By Frank Pingue
TORONTO, June 12 (Reuters) - Canada striker Cyle Larin came off the bench to grab a 1-1 draw for his side against Bosnia and Herzegovina in a frenetic Group B opener on Friday that long looked like it would end in defeat for the World Cup co-hosts.
Bosnia went ahead in the 21st minute when Jovo Lukic steered home a flick-on from a corner for his first international goal, but Canada thundered forward and should have equalised through Richie Laryea in the 53rd, only for Bosnia's Sead
Kolasinac to miraculously steer his shot off the crossbar and away to safety.
The Canadians continued to attack relentlessly, but despite creating plenty of chances they lacked precision in their finishing as the Bosnians dealt with a succession of crosses and looked to be heading for a narrow win.
Larin had other ideas, however, when introduced in the 76th minute and made an immediate impact, swivelling in the box and firing home a deflected strike less than three minutes later to equalise and send the home crowd into raptures.
The result gave Canada their first-ever World Cup point but left them short of the winning start they had craved.
Jonathan David had a glorious chance to put Canada in front early on but the country's all-time leading scorer sent his well-struck shot from the centre of the area right at goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj.
After Lukic put the battle-tested Dragons on the board it was Canada, roared on by a boisterous red-clad crowd, who took over.
Canada pressed for the rest of the half but were unable to establish much of a presence deep in the Bosnia half with almost every ball they sent into the area quickly cleared from danger.
The hosts nearly drew level at the start the second period when Laryea went through on goal and his shot looked certain to head over the line until Kolasinac stepped in at the last moment to clear via the bar.
With the game starting to open up, Bosnia nearly doubled their lead moments later when Ermedin Demirovic went through on goal but Maxime Crepeau, making his World Cup debut after missing the 2022 edition with a broken leg, made a crucial save.
That set the stage for Southampton striker Larin, who earned the honour of scoring Canada's first World Cup goal on home soil when he blasted home a right-footed shot from the centre of the box in the 78th minute moments after entering the game.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue and Philip O'Connor, Editing by Ken Ferris)
