Canada Soccer has announced that its men’s national team will face Panama on Sunday at BC Place in Vancouver, replacing a cancelled friendly against Iran that was scheduled for the same date.
Amid opposition that included prime minister Justin Trudeau, Canada Soccer pulled the plug on the match against Iran last week.
Iran’s military shot down a plane in 2020 in an incident that killed dozens of Canadians, prompting an outcry over Canada Soccer’s decision to schedule a match against the Middle Eastern nation.
In a statement last week, Canada Soccer admitted some fault in its decision to schedule the match.
“Over the past week, the untenable geopolitical situation of hosting Iran became significantly divisive, and in response, the match was cancelled,” the statement read. “While we considered the external factors in selecting the optimal opponent in our original decision-making process, we will strive to do better moving forward.”
Just days after cancelling the match, the federation was able to secure a new opponent for the same date and location as the game against Iran.
As a gesture of goodwill, Canada Soccer is offering fans discounted ticket prices for the hastily scheduled match against the team’s CONCACAF rival.
“All tickets in the lower bowl for the Canada v Panama match will be priced at $30 to thank Canadian fans for their support in light of the recently cancelled international match and to provide an opportunity to celebrate Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team’s qualification for Qatar 2022,” a federation statement read.
The game against Panama will be the first home match for Canada since it qualified for its first World Cup since 1986. Panama, meanwhile, narrowly missed out on an intercontinental playoff spot, finishing fifth out of eight teams in CONCACAF qualifying.
Following the match against Panama, Canada will have two Nations League matches: against Curacao on June 9 and at Honduras on June 13.
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