Mike Miller
A long suffering fan of Canadian soccer since 1971 when I started
attending games of the Montreal Olympique of the pre-Pelé NASL.
InsideSoccer Gamesheet
This report helps track the game to game player changes made by coach Nick Dasovic.
The U23 Olympic team used the Canadian factor in taking third place at the Olympic Qualifying in Nashville. When it comes to coin tosses and kicks from the penalty mark no one can beat Canada.
After a 90 minute 0-0 draw with Guatemala, the match went straight to a shootout. Isidro Sanchez Macip, Nikolas Ledgerwood, Keegan Ayre, Tyler Hemming and Kyle Hall scored for Canada. All five Canadian kickers scored, while Guatemala only managed 3 goals.
In a meaningless lacklustre game Guatemala was unable to avenge their 5-0 loss to Canada in the preliminary round.
Will Johnson was selected to the tournament’s Best XI team despite missing two games because of suspension. Johnson was red carded in the first game and sat out the final game because of yellow card accumulation.
Canada may have fared better if some of their top players in Europe were released by their clubs. Keeper Asmir Begovic showed up at the tournament but he had to sit out the first game, he was suspended because of a red card in his final game at the U20 world Cup. His club Portsmouth then recalled him before he had the opportunity to play for Canada.
Jaime Peters, Marcel De Jong, David Edgar, Mike D’Agostino and Johnathan Bourgault were other players missing from action.
Coach Nick Dasovic joked at the press conference after the USA game “well if I still have a job on Monday”. Possibly refering to comments he made about the CSA as much as about the results.
| Canada Olympic Qualifying 2008 |
| Player | MP | G | A | GUA | USA | GUA | HAI | MEX |
| Nikolas Ledgerwood D | 450 | 0 | 0 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 |
| Dejan Jakovic D | 450 | 0 | 0 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 |
| Tyler Hemming M | 408 | 0 | 1 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 57 | 81 |
| Tosaint Ricketts M | 405 | 2 | 0 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 45 | 90 |
| Andrzej Ornoch F | 380 | 0 | 1 | 45 | 90 | 89 | 90 | 66 |
| Andre Hainault D | 360 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 |
| Tyler Rosenlund M | 326 | 1 | 1 | 74 | 76 | 90 | 86 | 0 |
| Keegan Ayre M | 307 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 30 | 81 | 90 | 90 |
| Kyle Hall F | 280 | 1 | 0 | 90 | 60 | 9 | 90 | 31 |
| Diaz Kambere D | 270 | 0 | 0 | 90 | 0 | 0 | 90 | 90 |
| Will Johnson M | 253 | 3 | 0 | S | 90 | 87 | S | 76 |
| Graham Ramalho D | 234 | 0 | 0 | 90 | 54 | 90 | 0 | 0 |
| Ryan Gyaki M | 112 | 0 | 0 | 70 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 9 |
| Jacob Lensky F | 104 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 59 |
| Andrea Lombardo F | 67 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 3 | 4 | 24 |
| Isidro Sanchez-Macip M | 45 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marcus Haber F | 35 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Keeper | MP | GA | GAA | GUA | USA | GUA | HAI | MEX |
| Joshua Wagenaar G | 360 | 6 | 1.50 | 0 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 |
| David Monsalve G | 90 | 0 | 0.00 | 90 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Asmir Begovic G | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | S |
Legend
| G | Goals | A | Assists |
| MP | Minutes played | S | Suspended |
| GA | Goals against | GAA | Goals against average |
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