AL RAYYAN, Qatar – It was a sequence Tajon Buchanan has practiced thousands of times. He collected the ball on the right wing, looked toward goal and surveyed his options.
But this wasn’t a training session in Ontario, Canada. This wasn’t a high school soccer match in Colorado or an ACC fixture in upstate New York. This was the World Cup. So, as three teammates barreled toward the Croatian goal, it would have been understandable if global sports’ biggest stage led to a nervy moment.
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Then again, that’s not how Buchanan is wired.
He set his feet and picked out Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies making a late-arriving run and delivered an inch-perfect cross for an oncoming header. Goal. Pandemonium. History. Just 66 seconds into the match against the tournament’s defending runners-up, Buchanan and Davies teamed up to deliver the first World Cup goal in Canadian history.
