Canada put on a show Sunday, qualifying for the men’s World Cup for the first time since 1985.
Cyle Larin, Tajon Buchanan and Junior Hoilett scored as the Canadians had their way with an outmatched Jamaica side in a 4-0 win before a loud and proud sellout crowd of 29,122 on a chilly day at BMO Field.
A Jamaican goal on its own net in the 89th minute padded the score. Yet, the margin of victory could have been far more lopsided.
Canada (8-1-4, 28 points in the final CONCACAF qualifying round) dominated from the get-go, stacking scoring chances like firewood. The home side was up 1-0 after 13 minutes and 2-0 at the break. It could have been 4-0 midway through the first half when the sun made its first appearance.
Jamaica (1-7-5, eight points) spent the afternoon in reverse. The game was done and dusted after the first half.
4:03 Canada men’s national soccer team aims to make history
Canada men’s national soccer team aims to make history
The historic win came 37 years after Canada qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico with a 1-0 victory over Honduras on Sept. 14, 1985, in St. John’s, N.L. That marked the Canadian men’s lone trip to the international soccer showcase, where they lost all three games without scoring a goal.
Canadian soccer has been on a high with the sixth-ranked Canadian women winning gold last summer at the Tokyo Olympics. Now the 33rd-ranked men, led by coach John Herdman, get their time to shine in Qatar, while lengthening their runway to the 2026 World Cup, which Canada is co-hosting with the U.S., and Mexico.
The Canadian men, who lead the eight-country final round-robin, also had a chance to seal qualification on Thursday in Costa Rica but lost 1-0 after playing two-thirds of the game with 10 men in the wake of Mark-Anthony Kaye’s red card.
It marked the lone blemish on their qualifying road. Going into Sunday’s match, Canada had outscored its opposition 50-7 while posting 11 clean sheets in 18 qualifying games over three rounds (13-1-4).
On a cold day Canada came out hot and was rewarded for its dominance in the 13th minute, when after a lightning-fast counterattack, Hoilett squared the ball to Stephen Eustaquio who threaded the needle to put Larin behind the defence. The Besiktas forward calmly slotted the ball past Jamaican goalkeeper Andre Blake for his 24th goal for Canada, extending his national men’s scoring record.
Buchanan made it 2-0 in the 44th minute as Jamaica failed to deal with a free kick that the Club Brugge winger had earned after being chopped down in the midst of several stepovers. A defender headed Eustaquio’s free kick away but it went straight to Jonathan David, whose cross dropped at Buchanan’s feet in front of goal.
He celebrated the goal with his trademark backflip.
Hoilett made it 3-0 in the 83rd after Buchanan nicked the ball off a defender following a corner and fed the veteran Hoilett, who slashed through the penalty box and beat Blake for his 14th goal for Canada.
4:04 Team Canada on the verge of qualifying for World Cup
Team Canada on the verge of qualifying for World Cup
Adrian Mariappa’s failed attempt at a clearance off a Sam Adegukbe cross ended up in the Jamaican goal to make it 4-0.
In later games Sunday, Costa Rica was at El Salvador, Panama at the U.S. and Mexico at Honduras.
The Canadians, who wrap up qualifying Wednesday in Panama, only needed a draw Sunday to qualify. Other qualification routes included Costa Rica failing to win or a Panama victory over the U.S.
The top three teams qualify for Qatar as representatives of North and Central America and the Caribbean while the fourth-place finisher takes on an Oceania side in an intercontinental playoff to see who joins them.
A blanket of snow greeted players and fans in Toronto when they woke up Sunday, although almost all of it disappeared by kickoff. Thanks to BMO Field’s underground heating, there was just a dusting of white in parts of the patchy field.
There were light flurries at kickoff. Somehow the conditions made the encounter more Canadian.
“Our House. Our Day. All of Canada is with you,” Canada Soccer tweeted in a video heralding the game, accompanied by the sounds of “Coming Home” by Diddy and Dirty Money featuring Skylar Grey.
