Canada eliminated after 3-1 loss in Honduras

Canada adapting spoiler role with 2-2 tie with Mexico

With any dreams of going to World Cup South Africa taken away by a 3-1 loss to Honduras in Honduras the Canucks seem to have taken to the role of Spoilers quite seriously. Four days after returning from the disappointing loss Canada played one of their better games and managed to hold Mexico to a 2-2 tie.

Mexico with 10 points has only one point from their last two games and as a result their fans are a bit concern that their team may be heading in the wrong direction to advance to the CONCACAF final round of six.

Mexico is in a dogfight with Honduras (9 points) for the top spot in Group B with the both team meeting in Honduras on November 19. A loss by either team could open the door for the Jamaica Reggae Boyz which has 7 points but with Canada’s ambitions as Spoiler in the group I think the second team to be eliminated in this group will be either Honduras or Jamaica.

My rationale is that Canada and Jamaica usually plays close games and although Jamaica is favored in this contest it is unlikely that the Reggae Boyz would be able to light up the scoreboard to erase the 6 goal advantage of Mexico with 10 points.

However since Mexico would not know the outcome of the Jamaica – Canada before playing Honduras since they two games are being played simultaneously the Mexicans would have to approach the game for a win. Having said that I must mention that Mexico point are already made and fighting for points based on home field advantage as Honduras and Jamaica was I mentioned several months ago that would not be a viable option.

I think on November 19 my theory would prove to be logically sound and although Honduras controls their destiny and the Jamaica Reggae Boyz does not, only time would tell.

Canada eliminated after 3-1 loss in Honduras

 After hitting the straw that broke the Camel’s back against Mexico the Canucks were eliminated from the 2010 World Cup with a 3-1 loss to Honduras after losing Dwayne De Rosario and Adrian Serioux to one game suspension.

Canada W/C hopes dashed after 2-1 loss to Mexico

Canada may have hit the straw that broke the Camel’s back when the Canucks loss 2-1 to Mexico in Mexico City. The loss was the second in four days after the Canucks suffered a devastating home loss to Honduras at the Saputo Stadium in Montreal.

Canada comes up short in 1:2 loss to Mexico (CSA MEDIA REPORT)

Ali Gerba had fire in his eyes when he cut the Mexican lead in half with 13 minutes to go. The team was resolved to salvage a point after it dug a two-goal deficit in the second half. On this particular night, however, it was too little too late.

Despite its best efforts, Canada couldn’t come back against the confederation’s top-ranked country. After 90 minutes, it was a 1:2 loss to Mexico in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico. Through three games in the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Qualifiers, Canada is stuck on just one point.

“This one was always going to be a tough one, probably the toughest game in CONCACAF – playing Mexico away from home,” said coach Dale Mitchell. “We did everything we could to get a result tonight, but we didn’t get it.”

Mexico played to its reputation, maintaining possession and creating numerous offensive chances throughout the game. Canada’s defence, which featured goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld in net for the second-straight match, held the game scoreless for the first half.

After the half, Mexico returned to its game, keeping Canada in its own end with the pressure on. Then in the 59th minute, Omar Bravo open the gate with a header to the back of the net. Bravo, who came on as a substitute for the teenaged Giovanni Dos Santos, redirected the pass from Ricardo Osorio.

Up 1-0 with the crowd on its feet, it didn’t take long for Mexico to double its lead. Off the corner kick, it was Mexican captain Rafael Marquez’s turn to score for the home side.

Desperate for some offence, coach Mitchell inserted the offensive-minded Gerba and Iain Hume with roughly 20 minutes to go. Sure enough in the 77^th minute, it was a Hume free kick that led to the Gerba goal, the 10^th of Gerba’s international career. Hume fired the shot from the right side right into the penalty area; Gerba was well in position to jump and head the ball past Mexican goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez.

With a goal in hand, Canada continued its pressure in the Mexican end. As the final whistle drew near, however, Mexico regrouped and rebuilt its attack on Canada. Fortunately, Hirschfeld was up to the task to stop the late Mexican attack. At the other end, though, Canada was unable to beat Sanchez a second time.

