Toronto (Canada), July 4 (EFE).- Canada beat Cuba 4-2 on Tuesday to finish the CONCACAF Gold Cup group stage in second place in Group D, with five points, and ensure the passage to the quarter-finals of the tournament.

After the matches played on Tuesday, Guatemala finished top of Group D with seven points, Canada second with five, followed by Guadeloupe with four and Cuba in last place.

Cuba, who arrived at the match played at the Shell Energy stadium in Houston (USA) without the possibility of qualifying for the next round, ended their participation in the tournament without scoring a single point.

For Canada, the game against Cuba was a matter of life or death. After drawing their previous two matches, 2-2 at home to French territory Guadeloupe and 0-0 against Guatemala on Saturday, John Herdman’s players had no room for error.

And the Canadian team, ranked 45th in the FIFA rankings, delivered against a weak Cuba (166th in the world rankings) who, despite everything, managed to score more goals against Canada than in the sum of their two previous matches.

The Canadians came out ready to build on their theoretical superiority, with constant pressure on goalkeeper Sandy Sánchez’s box.

The result of that pressure was Eduardo Hernández’s 20th-minute error, when he hand-balled the ball inside the box, forcing Costa Rican Keylor Herrera to concede the penalty to Canada.

Hoilett was tasked with converting him a minute later for the first 1-0.

After the goal, the Canadians kept the pressure on and six minutes later, in the 27th minute, Osorio scored the second for Canada.

Cuba advanced their lines, with Piedra, Reyes and Paradela responsible for endangering the goal defended by Dayne St. Clair.

In first-half stoppage time, St. Clair committed a clear penalty to Paradela who was tasked with executing the maximum penalty and beating the American keeper.

With the score at 2-1, the two teams went to the locker room at halftime.

Early in the second half, Nelson scored for Canada after catching a rebound from the Cuban keeper.

The first goal, which made it 3-1 for Canada, did not break the spirit of the Cubans who kept trying to tie the game.

But in the 61st minute, a corner kick from Hoilett found Millar’s header which scored the fourth for Canada.

At 4-1, Canada relaxed. The Cubans kept trying to find holes in the fenders. And in the 87th minute, a handball from Zator, who had just entered the field to replace McGraw, meant another penalty for Cuba.

Reyes executed the penalty perfectly and scored the final 4-2 on the scoreboard.

– Technical sheet:

4. Canada: Dayne St. Clair; Richie Laryea, Zac McGraw (m.83, Dominik Zator), Kamal Miller, Ali Ahmed (m.69, Jacen Russell Rowe); Jonathan Osorio, Moise Bombito (m.33, Jayden Nelson), Liam Fraser, Junior Hoilett (m.69, Victor Loturi); Lucas Cavallini (m.69, Scott Kennedy), Liam Millar.

Coach: John Herdman.

2. Cuba: Sandy Sanchez; Modesto Méndez (m.69, Romario Torrez), Yosel Piedra, Jorge Corrales (m.46, Mario Peñalver), Dariel Morejón; Eduardo Hernández, Yasnier Matos, Yunior Pérez, William Pozo (m.73, Daniel Díaz); Maykel Reyes, Luis Paradela.

Coach: Pablo Elier Sanchez

Goals: 1-0, m.21: Junior Hoilett, penalty. 2-0, m.27: Jonathan Osorio. 2-1, m.45+4: Luis Paradela, penalty. 3-1, m.47: Jayden Nelson. 4-1, m.61: Liam Millar. 4-2, m.89: Maykel Reyes, penalty.

Referee: Keylor Herrera from Costa Rica. He reprimanded Jorge Corrales (m.36), Mario Peñalver (m.77), Dominik Zator (m.88).

Incidents: Match of the third date of Group D of the Gold Cup 2023 played at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston (southern United States).