Canada U23 lost to Haiti in their second game at the CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament in Carson, CA. Canada lost after Haiti scored two goals in the last 25 minutes of the game.
“We had a good start to the game itself,” says coach Nick Dasovic. “I thought we were on our way to a minimum one point. Our legs went away in the second half again, though. We ran out of gas; it wasn’t a matter of the tactical, it was a matter of the physical.”
This match was much more open than the previous match two nights earlier against México. Canada started much of the same lineup, except Kyle Hall was in place for Tosaint Ricketts and Tyler Rosenlund was in place for Will Johnson (serving a one-match suspension). Canada was still very much getting into game shape, especially the players from European-based teams that had to fly overseas just a few days earlier.
Both goalkepers, Canada’s Joshua Wagenaar and Haiti’s Johnny Placide, traded good saves early in the first half, the latter on which was made on Hall. The teams settled down after that, but in the 17th minute Rosenlund found the back of the net for a 1-0 Canadian lead.
In the second half, the goalkeepers were at it again. Placide made a terrific save to push Andrzej Ornoch’s shot off the crossbar. Three minutes later, Wagenaar made a good save for Canada.
Canada continued to hold the lead until the 72nd minute after Alain Gustave tied the game. The Canucks were caught off guard after their own Nik Ledgerwood went down with an injury and they kicked the ball out of play. Instead of returning the ball with the throw in, Haiti took advantage of the situation and created its own sequence of passes that led to the Gustave goal via a one-time shot from the top of the box.
“We had an injured man down, so I think we were a bit naive on the play,” says Dasovic of Haiti’s tactics.
A few minutes after Haiti’s goal, Ornoch nearly put the Canucks back on top, but this time he was pulled down by Lescinel Jean-Francois inside the box. Less than a minute later, Canada got another strike on net.
In the 84th minute, though, Haiti’s Leonel Saint-Preux beat Wagenaar on a long shot from 30-35 yards out. Canada then failed to score an equaliser in the final ten minutes (including four minutes of injury time).
March 14, 2008
CANADA – HAITI 1:2 (1:0)
Attendance: 19,638
Scoring
CAN … Tyler ROSENLUND 17’
HAI … Alain GUSTAVE 72’
HAI … Leonel SAINT-PREUX 84’
Lineups
CAN: 18-Joshua Wagenaar – 3-Jacob Lensky (46: 11-Tosaint Ricketts), 4-Dejan Jakovic, 5-Andrew Hainault, 6-Nikolas Ledgerwood, 7-Andrazes Ornoch, 12-Diaz Kambere, 13-Kyle Hall, 14-Tyler Hemming (57: 8-Ryan Gyaki), 15-Tyler Rosenlund (86: 9-Andrea Lombardo), 16-Keegan Ayre. Booked: Ornoch 66’
Coach Nick DASOVIC
HAI: 1-Johnny Placide – 3-Parnel Guerrier, 4-Alain Vubert, 6-Lescinel Jean-Francois, 9-Leonel Saint-Preux, 10-Sony Norde (78: 8-Fritzon Jean-Baptiste), 11-Fabrice Noel, 12-James Marcelin (53: 14-Jacqueson Jean), 15-Ednerson Raymond, 19-Bidrece Azor (33: 13-Alain Gustave), 20-Judelin Aveska. Booked: Saint-Preux 82’
Coach Wilner ETIENNE
Statistics CAN–HAI
Goal Attempts: 11–18
Shots on Target: 3–7
Saves: 4–1
Fouls: 13–11
Corners: 3–3
Offsides: 4–4
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