The Canadians dealt with worse in snowy Edmonton last November when they defeated Mexico and Costa Rica.
Still it was a chilly, windy afternoon with the temperature minus-five, feeling like minus-14 for the 4 p.m. ET kickoff. It didn’t faze Larin, Richie Laryea or substitute Alistair Johnston, who wore short-sleeved jerseys.
2:08 Canadian men’s soccer team battles for spot in World Cup
Canadian men’s soccer team battles for spot in World Cup
Canadian flags flew proudly with a few Ukrainian ones dotting the sellout crowd.
Herdman made four changes to his starting lineup in Costa Rica, inserting defenders Scott Kennedy, Adekugbe and Doneil Henry and winger Hoilett. Adekugbe and Henry were suspended for the Costa Rica game.
Goalkeeper Milan Borjan took over as skipper from Atiba Hutchinson.
Canada wasted little time with Blake having to claw away an Adegukbe cross in the second minute. Blake then had to stop a fourth-minute Larin shot after a fine run by David, prompting chants of “Can-a-da, Can-a-da.”
David shot just wide in the 15th minute after another Canadian attack. Six minutes later, Buchanan shot high.
The crowd cheered when Borjan was finally called into the action to make a save in the 32nd minute.
Larin shot just wide after in the 38th minute, taking a cross from Adegukbe after a glorious ball from Hoilett found the fullback flying down the left flank.
The game opened up as the first half wore on with Jamaica finding some space in the Canadian end as the home side threw bodies forward-looking. Canada has 65 per cent possession in the first half and a 11-2 edge in shots (4-1 in shots on target).
It was more of the same in the second half with Buchanan just missing a low cross from Larin across the goal as play resumed. David shot wide minutes later.
Henry limped off in the 62nd minute with Herdman going to his bench. Borjan wasted little time giving up the captain’s armband when Hutchinson came on for his 94th cap, extending his Canadian men’s record. Chants of “Atiba, Atiba” followed.
Blake stopped substitute Lucas Cavallini in the 82nd minute, with chants of “Ole, Ole” from the crowd. Buchanan then tried to flick a corner home from the near post.
The Canadian men qualified the hard way this time. While CONCACAF powerhouses like Mexico and the U.S. got a bye to the final round, Canada had to start at the bottom in the region.
Herdman’s team had to dispatch Aruba, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Suriname and Haiti just to reach the final round of qualifying for the first time since the lead-up to France ’98.
“If we look at it the right way, it just could be one hell of a story,” Herdman said prophetically in July 2019 when CONCACAF revamped its qualifying procedure.
Thursday marked the four-year anniversary of Herdman’s first game in charge of the men, a 1-0 win over New Zealand in Murcia, Spain, before just 75 people. His record at the men’s helm now stands at 29-7-4 with the only losses to the U.S. (twice), Mexico (twice), Costa Rica, Haiti and Iceland.
Already qualified in the 32-team men’s World Cup field are host Qatar, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Iran, Japan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and Uruguay.
Canada has been to seven of eight women’s World Cups, missing out only on the inaugural event in 1991. The women finished fourth at the 2003 tournament in the U.S.
Jamaica was one of five teams to receive a bye to the final round of CONCACAF qualifying but managed just one win — a 2-0 decision in Honduras on Oct. 13.
The Canadian men were ranked 73rd in the world compared to No. 47 for Jamaica, when they started World Cup qualifying in March 2021. Today Canada is 33rd while Jamaica is No. 62.
“Fearless Reggae Boyz to Spoil Canadian Party” was the headline in Jamaica’s Gleaner newspaper.
Canada drew Jamaica 0-0 when the teams met Oct. 10 at the National Stadium in Kingston. The Canadian men improved to 10-6-7 all-time against Jamaica including 7-0-2 on home soil.
The Reggae Boyz are led by interim coach Paul Hall, who played for Jamaica at the 1998 World Cup in France.
Jamaica was missing Aston Villa winger Leon Bailey, absent due to a personal issue, with West Ham star forward Michail Antonio one of several other high-profile absentees. Vancouver Whitecaps fullback Javain Brown started for the visitors.
