At Montreal’s Saputo Stadium Friday night, Canada was reminded of an important lesson: One errant moment can undo a whole day’s work.

You can control a game, hold 67 per cent of the ball. You can outshoot a team 20-5. You can impose your will and constantly pin a team inside their own third.

But an errant foot from Cyle Larin caught Ireland’s Jamie McGrath in the head, leading to a penalty kick that undid the domination Les Rouges held up to that point in the exhibition game Montreal.

Final score: 1-1.

“I thought we were in very much in control of this match,” said Canada coach Jesse Marsch. “I challenged (the team) to be more on top of the details, and they were from the beginning. We were almost in total control for almost the entire match, and just a little unlucky not to come away with with some more goals.

“I think that the players understand that our ability to concentrate on the game itself is going to dictate how well we do in the tournament.”

Here’s what else we learned …

This game was about the process, not the outcome

The result, despite it not being a win for the 19,619 in attendance, was all Jesse Marsch could have wanted. He got playing time for his healthy starters against competition similar to what they will face against Qatar and Bosnia-Herzegovina when the World Cup kicks off next week. He got the tactics he wanted and the performances he hoped to see.

And crucially, one thing Marsch didn’t see was any more injuries to his already bruised roster. He assured media post-game that Alistair Johnston’s halftime substitution was just precautionary and he would have played in a meaningful match.

“It was really good to get a lot of guys 90 minutes. Guys like Derek (Cornelius) and Luc (De Fougerolles) haven’t played 90 minutes in a while,” said Marsch. “A lot of guys I thought put good efforts in and looked really sharp.”

As you build up, the goals will come

Canada’s goal came off a Stephen Eustáquio corner kick, which arrowed into a mob in the six-yard box and deflected in off Irish centreback Jake O’Brien in the 23rd minute.

It was the ninth set piece goal in the last 16 games for Canada, but they couldn’t find one from the run of play. Larin had two chances, but couldn’t convert either. Jonathan David was looking to set up his teammates more than shot, creating a team-best four scoring chances to three shots.

As a team, Les Rouges had 20 shots to Ireland’s five, but the Irish had more shots on target (3-2), and would have won the game except for a dramatic 82nd minute save from Max Crepeau on Mason Melia from 10 yards out.

“I’m sure I’m going to get a million questions, but I’m going to be positive, guys. I’m not here to take a bunch of negative questions, and if you ask me negative questions, then I’ll just move on to the next one,” Marsh said, unprompted.

“We just lacked a little bit of quality in the final actions, but I believe that will come. We need to make a few more plays. Just some right decisions. … We have firepower, I know that, and I know the goals haven’t been coming, and I’ve been saying they’re coming, and I’m going to say it again — they’re coming.”

Canadian standouts

Crepeau was named Canada’s starter for the tournament on Thursday, and backed up the decision in the stadium where his pro career began. He stopped 60th penalty shot from Troy Parrott, diving to his left to make the save, but the rebound fell to the feet of an onrushing Chiedozie Ogbene, who knifed it over him.

But it was the other player whose career also started at Saputo who was the player of the night.

Ismaël Koné went the full 90 minutes, completing 70 of 76 passes, nine into the final third.

“I’ll be honest, I unhappy and I got after him after Uzbekistan, because I felt like he was just floating around the pitch way too slow and not intensive enough,” said Marsch. “Today he picked it all up and put together a complete performance. He was winning duels, he’s winning head balls, he’s picking up loose balls with the ball, he’s driving, he’s finding actions

“This is what I, my vision from the beginning is of Ismaël; an intensive player that also has a gift of just moving around with the ball that teams can’t really match plan for. He’s an X factor for us.”

Now it starts for real

This was the final warmup game for Canada, who now travel to Toronto ahead of their June 12 opener against Bosnia at BMO Stadium.