Bosnia and Herzegovina took a surprise lead through Jovo Lukic's first international goal in the first half, with Canada struggling to find their rhythm despite dominating the early stages. Jonathan David, who has been involved in over a third of Canada's goals across their last two major tournaments, fired his clearest opening straight at goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj.
Canada head coach Jesse Marsch made a bold pre-match decision, dropping the 31-year-old Larin for Tani Oluwaseyi in the starting line-up — only to turn back to his veteran striker as the second half wore on.
Speaking after the match, Marsch was candid about his side's first-half performance.
"I'm disappointed with the first half. I felt we were tentative — we didn't play as aggressively as I would have liked. We have got to find a way when we want to play as intensely and be hard to play against that we actually do it. We talked about it afterwards."
He explained the message delivered during the hydration break.
"Second half, the moment we stepped on the pitch, it was different. I told them we have got to learn these lessons, and we have got to learn from them quickly. We felt like we had them. The subs came on and made a big difference. We could see that they were fading."
Richie Laryea was denied a potential equaliser when his effort deflected off Sead Kolasinac and onto the crossbar, with Tarik Muharemovic also producing a brilliant block to deny Larin a late winner after his swivel in the box created the chance.
Larin, who became only the second Canadian player after captain Alphonso Davies — absent through injury — to score at a World Cup, reflected on the moment.
"It was special for me. I was ready to come and help the team. I thought the goals would come. I score when Canada needs me, and always have done. I want to play every game. I've been working hard every game with my club to play every game, but sometimes you don't have control over that. We just have to stay concentrated. We'll be playing at home and just have to push the limit."
Marsch praised the Toronto crowd and looked ahead to Canada's next fixture against Qatar.
"Toronto, the city has been alive this week. We have really enjoyed being here. All the red jerseys here were outstanding, and we need the same in Vancouver. We have got to give these guys confidence and make them believe that they can be winners. We still have everything in hand and that's a big point for us to keep ourselves in the group. We have to make sure the next performance is a reflection and learning point from what we learnt today."
Bosnia and Herzegovina head coach Sergej Barbarez offered a measured assessment of his side's display.
"I will need to ramp up the atmosphere in my team now because they were a bit down. We didn't have that much balance, but overall I think that this was the most realistic outcome. We had a chance to make it 2-0, but we were also very close to conceding twice, so this is a fair result. Overall we were a bit too passive. The idea was to try to surprise the opponent, but we didn't execute well on that part."
Bosnia and Herzegovina are now unbeaten in nine matches across all competitions, their joint-longest such run in the nation's history. Both sides face their second group fixtures on Thursday — Canada against Qatar, Bosnia against Switzerland — with the entire group still finely poised after matchday one.