Canada was without Kaye, suspended after being sent off for two yellows in Costa Rica.
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona voters have approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion access up to fetal viability, typically after 21 weeks — a major win for advocates of the measure in the presidential battleground state who have been seeking to expand access beyond the current 15-week limit.
Arizona was one of nine states with abortion on the ballot. Democrats have centered abortion rights in their campaigns since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Abortion-rights supporters prevailed in all seven abortion ballot questions in 2022 and 2023, including in conservative-leaning states.
Arizona for Abortion Access, the coalition leading the state campaign, gathered well over the 383,923 signatures required to put it on the ballot, and the secretary of state’s office verified that enough were valid. The coalition far outpaced the opposition campaign, It Goes Too Far, in fundraising. The opposing campaign argued the measure was too far-reaching and cited its own polling in saying a majority of Arizonans support the 15-week limit. The measure allows post-viability abortions if they are necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the mother.
Access to abortion has been a cloudy issue in Arizona. In April, the state Supreme Court cleared the way for the enforcement of a long-dormant 1864 law banning nearly all abortions. The state Legislature swiftly repealed it.
Voters in Arizona are divided on abortion. Maddy Pennell, a junior at Arizona State University, said the possibility of a near-total abortion ban made her “depressed” and strengthened her desire to vote for the abortion ballot measure.
“I feel very strongly about having access to abortion,” she said.
Kyle Lee, an independent Arizona voter, does not support the abortion ballot measure.
“All abortion is pretty much, in my opinion, murder from beginning to end,” Lee said.
The Civil War-era ban also shaped the contours of tight legislative races. State Sen. Shawnna Bolick and state Rep. Matt Gress are among the handful of vulnerable Republican incumbents in competitive districts who crossed party lines to give the repeal vote the final push — a vote that will be tested as both parties vie for control of the narrowly GOP-held state Legislature.
Both of the Phoenix-area lawmakers were rebuked by some of their Republican colleagues for siding with Democrats. Gress made a motion on the House floor to initiate the repeal of the 1864 law. Bolick, explaining her repeal vote to her Senate colleagues, gave a 20-minute floor speech describing her three difficult pregnancies.
While Gress was first elected to his seat in 2022, Bolick is facing voters for the first time. She was appointed by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to fill a seat vacancy in 2023. She has not emphasized her role in the repeal vote as she has campaigned, instead playing up traditional conservative issues — one of her signs reads “Bolick Backs the Blue.”
Voters rejected a measure to eliminate retention elections for state Superior Court judges and Supreme Court justices.
The measure was put on the ballot by Republican legislators hoping to protect two conservative justices up for a routine retention vote who favored allowing the Civil War-era ban to be enforced — Shawnna Bolick’s husband, Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, and Justice Kathryn Hackett King. Since the measure did not pass, both are still vulnerable to voter ouster, though those races hadn’t been decided by early Wednesday morning.
Under the existing system, voters decide every four to six years whether judges and justices should remain on the bench. The proposed measure would have allowed the judges and justices to stay on the bench without a popular vote unless one is triggered by felony convictions, crimes involving fraud and dishonesty, personal bankruptcy or mortgage foreclosure.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska voters supported a measure Tuesday that enshrines the state’s current ban on abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy in the state constitution, and they rejected a competing measure that sought to expand abortion rights. Nebraska was the first state to have competing abortion amendments on the same ballot since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, ending the nationwide right to abortion and allowing states to decide for themselves. The dueling measures were among a record number of petition-initiated measures on Nebraska’s ballot Tuesday.
What were the competing abortion measures?
A majority of voters supported a measure enshrining the state’s current ban on abortion after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy in the state constitution. The measure will also allow for further restrictions. Last year, the Legislature passed the 12-week ban, which includes exceptions for cases of rape and incest and to protect the life of the pregnant woman.
