Southampton's Cyle Larin is biggest winner from 2026 World Cup qualifiers

Southampton striker Cyle Larin and Canada are the biggest winners from the 2026 World Cup qualifiers results.

The 2026 World Cup qualifiers, friendlies and every international break action are behind us. Now, Southampton go straight into an eight game run-in across all competitions until May. That can increase further depending on how the Saints perform in the FA Cup and the Championship playoffs race.

Truth be told, Southampton players didn’t enjoy the best of luck during these past two weeks. Finn Azaz, Ryan Manning and Shea Charles set out to achieve a massive World Cup dream but lost their way in the qualifiers. Rest Saints internationals Cyle Larin, Daniel Peretz and Germany U21 star Joshua Quarshie had okayish friendly outings.

All three of them remained unbeaten in their respective friendlies but Cyle Larin in particular will have the biggest smile on his face. Actually, he neither got on the scoresheet in Canada’s 2-2 draw against Iceland nor got any minute to play in the recent 0-0 stalemate with Tunisia.

However, last night’s biggest upset in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers makes Cyle Larin and his Canada team the biggest winners ahead of the summer tournament.

Bosnia and Herzegovina defeat Italy on penalties

Tuesday was actually the night of upsets in international football. Japan claimed a shock 1-0 win over England, and Egypt held defending Euro Champions Spain to a 0-0 draw. But nothing tops Bosnia and Herzegovina defeating Italy on penalties to reach the 2026 World Cup.

Ahead of their qualifying final, Italy were billed as the massive favourites to thrash Bosnia and Herzegovina to book a World Cup spot after a 12 year wait. The Italians comfortably overcame Northern Ireland 2-0 despite Shea Charles brilliance in the middle of the park.

Bosnia had also won their semi-final, but they only narrowly managed to edge Wales 4-2 on penalties. Taking down an international football giant like Italy was thus a next to impossible task. Moreover, Bosnia fell down to an early 1-0 deficit.

They managed to prevent the scoreline from becoming too ugly and later, bagged the 1-1 equalising goal to force extra time. Then, the unthinkable happened as Bosnia pipped Italy 4-1 on penalties to gain an unlikely 2026 World Cup place.

Cyle Larin and Canada biggest winners from Bosnia defeating Italy

Bosnia and Herzegovina will undoubtedly be over the moon after reaching the 2026 World Cup. So will be Cyle Larin and his Canadian team who have got Bosnia and Herzegovina as the fourth and final confirmed team in Group B.

Overall, Group B consists of Canada, Switzerland, Qatar and Bosnia and Herzegovina. For months it felt like Canada will be the third favourites to advance from this group after Italy and Switzerland. Now, Jesse Marsch’s men are just behind Switzerland in terms of playing talent and squad depth on paper.

Neither Bosnia nor Qatar are any pushovers but Canada stands a good chance of beating any one of them and possibly drawing another match to reach to 4 points. Four points are enough to seal a third-place spot as one of the eight best third-place teams to go to the Round of 32 of the World Cup.

Cyle Larin can eye a goal or two in these group stage games as well, whereas netting against Italy is a daunting task in itself. From here, Larin and Canada have only themselves to blame if they still end up rock bottom in Group B by the time the group stages are over.