at FIFA World Cup 2026 right now, and Canada is on the verge of the knockout rounds.
Canada has been waiting their entire soccer history for a win at this tournament. Eight tries. They picked a genuinely unhinged moment to finally do it.
Revis is staring at me from the rug like he knows something good happened and wants credit. He gets some.
