October 3, 2026
A Jacob Shaffleburg brace puts Canada over Peru in Montreal
Jacob Shaffleburg scored twice in the first half, as Canada goes two for two on their home coming tour, having defeated Chile in Toronto last week.
Prior to kick-off, the sold out crowd at Stade Saputo were graced with the worst imaginable rendition of the Canadian national anthem. An unnamed performer made an absolute pigs-ear out of the anthem, which is traditionally sang half in French, then in English in the province of Quebec. Only, tonight, the performer clearly wasn’t prepared, singing the wrong words not once but twice, and earning jeers from the crowd before somebody mercifully turned off her microphone and played the instrumental anthem over the stadiums loud speakers instead.
See Also: Canada returns home following a successful World Cup
Nathan Saliba showed how familiar he is with the pitch at Stade Saputo, when he found Liam Millar and threaded a dangerous through ball past the Peruvan defense in the opening minute of the match. Millar dribbled around goalkeeper Diego Romero before attempting a strike, but his shot was blocked by a Peruvian defender. Millar might not have tallied on the play, but the tempo was set for the rest of the way.
In the 19th minute of play, Jacob Shaffleburg found himself in the right place at the right time, as Liam Millar crossed the ball into the box for Daniel Jebbison, who went to play the header but didn’t get enough on the ball, instead the ball fell to Shaffleburg at the back post, and was able to knock the ball in past goalkeeper Diego Romero who came so close to making the save.
Shaffleburg again benefitted off of a Liam Millar cross from across the box, this time the ball deflected to his off of the gloves of Romero, allowing Shaffleburg time and space to head home his second of the match to give Canada the two goal advantage. Some players just have a natural nose for the net, and know where to be when it counts. Tonight, that was Shaffleburg’s modus operandi.
Ten minutes later, Jonathan David made a brilliant read and used it to intercept a wayward back pass meant for a Peruvian defender, and stormed in on goal before threading a perfect pass over to Jebbison who somehow failed to get his boot on the boot. Peru were lucky not to have conceded on the play.
Canada was dominant in the second half despite not being able to find a way to increase their lead. The play was mostly in the Peruvian end, with Peru occasionally able to make a break down field but never truly troubling goalkeeper Owen Goodman.
Late in the match, Mathieu Choiniere came within inches of scoring his first goal for his country, and what on what was at one time his home pitch as well, when his free kick smacked square onto the Peruvian goalpost.
CF Montreal captain Samuel Piette made his 70th appearance for Canada tonight, and only his second in Montreal. Goalkeeper Owen Goodman played his first game for his nation, and earned a clean sheet in the process.
While rumors swirled that Piette was perhaps playing in his final match for Canada, coming on as a substitute in the 66th minute, he himself seemed to think otherwise.
“I still have the legs, I’m still able to perform at the level of the national team,” Piette said. “The level and individual quality of each player here is getting higher and higher, the players play in big European clubs, players who perform very well also in MLS, and to be able to compare myself a little bit to each training this week, but also in the match against a good team like Peru”.
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Canada will play again this coming Tuesday, when the team visits St. Paul’s Allianz Field, home of Minnesota United, to take on the Americans.
Following that, Canada will return to BMO Field, home of Toronto FC, to play a yet unknown adversary in hopes of earning a spot in the semifinal of the CONCACAF Nations League. That match is set to take place on November 16th with an 8pm kick-off time.
