Canada’s men’s team to play El Salvador in international friendly in Houston

Canada’s men’s soccer team will take on CONCACAF Gold Cup rival El Salvador in Houston next month in an international friendly.

Canada Soccer said in a release Sunday that a portion of the net proceeds from the Oct. 8 match between the two Gold Cup quarter-finalists will be donated to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.

The Canadian side is coming off a 2-0 victory over Jamaica on Sept. 2 in Toronto.

“This is a very timely match for us as El Salvador and Jamaica’s levels are comparable to our level at the international stage,” said Canada’s head coach Octavio Zambrano. “Like us, they had a good showing at the CONCACAF Gold Cup, so we now need to demonstrate that we can be better than them.”

Canada and El Salvador posted scoreless draws in a pair of 2015 matches before Canada beat El Salvador 3-1 in FIFA World Cup qualifiers last year.

Overall, Canada is 8-4-4 in 16 international matches against El Salvador.

The Canadian Press