When he’s in the Canadian kit, Ali Ahmed finds another level.

After sustaining an injury during Canada ’s disappointing Concacaf Gold Cup run, which ended in a quarterfinal loss to Guatemala, the Vancouver Whitecaps winger returned to the lineup on Friday with his first national team goal and an assist in a 3-0 win over Romania in Bucharest.

“It's huge, the bounce-back to win 3-0 in Romania,” Ahmed told OneSoccer after Canada’s first road win over a UEFA opponent since beating Cyprus in 2009. “We know everything that transpired at the Gold Cup. This is huge...but we’ve just got to keep building.”

While Ahmed has played a key role with the Whitecaps, his prominence in head coach Jesse Marsch’s Canadian squad has only risen. And his goal, which resulted from forcing a goalkeeper

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