On the road to Canada’s next game on 11 October in Honduras, at least two players will be unavailable to the Canadian team. Dwayne De Rosario and Adrian Serioux each received their second cautions of the stage and will thus be suspended from the match in Honduras.

In what the third match in CONCACAF Stage III of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Qualifiers, coach Mitchell made two changes to his starting XI. Tomasz Radzinski (injury) and Patrice Bernier (suspension) were not available, so in came Jim Brennan and Issey Nakajima-Farran. Up next on the Canadian schedule is the 11 October match in Honduras, the 15 October match in Edmonton (against Mexico), and the 19 October match in Jamaica.

“There are still three matches left to play, said coach Mitchell. “We have to approach them with the right mentality.”

Last option for Canadian Caribbean soccer fans

Montreal: Just when the Canadian Caribbean fans were anxiously awaiting their teams making a move for the top two positions of their group 2 of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers the Canucks blew an early lead and came up short in a 2-1 loss to Honduras while the Jamaica Reggae Boyz did the unthinkable and gave up an early goal against Mexico in Mexico City to set the tone for a smothering 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Mexicans.

Haiti did not do much for their cause by being trounced by El Salvador 5-0 and Cuba on the other hand was on the short end of a 1-0 loss to USA. As a result at present the burden of the Canadian Caribbean World Cup hopes seems to sit squarely on the shoulders of the Trinidad and Tobago Soca Warriors who slipped up somewhat by conceding the equalizing goal to Guatemala at the 95 minute after taking the lead in the game ten minutes earlier.

However in retrospect the Honduras game was a devastating loss for Canada and with Mexico on their plate this Wednesday at press time the Canucks could find themselves up a creek without a paddle in Mexico City in search of at least a point to have any shot of advancing out of Group 2.

Heading into the Honduras game last Saturday I though the game was even since Canada had the home field advantage but that theory was blown to bits as soon as I arrived in Montreal and Saputo Stadium looked like San Pedro Sula Stadium in Honduras with an 8:1 advantage of Honduras supporters in national colours.

In spite of the disparity in supporters Canada scored on a powerful header by Adrian Serioux from a Patrice Bernier left side corner kick to silence the crowd as a small number of Canada fans celebrate the goal.

However Honduras clawed back into the game and adapted to the heavy stadium field a lot better than to add to Canada woes their best offensive player in the game midfielder Thomasz Radzinski had to leave the game at the 15^th minute mark after suffering a serious cut to his hand after he slid into the touch line signs while making a last effort to convert on a scoring opportunity.

That was a big blow for Canada since their offensive punch disappeared and Honduras took control of the game with long periods of ball possession. Honduras struck for two goals just after halftime to defeat Canada 2-1 to the delight of pro Honduras crowd.

The CONCACAF W/C qualifiers continues on September 10 (press time) as Canada face off with Group 2 leader Mexico in a critical game at Tuxtla Gutierrez in Mexico while Jamaica plays Honduras in another tough game for the Reggae Boyz at San Pedro Sula in Honduras but Reggae Boyz coach Simoes remains optimistic and said that his team would perform better with the extra time in preparation for the game compared to the last minute fiasco of Hurricane Gustav.

The big showdown on Wednesday will be for first place in Group1 when the Trinidad & Tobago Soca Warriors play USA at the Toyota Park in Chicago while Guatemala tries to get back in the swing of the group race against Cuba in Guatemala City.

Costa Rica in Group 3 play will try to secure a spot into the second round when they play Haiti in Port-Au-Prince while El Salvador will play Surinam at Paramaribo in Surinam.

Canada lose big second game 2-1 to Honduras

After taking an early 1-0 lead  on a powerful header by Adrian Serioux from a Patrice Bernier corner kick at the 5th minute of play, Canada could not keep up the momentum as Honduras managed to regrouped after the break and scored two goals early in the second half and held on. Canada made a late surge with 10 men that was too late. Stay Tuned for full article!

