The Canadian men's national team made history on Thursday night in Vancouver, and then added five exclamation points for good measure during a 6-0 win over Qatar.
It was national history, Canada's first men's World Cup win. But it was also regional history, as Canada became the first Concacaf nation to score six goals in a World Cup match. It also tied the largest margin of victory by a host nation in tournament history.
Qatar were reduced to nine men, shown red cards on either side of half-time, but even when they had eleven on the pitch, they were no match for a dominant Canadian side.
More history came off the boot of Jonathan David, whose hat-trick made him the first player from a host nation to score three in a World Cup since Geoff Hurst for England in 1966 against West Germany.
He became only the second player from North America to score a World Cup hat-trick, something that had not been done since the inaugural World Cup in Uruguay in 1930, when American Bert Patenaude bagged all three goals in a win over Paraguay -- the first ever scored in the tournament's history. For a second consecutive match, Cyle Larin scored Canada's first, while Nathan Saliba and a Qatar own goal rounded out the scoring.
All but mathematically having booked their place in the knockout stages, Canada sit at the top of Group B heading into next Wednesday's group stage finale with Switzerland, also in Vancouver.
What should have been a perfect night at Vancouver Stadium on Thursday, however, had a bittersweet aftertaste. Because as one dream came true on Thursday night in Vancouver, another ended. Ismaël Koné's World Cup is over.
Early in the second half, an ugly, if innocent, tackle from Qatar's Assim Madibo resulted in a horrible injury for the Canadian midfielder. Madibo was shown red. Canadian manager Jesse Marsch confirmed after the match that the 24-year-old midfielder was at the hospital preparing to undergo surgery.
Both Vancouver Stadium, and the Canadian team, were understandably a little shell-shocked by the moment.
But that didn't last long. The player who replaced Koné, fellow Québécer Saliba, struck a sensational free kick off the post and into the net just over ten minutes later. He ran to the bench, where he held up a Koné kit to the crowd as a tribute to his injured teammate.
With Saliba's goal being Canada's fourth on the night, they added two more before the final whistle. In a match that was truly a fork in the road in the nation's tournament, Canada absolutely floored it down the path to victory and didn't look back once.
The final statistics were staggering. Canada had 97 touches in Qatar's box, to just one. They finished with 32 shots on target, 79 per cent possession and 4.60 expected goals. From minute one, until the eighth minute of second-half stoppage time, it was utter dominance by the Canadian team.
All this puts Canada in outstanding shape for their final group match against the Swiss -- who themselves had an emphatic 4-1 win over ten-man Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier in the day.
A draw or a win and Canada top the group, and their World Cup journey continues on Canadian soil in the Round of 32.
But that is next week's mission. For now, Thursday, June 18 will go down as an historic day in Canada's soccer history. A day where the national team not only officially arrived on the World stage, but did so in the most unforgettable way possible.
Top photo credit: Michael Chisholm/OneSoccer