Voters rejected the other abortion measure. If they had passed it by a larger number of “for” votes than the 12-week measure, it would have amended the constitution to guarantee the right to have an abortion until viability — the standard under Roe that is the point at which a fetus might survive outside the womb. Some babies can survive with medical help after 21 weeks of gestation.
Abortion was on the ballot in several other states, as well. Coming into the election, voters in all seven states that had decided on abortion-related ballot measures since the reversal of Roe had favored abortion rights, including in some conservative states.
Who is behind the Nebraska abortion measures?
The 12-week ban measure was bankrolled by some of Nebraska’s wealthiest people, including Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts, who previously served as governor and donated more than $1.1 million. His mother, Marlene Ricketts, gave $4 million to the cause. Members of the Peed family, which owns publishing company Sandhills Global, also gave $1 million.
The effort was organized under the name Protect Women and Children and was heavily backed by religious organizations, including the Nebraska Catholic Conference, a lobbying group that has organized rallies, phone banks and community townhalls to drum up support for the measure.
The effort to enshrine viability as the standard was called Protect Our Rights Nebraska and had the backing of several medical, advocacy and social justice groups. Planned Parenthood donated nearly $1 million to the cause, with the American Civil Liberties Union, I Be Black Girl, Nebraska Appleseed and the Women’s Fund of Omaha also contributing significantly to the roughly $3.7 million raised by Protect Our Rights.
What other initiatives were on Nebraska’s ballot?
Nebraska voters approved two measures Tuesday that will create a system for the use and manufacture of medical marijuana, if the measures survive an ongoing legal challenge.
The measures legalize the possession and use of medical marijuana, and allow for the manufacture, distribution and delivery of the drug. One would let patients and caregivers possess up to 5 ounces (142 grams) of marijuana if recommended by a doctor. The other would create the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission, which would oversee the private groups that would manufacture and dispense the drug.
Those initiatives were challenged over allegations that the petition campaign that put them on the ballot broke election rules. Nebraska’s attorney general said supporters of the measures may have submitted several thousand invalid signatures, and one man has been charged in connection with 164 allegedly fraudulent signatures. That means a judge could still invalidate the measures.
Voters also opted Tuesday to repeal a new conservative-backed law that allocates millions of dollars in taxpayer money to fund private school tuition.
Finally, they approved a measure that will require all Nebraska employers to provide at least 40 hours of paid sick leave to their employees.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters in Missouri cleared the way to undo one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans in one of seven victories for abortion rights advocates, while Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota defeated similar constitutional amendments, leaving bans in place.
Abortion rights amendments also passed in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland and Montana. Nevada voters also approved an amendment, but they’ll need to pass it again it 2026 for it to take effect. Another that bans discrimination on the basis of “pregnancy outcomes” prevailed in New York.
The results include firsts for the abortion landscape, which underwent a seismic shift in 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a ruling that ended a nationwide right to abortion and cleared the way for bans to take effect in most Republican-controlled states.
They also came in the same election that Republican Donald Trump won the presidency. Among his inconsistent positions on abortion has been an insistence that it’s an issue best left to the states. Still, the president can have a major impact on abortion policy through executive action.
In the meantime, Missouri is positioned to be the first state where a vote will undo a ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with an amendment that would allow lawmakers to restrict abortions only past the point of a fetus’ viability — usually considered after 21 weeks, although there’s no exact defined time frame.
But the ban, and other restrictive laws, are not automatically repealed. Advocates now have to ask courts to overturn laws to square with the new amendment.
“Today, Missourians made history and sent a clear message: decisions around pregnancy, including abortion, birth control, and miscarriage care are personal and private and should be left up to patients and their families, not politicians,” Rachel Sweet, campaign manager of Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, said in a statement.
Roughly half of Missouri’s voters said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 2,200 of the state’s voters. But only about 1 in 10 said abortion should be illegal in all cases; nearly 4 in 10 said abortion should be illegal in most cases.
Bans remain in place in three states after votes
Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota became the first states since Roe was overturned where abortion opponents prevailed on a ballot measure. Most voters supported the Florida measure, but it fell short of the required 60% to pass constitutional amendments in the state. Most states require a simple majority.
