Archive for the ‘Gold Cup’ Category

Game in a sentence

• Canada failed to create enough scoring opportunities despite dominating possession and it caught up with them in the dying moments as Panama scored in injury time to earn a 1-1 draw.

Observations

• It appeared Canada were going to win another 1-0 game through a questionable penalty but in the end the talk will now be about their wasted chances rather than the one chance they took.
• It was a crushing way to concede a goal but Canada simply should never have been in a position where they were able to concede one goal and get knocked out. They had the majority of the ball throughout, but once again their passing and lack of creativity in the final third was very poor.
• As the clock ticked towards 90:00 they still led 1-0 but that’s when it all went wrong.
• 89:35 – Armando Cooper easily got by substitiute Pedro Pacheco and Terry Dunfield has to come over and give away a corner.
• 90:05 – Milan Borjan unneccessarily came off his line for the corner which was headed away by Kevin McKenna but was immediately sent back into the box.
• 90:08 Borjan was now out of position and the defending from Canada was poor as a shot hit the bar and fell out to Anibal Godoy whose tame shot towards goal went underneath Borjan and into the back of the net. It was the second major error by a ‘keeper for Canada and led to pandemonium everywhere- Canada couldn’t believe it, Borjan rolled on the floor in pain, Panama celebrated a goal that gave them top spot in Group C and the public address announcer and television director thought Blas Perez had scored when he was nowhere near the ball.
• The confusion summed up Canada’s night. It wasn’t pretty or by any means impressive yet Canada found a way to be three minutes away from the quarter finals of the Gold Cup courtesy of Dwayne De Rosario’s penalty in the second half.
• You could say that it was again a dubious call but quite honestly I am not even sure what is a legitimate penalty in this game anymore. What I do know is I have never seen so many given across the world and although the foul called in this game looked generous, you wouldn’t be surprised to see it called in the Premier League, for example.
• Fifteen seconds prior to the decision, Canada’s best player Julian De Guzman sent a good cross into the box that found Will Johnson’s head and the Real Salt Lake man smartly guided it into the direction of Dwayne De Rosario, who suddenly fell under a collision by Eybir Bonaga.
• It was a pity that Canada could only find the back of the net through a penalty and ultimately the fact that they couldn’t score from open play (or from anything other than a spot kick) in three matches cost them.
• Canada should have been ahead inside five minutes when De Guzman intercepted a Panama attack and immediately countered with a through ball to Simeon Jackson that put the Norwich striker clean through, but unfortunately he blasted the ball high and wide.
• It was one of many good moments early from De Guzman who won three crucial tackles inside 15 minutes and connected the midfield well with his team-mates in the final third.
• Unfortunately, as the game wore on the midfield central three of De Guzman, Terry Dunfield and Will Johnson all sat too deep and didn’t create enough. Just like against Guadeloupe, this put the emphasis on the two wide players, Josh Simpson and Dwayne De Rosario, to create and feed Simeon Jackson, but neither of them played very well.
• And so now the diagnosis of this team’s performance at this tournament will start and the results will not be good. Is the 4-5-1 too defensive? How can they get spark in the middle of the park? Should De Rosario play for Canada again? Can they find a right back with a Canadian passport anywhere?
• It is one thing to start slow in a tournament and do enough to get through but margins are fine in sports and Canada ultimately fell short of their goal, which was to at least reach the knock out stages of the Gold Cup. Against the USA they were outplayed by a better team but their performances against Guadeloupe and Panama were quite simply not good enough. It is true that the team didn’t have Atiba Hutchinson for those games but it is also true that they had a Premier League striker, an MLS DP and someone who thinks himself as an MLS DP. This team simply underperformed at this tournament and Head Coach Stephen Hart now needs to watch all three games over and over again before September.
• Hart always said he would have one eye on World Cup qualifying throughout this competition and now he will have both eyes on it. It is time to learn from the mistakes of these past three games and move forward. Canada simply has to find a way of creating more. Their movement improved as the tournament went on but they were still too predictable with the ball and didn’t bring opponents out of position enough, and therefore the space wasn’t found that can lead to goals. Nothing is more difficult in this game than scoring goals but that’s a challenge that Canada must overcome quickly if they want to make a reasonable run at qualifying for Brazil 2014.

Three Stars

1. Julian De Guzman
2. Felipe Baloy
3. Will Johnson

Kristian Jack

Already hit by an injury to Dejan Jakovic that cost him his tournament, Canada’s backline was weakened further on Monday when Head Coach Stephen Hart confirmed that left back Marcel De Jong had been sent back to his club with a shoulder injury.

“We were caught by surprise medically that he is out but we believe we’ll have the game covered. We initially thought he would miss just Saturday but his tournament is over, so we are weakened in that area.”