 Canada missed Golden opportunity vs Jamaica

August 20, 2008

The opening Group 2 World Cup qualifier match between Canada and Jamaica at BMO Field in Toronto lived up to its billing as the Reggae Boyz and Canucks continue their impressive run in the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers in an effort to re-emerge at a World Cup after a long absence.

The Jamaica-Canada game was played before a record crowd of 21,978 fans at BMO Field and although Canada enjoyed the better of the exchanges and the 12^th man advantage their lack of production and continuity on offense was their main obstacle.

For many die hard Canuck’s fans the tie may come back to haunt the team since Canada did not capitalize on their territorial advantage and as a result Jamaica managed to create set plays from several counter attacks down their flanks to gained momentum heading into the second half.

To me there was no question that the Reggae Boyz vertical game was more dangerous than Canada’s although it took the Boyz a while to unleash their offense but after creating the space it was obvious that on every run the Boyz made on the flanks it seemed that their player had a clear path to goal to the delight of their cheering fans.

I thought the early yellow card to Dwayne De Rosario for retaliation affected his game somewhat and work against him since he did not get the benefit of a few of the referee calls that should have gone his way.

I also thought that Canada’s Tomasz Radzinski and Bob Friend were struggling with their game in the offensive zone and I was baffled to coach Mitchell reasoning behind striker Ali Gerba absence from the starting line up or his late replacement of Rob Friend at the 87^th minute of play.

Canada Ali Gerba is the second leading scorer in the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers and it is no secret to be a productive scorer like Gerba one has to feel that he has the confidence of his coach to perform and be productive at that level.

However in spite of these offensive kinks and the defenses outweighing the offenses in a 0-0 halftime score the big question was which team would gained the early momentum at the beginning of the second half and no sooner than two minutes into the second half the answer came as Julian De Guzman unleashed a well hit 25 yard grounder through the leg of a Jamaica defender and off the finger tips of Jamaica’s goalkeeper Donavan Ricketts.

Not to be outdone the Reggae Boyz responded with a goal of their own (somewhat) when Canadian goalkeeper Pat Onstad reacted late and mishandled an Andrew Williams in swinging corner kick from the left side into his net at the first post.

With this unfortunate turn of events and two goals in just seven minutes after a scoreless first half most fans were on needles and pins since the two defenses were now playing a little less conservative and the winning goal seemed to be in the next offensive play.

Although there was no more scoring in the game there were a number of near misses and fantastic saves by the goalkeepers on both ends of the field. With big saves being the order of the day lady luck show up for Jamaica when “Man of the Match” Julian De Guzman sizzled a shot of the paint of the cross bar at the 87 minute mark

In retrospect I think Canada missed a golden opportunity to move up in the Group 2 standings since Mexico came from behind to defeat Honduras 2-1 and now leads the Group with three points and with Honduras on the menu for Canada on September 6 in Montreal it is imperative that Canada gain a result in that game before taking on Mexico in Edmonton.

Jamaica on the other hand dodged a bullet against Canada and should feel good about the one point gained in Toronto at BMO Field. However the Reggae Boyz are not out of the combat zone and would have to live up to their impressive home record when they meet #1 seed Mexico next at the “Office in Kingston Jamaica for their next game.

Soccer Update: Trinidad and Tobago Soca Warriors made a strong bid for a spot in the final round of six and return to the World Cup after defeating Cuba 3-1 in Havana. With the win T&T sits at the top of Group I standing with USA after the US defeated Guatemala 1-0 after being outplayed.  Guatemala in a must win situation has to travel to play T&T in Port of Spain next while Cuba with lots at stake remains in Havana to play USA.

In Group 3 heavily favored Costa Rica weather the storm to defeat El Salvador 1-0 while Haiti relied on the dramatics by scoring two goals in the last minutes of play to tie Surinam 2-2.  Costa Rica can move into the Group 3 driver seat with a win at home in their next game against Surinam while Haiti and El Salvador will do battle in San Salvador to posture with Surinam for the second spot of the group.

