Canada concedes stoppage-time goal in scrappy draw with Curacao

Canada was on the brink of securing its place in the Gold Cup quarterfinals on Saturday, but conceded a 94th-minute goal and had to settle instead for a 1-1 draw against Curacao.

The Canadians looked like a shell of the team that dismantled Honduras 6-0 in its tournament opener, getting overrun in the second half in Houston and ultimately holding on for the single point.

Despite the disappointing result, Canada still sits atop Group B after two matches, and can advance to the next round of the tournament when it closes out group play against El Salvador on Tuesday. A win in that match would clinch top spot in the group, and a quarterfinal matchup with the team that finishes second in Group A, which will be either Mexico or Costa Rica.

A much-improved performance will be needed to do that, though.

Nathan Saliba opened the scoring at Shell Energy Stadium in the ninth minute with his second goal in as many games, but Canada couldn't build on the early tally. The Canadians, who survived multiple close calls in the second half, broke down defensively in the final minutes and allowed Jeremy Antonisse to score a deserved equalizer for Curacao.

Canada was arguably lucky to still be leading going into stoppage time.

Jurgen Locadia thought he scored an equalizer in the 66th minute, but, after a lengthy VAR check, his excellent left-footed strike was ruled out for a narrow offside in the buildup to the goal.

Curacao then felt a penalty kick should've been awarded for a handball inside the area, but the referee ruled that the players had stopped play before the infringement because of a whistle they heard that came from the sparse crowd.

Canada, which was once again without suspended head coach Jesse Marsch, didn't heed those warnings, and made multiple sloppy mistakes on the game-tying goal by Antonisse. Marsch, currently under investigation by CONCACAF for undisclosed "incidents" during the Honduras game, watched from the stands while serving the second of his two-game ban for a red card he picked up in the Nations League in March.

Saturday's hard-fought contest, played in sweltering conditions, lacked attacking flow or rhythm, and leaves both teams with plenty of room for improvement as they look ahead to their final group games.