Hart, however, was more than happy with the play of Mike Klukowski at left back against Guadelope: “He gives us more mobility down the left side, connecting with Josh Simpson, his movement was very good, stretching the opposition’s defence and we’ll hope for more of that against Panama.”

Panama, who stunned everyone by defeating the USA in Tampa on Saturday, appear to be a tougher test than many expected heading in, but Hart remains confident in his team and knows what they must do.

“Its simple – we need to win the game. Their game is based heavily on counter attack and two very good attackers so you have to be disciplined and not leave yourself open to the counter-attack. They’ve scored early in both their games so we have to make sure we start well. 

“On Saturday we moved the ball well and got into some good positions but there was some hesitation to shoot more and we need to be a little more ruthless in front of goal, if we do that then I think we’ll be ok.”

One player who remains a doubt for that game is Atiba Hutchinson, who missed Saturday’s match against Guadeloupe, hasn’t trained since, and looks likely to once again not feature.

Said Hart:  ”I am waiting on the medical staff, he says he feels more stable but we still don’t know if he will play. He has played a very long season and we don’t want to put the player at risk.”

Without Hutchinson, Canada lacked penetration and creativity in central areas on Saturday and Hart is in no doubt that his loss is key:  ”His game allows us to link with the forward line better and he is one of those players who carries the team and offers a lot of leadership.”

Group C action at the Gold Cup concludes in Kansas City on Tuesday night. Canada play Panama at 7pm eastern and the USA meet Guadeloupe soon after. Check the Footy Blog shortly after the Canada game for my recap.

Kristian Jack

Game in a sentence

• Despite playing with a man advantage for 86 minutes, Canada produce a dull performance against minnows in Tampa, securing three points through a fortunate penalty at the start of the second half.

Observations

• The game will be remembered for two major decisions by the referee so lets address them first, starting with the red card. Concacaf referees are often as useful as a chocolate fireguard but it has to be pointed out that tonight’s official Trevor Taylor got it absolutely right when he brought out the red card inside four minutes. Not many referees would have had the guts to send Jean-Luc Lambourde off for his reckless challenge on Will Johnson so early in the match but thankfully he did and fortunately the Canadian was able to continue.
• Four minutes into the second half, Taylor was in the spotlight again and this time he got it wrong. Dwayne De Rosario’s cross into the box was aimed at Ali Gerba who fell to the ground when he collided with centre-back Stephane Zubar. Taylor adjudged that Zubar fouled the Montreal striker when, in fact, he hardly touched him. De Rosario stepped up and scored his 16th international goal. Thankfully he didn’t break out the shake and bake celebration.
• It was the only positive thing the New York Red Bulls man did in the game. This was the kind of game that needed a superstar to step up and take over and De Rosario proved why he never has been that in his career. His distribution from corners and free-kicks was poor as was his passing that all too often brought a premature end to possession for Canada. He may well have done better in a central role but on the right for 57 minutes, until he was substituted, he was nowhere near the player his coaching staff expect him to be.
• It will be interesting to see if De Rosario is picked to start Tuesday’s game against Panama because after this display it is clear that more changes will be coming.
• Canada actually made four changes from the match against USA and all four of the players coming in made a difference. The most notable absentee was Atiba Hutchinson who missed out through injury. Julian De Guzman replaced him, returning to the team after missing the game in Detroit with a calf injury and played very well, taking advantage of the space to often start many of his team’s attacks.
• Marcel De Jong also missed out through injury and based on the way his replacement, Mike Klukowski, played he may not start another game at the Gold Cup. Klukowski connected really well down the left with his club team-mate Josh Simpson and put in a number of excellent crosses.
• Ali Gerba, who was preferred over Simeon Jackson, had a decent hour before the Norwich City striker replaced him but wasn’t clinical with the few chances he was provided with.
• The fourth and final change came in goal where Milan Borjan replaced Lars Hirschfeld and had an excellent match. Borjan, as you can imagine against 10-men for 86 minutes, wasn’t overly busy but produced two brilliant saves, either side of half-time, to deny Guadeloupe when it was still scoreless. Borjan also wasn’t shy to (rightfully) give his defenders the riot act after allowing a team to break them open playing 4-3-1-1, showing some much-needed leadership qualities in goal.
• All-in-all it was a night of very few positives for Canada’s coaching staff when thinking about the big picture, but narrowing the focus means it is three points inside of Group C of the Gold Cup as they head to Kansas City to play Panama on Tuesday. Stephen Hart and his staff have three days to find more creativity and pace in attack down the middle. Hopefully Hutchinson and De Guzman can play together for the first time in the Gold Cup, a tournament that the Canadians have yet to get out of first gear in.

Three Stars

1. Julian De Guzman
2. Milan Borjan
3. Mike Klukowski

Kristian Jack