Its  Canada vs Jamaica at BMO Field

 The final week of preparation for the third round of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers is here and all the action and excitement in the first leg match of Group 2 between Canada and Jamaica will be coming to you live and direct from BMO Field in Toronto on Wednesday.

When last I checked the two teams match up beautifully since Canada has a renewed sense of confidence that will keep them up to par with the Jamaica Reggae Boyz speed and rhythm. Although the game is in Toronto no one would venture to predict which team would ride the rhythm of the 12^th man advantage come Wednesday.

What I can tell you is that there was a late rush for tickets from a large contingent of Caribbean fans and that does not clarify that scenario either. There is also supposed to a “Go for Goal Tour” arriving from Jamaica for the game but rest assured on game day the TFC season ticket holders may have the big say in which way the crowd support may swing.

However the major factor towards the outcome of the game is always the scoring summary and my estimation is that if either team scores an early goal that will open up the other team defensively or at least wake up the conceding team and allow them to turn up the power to overcome the deficit.

The last scenario seems more likely and should it be Canada which can get off to an early lead it would no doubt present a sticky wicket for the Jamaica’s defensive coverage in an effort to curtail the ever dangerous Canadian midfielders in Dwayne De Rosario and Julian De Guzman.

This tandem is arguably at the top of their game since they both received MVP and Player of the Year awards for their exploits last with their clubs and Canada and were outstanding in their last game for Canada. Dwayne De Rosario plays for the MLS Houston Dynamo while his Canadian team mate Julian De Guzman plights his trade with Spain’s Deportivo La Coruna’s..

However in spite of the potency of De Rosario and De Guzman the Reggae Boyz and their Jamaican fans would tell you that they intent to leave Toronto with at least a point from this encounter and with coach Simoes back at the controls they are confident that it can happen.

It is conceivable that the Reggae Boyz defense may limit the production of the Canadian strikers but the challenge for Jamaica would be how they will adjust to the Canadian midfielder’s transitional game. Canada’s midfielders have improved their play dating back to Gold Cup 2007 and although the teams split victories in their friendly games in 2006 the teams were missing some of the players now in the team.

Presently the Reggae Boyz team boasts tons of speed and skill on their flanks which could force Canada’s strikers Tomasz Radzinski, and Ali Gerba (the most likely starting strikers) up front to track back to slow up the flank penetration to allow their midfielders to solidify their defensive positions.

The Reggae Boyz defense lead by TFC own Tyrone Marshall may bend but it may not break if Canada does not maintain offensive momentum to apply direct pressure. In failing to do that Marshall and company would be free to do what they do best which is push forward.

However as the Reggae Boyz prepare for their game at BMO Field coach Rene Simoes has made a brave push to install the discipline and pride that he thinks would be needed for Jamaica to advance to another World Cup and since Simoes was the man at the helm that when Jamaica Reggae Boyz made it to World Cup France in 1998 no one should oppose.

Based on Simoes fundamental policies it has been reported that striker Marlon King has been omitted from the Jamaica squad for the Canada game. King omission caught a lot of the Reggae Boyz supporters by surprise but in a letter to the media a month ago, Simoes cautioned that there would be surprises in store after speaking to his troops going public about discipline, self control, winning and a positive and creative attitude for the Jamaica team.

Simoes letter can be seen in its entirety on JamaicaWin.com and the most notable sections of his letter read “I will not compromise my principles in the name of a player, or the clubs or the persons who are connected to them,”

With Simoes in control it is conceivable that Jamaica could be coming into BMO Field with the same game plan as Canada which is to strike first and early but I would think that if Jamaica could limit Canada’s scoring chances Simoes would trade the early goal for a late lone goal and 3 points in hand to leave BMO Field.

For obvious reason Canada first option should be to take the early lead and let the chips fall where they may since Canada is at home and regardless of the support at BMO Field I think Canada would have to initiate the action to win this game.

