Canada lost Marcelo Flores, 22, to a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament one day after he was named in their 26-man squad 1. The naming fell inside the same late-May lock-in window that saw Pochettino submit the United States' final 26 , the point at which every co-host was meant to be settling rather than reshuffling. The injury was non-contact, suffered in the CONCACAF Champions Cup final, and head coach Jesse Marsch confirmed the rupture. Canada open at home against Bosnia and Herzegovina on 12 June.
FIFA rules let a team replace a player for serious injury up to 24 hours before its first match, so Marsch has until the eve of that opener to name a substitute. The rule cuts both ways: it buys time, but it also forces him to settle his final 26 against the calendar rather than on the form of a competitive window he no longer has.
The depth held without Flores. Canada beat Uzbekistan 2-0 in Edmonton on 2 June, with Maxime Crépeau pressing his case in goal, the kind of result that suggests Marsch can absorb the loss inside his existing pool rather than reaching for an untested name. Bosnia carry their own weight here: they are the side that knocked Italy out in the March playoffs to deny a former champion a third straight tournament, and they meet a co-host now missing a squad player before a ball is kicked.
