Canada finishes 2nd in Group B after 2-1 loss to Switzerland, will play knockout game Sunday in L.A.

It’s almost painful, sometimes, how so much can hinge on so little.

Canada’s men lost to Switzerland 2-1 in a sweltering B.C. Place on Wednesday afternoon, ending their hopes of continuing their historic World Cup campaign at home.

The win gave the Swiss first place in Group B, a week’s rest, and a preferable Round of 32 game in Vancouver. Canada slipped to second with its first loss of the tournament and will now head to Los Angeles for Sunday’s matchup against the second-place team in Group A, almost certainly Korea.

The fate-turning goal came early in the second half, when Canada’s otherwise impressive backline was pulled too far to the left during a relatively innocuous-seeming Swiss attack. The shift left Rubén Vargas, among Switzerland’s most lethal finishers, wide open in the box.

When the ball came across to him, Canada’s wild scramble to the right came too late, and he made no mistake with his chance.

That was it. That was all it took for fates and paths to start to change.

With Canadian substitutes waiting to come on, Johan Manzambi scored Switzerland’s second goal in the 57th minute after more uneven coverage.

Maxime Crépeau got a piece of it and would have liked to have done better, but his disappointment after felt more global than specific. Canada had needed only a draw to win the group; even a draw suddenly felt out of reach.

Promise David, who in May had foretold in an interview with CBC that he would score in Vancouver — “I have this weird thing where I can call out goals before I score them,” he said — came on as a substitute and kept his word before the stadium announcer had a chance to announce his arrival in the game.

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