A second night of action in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Nations League offered one shock result as regional powerhouse pair Canada and Mexico were on the road seeking first-leg wins at Suriname and Honduras.
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Here is what went down tonight.
All to do for Mexico in the return leg
Scorers: Palma 64′, 83′
Honduras will be celebrating long into the night in San Pedro Sula after a huge 2-0 win over visiting Mexico.
Much like Canada earlier tonight, El Tri was hardly at the races in the opening 45 minutes and failed to distance themselves on the scoresheet going into the half-time interval.
Though Mexico continued to dominate possession in the second half, Javier Aguirre’s side still lacked real creativity and incisive attacking flair to truly trouble Los Catrachos.
Failure to turn possession into real chances would come back to haunt in a big way when Luis Palma slotted through the legs of Guillermo Ochoa in the 64th minute.
The veteran keeper did well to turn away Edwin RodrÃguez’s long-range effort after Mexico turned possession over in the final third, but Palma was first to pounce on the rebound to put Honduras ahead.
Palma went on to bag his brace seven minutes from the end of normal time with a well-taken curled effort from just outside the box to give Honduras a huge advantage going into the return leg.
Similar to the last time these two sides met in the Nations League almost a year ago to the day, Honduras will certainly fancy their chances while Aguirre will have plenty of questions to answer in the post-mortem.
Hoilett spares Canadian blushes
Scorers: Hoilett 82′
In a matchup featuring a 100-place difference in the official FIFA rankings, CONCACAF giants Canada earned a critical yet underwhelming 1-0 first-leg away win at Suriname despite the absence of star man Alphonso Davies.
Early heroics by Groningen’s Etienne Vaessen, and a strike off both posts by Canada’s Tani Oluwaseyi helped Suriname ride their luck in the first half, only for the floodgates to eventually give way late in the second stanza.
But it would not happen until late in the second half as Suriname held firm in front of home support when Lille star Jonathan David turned provider with a ball across the face of goal for Junior Hoilett to slot his close-range effort past Vaessen in the 82nd minute.
It was a hammer blow for Suriname boss Stanley Menzo, who did so well to keep Canada off the scoresheet while showing real threat on the counter in wide areas.
With that result, Canada takes a decisive away leg goal back to Toronto for the return fixture, matching the results of both the United States and Panama.
📸 ORLANDO SIERRA – AFP or licensors