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By Vijay Setlur
CONCACAF.com

TORONTO - Canada boosted its bid to advance to the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, scoring twice in a six-minute span in the second half to defeat Cuba 3-0 on Friday.

Goals from Will Johnson and David Edgar in the 73rd and 79th minutes added the insurance to Tosaint Ricketts' first-half strike to give Canada 10 points in Group C of the semifinal round of qualifying and only needing a draw on Tuesday at Honduras to advance to the six-team "hexagonal."

Cuba, with no points in five matches, will close out the semifinal round hosting Panama the same day.

Both sides finished the game with only 10 men, but Cuba played the entire match without any available substitutes.

The three goals was the most by Canada in eight matches in nearly a year, since a 4-0 victory over St. Kitts & Nevis in the previous round of qualifying. Despite the output, the Canadians were disappointed for not scoring more after recording 35 goal attempts overall with 14 shots on target.

"A lot of us were feeling we could have gotten more goals out of the game," Atiba Hutchinson said. "We had a lot of chances we didn't really finish them off as we should have, but we try to push each other and keep telling each other that the last game in Honduras is going to mean everything so we have to let this go be happy with the win and work on the finishing because that's going to crucial for us."

After winning 1-0 in Havana in a tight contest four months ago, Canada took control early before an announced crowd of 17,712, holding a 21-2 advantage over the Cubans in goal attempts in the first half.

Ricketts, used on the wing in place of the injured Dwayne De Rosario, capitalized in the 14th minute. He followed Hutchinson's redirection of an Ante Jazic cross to drive the ball high over Cuban keeper Odelin Molina.

Despite Canadian pressure, Yoel Colome nearly brought Cuba even in the 57th minute, but sent a low hard drive by a diving Lars Hirschfeld just wide of the right goalpost.

Facing the cool temperature and a test to its fitness by not having any substitutes, Cuba's chances to draw even were diminished in the 71st minute when Roberto Linares was ejected for a flagrant foul on Canadian defender Andre Hainault.

With Cuba down a man, Johnson headed the ball into the goal from in close in the 73rd minute to give Canada a two-goal cushion.

After Canada tried to retrieve the ball quickly from the net, Odelin tussled with the Canadian players and a resulting fracas saw Canada's Olivier Occean ejected for a shove. Occean will miss Canada's match at Honduras and Hart said it will be difficult to bring a replacement in at this time.

"I don't understand it," Canada manager Stephen Hart said. "There was something involved but to give a red card for that I don't understand it. I'll have to see it again to be fair, to everyone but I don't know what really happened but it didn't look like much."

Edgar closed out the scoring for Canada in the 79th minute, volleying Jazic's cross for some valuable insurance.

"I thought we played some good stuff tonight, created a lot of chances more than I've ever seen," Hart said. "I don't think I've been involved with a Canada team that we've had that many chances especially in the first half, but I thought we got carried away, lost our shape a bit, but overall I'm happy."