Archive for Men NT U23
Ben Knight On Soccer: March 17, 2008
Ben Knight
Globe&Mail On Soccer
Knight: Buddy, can you spare a corporate partnership?
I am writing this before the Canada-Guatemala men’s Olympic qualifying game. I do not know the result, or any details of the match.
If Canada wins, and gets a favourable outcome from the Mexico-Haiti match, our lads will be on to the semifinals. A win there, and they are off to Beijing regardless of what happens in the final. A loss, a draw or an unhappy break out of town, and they will have been eliminated.
I’m writing this before the game, because I have a question that may get different answers, depending on how today turns out. It shouldn’t. The following point matters, and should not be ignored if Canada qualifies, or negatively over-reacted to, should we lose: Is there enough money in Canadian international soccer?
If Canada’s medal chase ends today, the fact that the Canadian Soccer Association only has about $13 million dollars to pay for all its teams – and settle its lawsuits – will cause great anguish. Why wasn’t more spent on the Olympic team? Why did our lads have to play warm-up games against college squads, instead of their under-23 international peers?
If we win, this won’t seem as big a problem. It is, though. New methods of fund-raising have to be created. When the CSA finally gets around to releasing its alleged and pre-maligned new strategic vision, how will the issue of funding be handled?
Canada Legs Run Out, Goodbye Olympics?
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
Johnson Scores, Johnson Ejected, Canada Ties
Canada 1:1 México
Canada earned a 1:1 draw against México in the team’s first match at the 2008 CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament. Canada scored early, but México evened it up less than 20 minutes later and kept the pressure on through to the dying minutes of the game. Both teams were down to 10 players by game’s end.
In the first half, the Canucks got on the scoreboard early as Andrzej Ornoch slipped the ball through to Will Johnson who put the ball past Méxican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa in the third minute.
Canada kepts its lead for nearly 20 minutes before André Hainault was called for a yellow card and penalty. México’s Luis Ángel Landín stepped up and fired the shot past Canadian goalkeeper Joshua Wagenaar. Both sides then played out the first half with chances – Wagenaar made a big save in the 35th minute and Canada had a chance on a free kick in the 40th minute.
In the second half, México returned with pressure, but in the 67th minute Landín got his second yellow card and the Méxicans were down to 10 men. Canada quickly turned the play in their favour, but less than 10 minutes later the Canucks were also down to 10. Will Johnson was sent off with a direct red card.
In the last 20 minutes – with both teams playing 10 aside – the Méxicans kept the play on the Canadian side. Wagenaar and his defence, however, were up to the task. México was especially close late in the game with a great chance in the 89th minute, a free kick in the 90th minute, and another close chance in the 92nd minute.
Scoring
CAN … Will Johnson (3 min)
MEX … Luis Angel Landin (22 min PK)
Olympics: Canada Takes UC Santa Barbara
Canada’s men’s U-23 team won their second-straight preparatory match before next week’s CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament. The Canadian men won 3:2 over UC Santa Barbara in an evening exhibition match at Harder Stadium.
It was an chippy but even game in the first half. Canada opened the scoring in the 19th minute as Dejan Jakovic converted after a Tyler Rosenlund free kick.
In the second half, Canada made it 2-0 after substitutes Andrea Lombardo and Kyle Hall combined to beat UC Santa Barbara. Lombardo got the ball in the box and then Hall made a nifty play to score the goal.
UC Santa Barbara got one back in the 76th minute as Chris Pontius scored his first of two late in the game. Pontius scored from about 25 yards out. Four minutes later, though, Canada made it 3-1 as Ryan Gyaki kicked in a cross from substitute Tosaint Ricketts. UC Santa Barbara then scored the fifth and final goal of the game in the 86th minute as Pontius chipped the ball in the net.
Canada has one final weekend of preparations before next Wednesday’s CONCACAF opener against México. Canada still has a few players coming in from European teams. The final 20-player roster must be submitted to CONCACAF on 10 March.
Canada’s round-robin competition at the CONCACAF Olympic Qualification Tournament features México (12 March), Haiti (14 March) and Guatemala (16 March). Should they finish amongst the top-two teams in their group, they will advance to the semi-final on 20 March in Nashville, TN (to be played against a team from the other round-robin group). The semi-final winner will advance to the 26 March final and book their ticket for the Summer Olympics in Beijing.
