Pakistan, the world No 15, who beat Malaysia 5-4 and South Korea 4-0, before a 1-1 draw with Japan, was expected to hammer the Canadians.
However, Canada, the world No 19 and yet to secure a win, stunned Pakistan with goals from Sean Davis in the fifth minute while Harbir Sindhu struck in the 17th minute.
Pakistan, under the tutelage of Roelant Oltmans, managed to claw back with Abu Mahmood netting two penalty corners in the 28th and 29th minutes, besides goals from Arshad Liagat in the 36th, Rana Waheed Ashraf (44th minute) and Ghazanfar Ali (45th minute) to take the lead, while Canada tried to fight back via Davis’ 45th-minute field goal and Avjot Buttar’d 50th-minute goal.
The unbeaten Green Shirts have now accumulated 10 points, before facing highest-ranked New Zealand in the last round-robin match on Friday.
“Canada played well and made it hard for us, but we managed to bounce back to collect the three points. We felt pressured because we couldn’t convert the chances, we had 11 penalty corners but only scored two,” Oltmans said in the post-match press conference.
Meanwhile, Canada head coach Patrick Tshutshani said, his boys played their best-ever match in the tournament, after having been hammered 7-1 by New Zealand and 6-2 by Malaysia, and a 0-1 defeat to South Korea.
“Yes, this is our best performance after some tough conversations in the team meeting about what we want to produce. This is a young team, but the players stepped up without fear,” he said.
Meanwhile, two-time champions New Zealand defeated South Korea 4-1 to keep their hopes alive for a top-four finish.
However, before the victory, the Kiwis had to wait for over an hour due to a heavy thunderstorm, which delayed the match just after one minute and 15 seconds of play.
Back after the long wait, the world No 10 New Zealand scored through George Baker in the fourth minute, Jonty Elmes (18th minute), Smith Jake (23rd minute) and Isaac Houlbrooke (53rd minute), while the Koreans replied through Sim Jaewon in the 39th minute.
After four matches, New Zealand now have six points, while South Korea are likely to miss out on a top-four placing after winning only one match.