The result was a political win for Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican with a national profile, who had steered state GOP funds to the cause. His administration has weighed in, too, with a campaign against the measure, investigators questioning people who signed petitions to add it to the ballot and threats to TV stations that aired one commercial supporting it.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the national anti-abortion group SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement that the result is “a momentous victory for life in Florida and for our entire country,” praising DeSantis for leading the charge against the measure.
The defeat makes permanent a shift in the Southern abortion landscape that began when the state’s six-week ban took effect in May. That removed Florida as a destination for abortion for many women from nearby states with deeper bans and also led to far more women from the state traveling to obtain abortion. The nearest states with looser restrictions are North Carolina and Virginia — hundreds of miles away.
“The reality is because of Florida’s constitution a minority of Florida voters have decided Amendment 4 will not be adopted,” said Lauren Brenzel, campaign director for the Yes on 4 Campaign said while wiping away tears. “The reality is a majority of Floridians just voted to end Florida’s abortion ban.”
In South Dakota, another state with a ban on abortion throughout pregnancy with some exceptions, the defeat of an abortion measure was more decisive. It would have allowed some regulations related to the health of the woman after 12 weeks. Because of that wrinkle, most national abortion-rights groups did not support it.
Voters in Nebraska adopted a measure that allows more abortion restrictions and enshrines the state’s current 12-week ban and rejected a competing measure that would have ensured abortion rights.
Other states guaranteed abortion rights
Arizona’s amendment will mean replacing the current law that bans abortion after the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. The new measure ensures abortion access until viability. A ballot measure there gained momentum after a state Supreme Court ruling in April found that the state could enforce a strict abortion ban adopted in 1864. Some GOP lawmakers joined with Democrats to repeal the law before it could be enforced.
In Maryland, the abortion rights amendment is a legal change that won’t make an immediate difference to abortion access in a state that already allows it.
It’s a similar situation in Montana, where abortion is already legal until viability.
The Colorado measure exceeded the 55% of support required to pass. Besides enshrining access, it also undoes an earlier amendment that barred using state and local government funding for abortion, opening the possibility of state Medicaid and government employee insurance plans covering care.
A New York equal rights law that abortion rights group say will bolster abortion rights also passed. It doesn’t contain the word “abortion” but rather bans discrimination on the basis of “pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.” Sasha Ahuja, campaign director of New Yorkers for Equal Rights, called the result “a monumental victory for all New Yorkers” and a vote against opponents who she says used misleading parental rights and anti-trans messages to thwart the measure.
The results end a win streak for abortion-rights advocates
Until Tuesday, abortion rights advocates had prevailed on all seven measures that have appeared on statewide ballots since the fall of Roe.
The abortion rights campaigns have a big fundraising advantage this year. Their opponents’ efforts are focused on portraying the amendments as too extreme rather than abortion as immoral.
Currently, 13 states are enforcing bans at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions. Four more bar abortion in most cases after about six weeks of pregnancy — before women often realize they’re pregnant. Despite the bans, the number of monthly abortions in the U.S. has risen slightly, because of the growing use of abortion pills and organized efforts to help women travel for abortion. Still, advocates say the bans have reduced access, especially for lower-income and minority residents of the states with bans.
The issue is resonating with voters. About one-fourth said abortion policy was the single most important factor for their vote, according to AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of more than 110,000 voters nationwide. Close to half said it was an important factor, but not the most important. Just over 1 in 10 said it was a minor factor.
The outcomes of ballot initiatives that sought to overturn strict abortion bans in Florida and Missouri were very important to a majority of voters in the states. More than half of Florida voters identified the result of the amendment as very important, while roughly 6 in 10 of Missouri’s voters said the same, the survey found.
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Associated Press reporters Hannah Fingerhut and Amanda Seitz contributed to this article.
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This article has been corrected to reflect in the ‘other states’ section that Montana, not Missouri, currently allows abortion until viability.
