Jonathan David and Tajon Buchanan scored 2 minutes, 35 seconds apart early in the second half and Canada defeated El Salvador 2-0 on Tuesday night to reach the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals.
El Salvador, which was eliminated, finished two men short after Santos Ortíz and Jairo Henríquez were ejected late in the first half.
Canada won Group B with seven points and advanced to a quarterfinal against Guatemala on Sunday in Minneapolis, with the winner moving on to a semifinal against the U.S. or Costa Rica.
In the other quarterfinals, Mexico meets Saudi Arabia and Panama plays Honduras, both on Saturday in Glendale, Arizona.
El Salvador was last in the group with one point and was eliminated, becoming the 14th team not to score a goal in the group stage.
Canada coach Jesse Marsch returned from a two-game suspension assessed for his conduct during the CONCACAF Nations League third-place match against the U.S. in March.
David scored in the 53rd minute, his Canada record 35th goal in 66 appearances. He took a pass from Mathieu Choinière, turned and beat goalkeeper Mario González to the far post with a diagonal shot from about 15 yards.
González had jumped to his left to save David’s penalty kick in first-half stoppage time after a foul by Jefferson Valladares on Jacob Shaffelburg.
Buchanan scored his eighth goal in the 56th, lifting the ball over González after a feed from Niko Sigur, who had intercepted Diego Flores’ pass
Ortíz received yellow cards in the 13th and 35th minutes, the second for a lunging tackle from behind on Sigur. Henríquez got a red card in the ninth minute of first-half stoppage time for elbowing Alistair Johnston in the head.
Ortíz and Henríquez will be suspended when El Salvador starts the third round of World Cup qualifying in September.
Honduras defeated Curaçao 2-1 at San Jose, California, on Luis Palma’s goal in second-half stoppage time.
Panama beat Jamaica 4-1 at Austin, Texas, to win Group C with a 3-0 record, and the Reggae Boyz were eliminated in the group stage for the first time since 2009. Guatemala beat Guadeloupe 3-2 in Houston.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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