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.
