Canada qualified for the World Cup finals for just the second time on Sunday, beating Jamaica 4-0 to book their ticket to Qatar and end 36 years of failure and heartache.

After failing to clinch a finals spot with a 1-0 away loss to Costa Rica on Thursday, Canada returned home with renewed purpose and a chance to complete the job in front of a frenzied, red-clad, flag-waving, sold-out crowd of nearly 30,000 at BMO Field.

“I’m just so pleased we didn’t win in Costa Rica,” said Canada coach John Herdman. “We just qualified for the World Cup, this is a legit football country. We’ll keep setting the bar, we’ve broke records since 2018 and we’re not going to stop here.”

There would be no blown second opportunity as Cyle Larin and Tajon Buchanan netted in the first half and Junior Hoilett added another after the break with Adrian Mariappa’s own goal rounding off the scoring.

Canada will play at the World Cup for the first time since 1986 in Mexico, where they lost all three games and failed to score a goal.

“I think this country never believed in us because we’ve given them nothing to believe in,” said Herdman. “They believe now. This is the time for everyone to get behind football and unite because we can be a powerhouse.”

Christian Pulisic scored his first international hat-trick, leading the United States to the brink of returning to the World Cup with a 5-1 rout of Panama.

Pulisic converted two penalty kicks during a four-goal burst in the first half that also saw Paul Arriola and Jesus Ferreira score, then boosted the lead to 5-0 on memorable goal with two brilliant touches that evaded a pair of defenders.

With fans still fretting after the Americans’ failure to reach the 2018 World Cup, the US assumed a commanding position to qualify for the tournament.