 Canada defeat Jamaica in friendly 06-09-2006

Canada defeated Jamaica 1-0 at the Claude-Robillard Stadium in Montreal, on a goal scored by striker Rob Friend in the 41 minute of play. The large crowd (estimated at 6,500) was treated to a well played game as Canada controlled the first half while Jamaica controlled the second.

The game was a typical meeting of the two countries whose results were dead even in their 11 encounters with each team with 5 wins and one tie. In the early stages of the game Jamaica was on the defensive while Canada systematically moved the ball around to create scoring chances. Canada’s best scoring opportunity was from a volley shot by #10 Rob Friend at the 10 minute of the first half. He received a Julian De Guzman cross ball just behind the Jamaican defense but hurried his shot which cause the ball to raise high over the crossbar.

Friend persistence was rewarded just before the half when he capitalized on a blunder by Jamaican goalkeeper Shawn Sawyers when the keeper miss judged a cross ball to allow Friend to score a neat header that give Canada a 1-0 halftime lead The second half started with the teams more patient and deliberate in constructing and executing their plays. The Reggae Boyz seemed more determined to explore Canada weaknesses by using their elusiveness players in isolated situations. Reggae Boyz #7 Jamal Campbell seemed to be the target and the designated destroyer with his crafty moves. Campbell success created excitement for the crowd and attracted two Canadian defenders every time he had possession of the ball.

This situation created extra space for his teammates as # 5 O’Neil Thompson was allowed him to take controlled of the game. The last 15 minutes of the game was a good test for the Canadian team defensively and was it not for several brilliant saves made by Canada goalkeeper Greg Sutton the out come of the game could have be different as Canada secured the 1-0 victory

The game was the first for Canadian interim Head Coach Stephen Hart, a native of Trinidad and Tobago and the rematch is scheduled for October 8 in Kingston, Jamaica. Judging by the intensity of this game it is safe to say that the rematch in Kingston should produce more than one goal.

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Jamaica defeat Canada in a friendly rematch on 10-08-2006

 Jamaica Reggae Boyz regrouped to defeat Canada 2-1 in their rematch game played at the National Stadium in Jamaica. The Reggae Boyz lost to Canada 1-0 in Montreal Canada in September and was later eliminated from the Digicel Cup after suffering a surprising 2-1 lost to St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and their inability to score the 3 goals needed in their 2-0 win over Haiti. Jamaica failure to advance in the Digicel competition also put them out of the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2007 tournament.

 In the rematch game against Canada, the Reggae Boyz mustered enough offense to come from behind to win unlike their first game The Boyz fell behind in the 9^th minute of play on a goal scored by Canada’s midfielder Tomasz Radzinski but to their credit they kept their composure and slowly clawed their way back into the game. They were rewarded when they caught Canada’s defense napping and score two goals in quick succession. The goals were scored by Luton Shelton and Demar Phillips at the 35 and 38 minute respectively. The rest of the game was a reverse in the roles that the two teams played in their first meeting in Montreal. This rematch ended with Canada pushing forward in search of the tying goal with no time left.

This was a huge win for the Reggae Boyz heading into their next International friendly against Peru  on November 15 at the National Stadium in Jamaica. The Reggae Boyz offense seemed to be getting on track, but their defense needs to keep opponents off the scoreboard on a regular basis to allow their offense the luxury of a lead.  The defense played well in the second half to shut down Canada’s aggressive offense and secure the win.

Jamaica – Richard McCallum, Damion Stewart, Oneil Thompson (Shavar Thomas 46th), Shane Crawford (Demar Phillips 26th), Xavean Virgo, Khari Stephenson (Fabian Davis 88th), Omar Daley, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Jermaine Hue, Luton Shelton (Teafore Bennett 73rd), Ricardo Fuller.

Canada – Kenny Stamatopoulos, Kevin McKenna, Marco Reda, Patrice Bernier (Ali Gerba 77th), Paul Stalteri, Julian de Guzman (Martin Nash 58th), Tomasz Radzinski, Rob Friend, Mike Klukowski (Gabe Gervias 24th, Adam Braz 92nd), Atiba Hutchinson, Josh Simpson