Canada’s hopes of qualifying for the 2016 Olympics in Rio took a step in the right direction as they came away with a 3-1 victory against 10-man Panama on Saturday.

TFC II defender Skylar Thomas had Canada’s second goal of the match in the victory.

Head Coach Benito Floro made one change from the Starting XI that lost against the US on Thursday, opting for Toronto FC’s Jay Chapman over Mauro Eustaquio in midfield. Both Chris Mannella and Skylar Thomas were in the starting lineup once again for Canada.

The Canadians drew first blood at the half hour mark.

Caleb Clark made a perfect through ball pass into the run of Michael Petrasso and Petrasso shrugged off a defender before beating Panama’s goalkeeper in close for the opening goal of the match.

Panama went down a man three minutes later as Carlos Small received a straight red card for what appeared to be a deliberate outstretched arm to the face of forward Anthony Jackson-Hamel.

The Canadians extended their lead a minute after the red card was handed out.

Chris Mannella played a short corner to Petrasso, who returned the pass for Mannella to put in a cross that Skylar Thomas headered in off the post.

Panama’s Edgar Barcenas pulled one back for his team in the 61st minute, tapping in a cross from the top of the 6-yard box past Canada goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau.

Second half substitute Ben Fisk put Canada up 3-1 in the 74th minute, bending a right-footed shot into the bottom right corner from just outside the 18-yard box.

Canada takes on Cuba in their final match of the group stage on Tuesday (7:00 PM ET). You can catch the match live on TLN and Youtube.com/CanadaSoccerTV