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Posted by
Steve Bottjer,
November 19, 2014 |
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Steve Bottjer
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@BottjerRNO
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The Canadian Men’s National Team was looking to cap off a year of progress on Tuesday, as they faced off against CONCACAF rivals Panama at the Estadio Rommel Fernandez in Panama City in their final fixture of 2014.
After passing significant tests in their last two matches while defeating Jamaica at home in Toronto and losing a close one against Colombia on neutral ground in New Jersey, Canada faced a major test while playing in a Central American region in which previous Canadian teams have generally struggled mightily.
In addition to delivering a fine performance against a CONCACAF rival in a difficult environment, Floro and his squad also went into this one looking for a more potent offensive performance from a Canadian team that defended resolutely the last time out against Colombia but also struggled to engineer scoring chances.
The Opening 45
It didn’t take long for the inherent ugly and pessimistic nature of Panama to rear its head, as the home side committed foul after foul and generally did its part to once again make the beautiful game look ugly.
To be fair, Canada did little to counter Panama with any positive play in a very disjointed first half that was a major disappointment coming after two inspired performances against Jamaica and Colombia.
With Canada struggling to generate anything offensively amid the very humid conditions, Floro looked genuinely exasperated while patrolling the side line.
Outside of the Canadian National Team gaffer, midfielder Atiba Hutchinson looked like the most miserable man in the stadium, as Panama obviously went into this match with a clear game plan to foul him every time he had the ball at his feet.
Panama had an excellent chance to open the scoring just past the half hour mark when midfielder Anibal Godoy unleashed a shot from distance that required a big save by Canadian keeper Milan Borjan.
The Second Half
Panama continued to look like the team more likely to score in the early going of the second half, with Borjan coming up big again in the 56th minute while saving a headed ball off of a Panama free kick.
Floro elected to make a number of substitutions in the second half towards kick-starting the tepid Canadian attack, with the visiting team ultimately buoyed by the energy and fine play of Russell Teibert.
Canada caught a bit of break in the 73rd minute when Panama were rewarded for their pessimistic play in the 73rd minute with Godoy being sent off due to a second yellow card.
With Teibert spurring Canada forward, the Canadian team, with the man advantage, ultimately struggled to deliver a final ball that would engineer a genuine scoring chance.
Canada’s best chance of the game came during injury time when Marcus Haber sent a fine ball into the Panama box, with Tosaint Ricketts unfortunately unable to get his shot on target.
Make no mistake about it, this was a very poor performance by Canada, with the squad looking less effective in all facets of the game compared to the solid efforts in their last two matches. It says a lot about how quickly Floro has raised the standards that a draw away in Central America is essentially a disappointing result.
Ultimately, Canada wasn’t good enough in this game and the Spaniard will be livid due to his team’s disjointed effort. Canadian National Team supporters can only hope that this was merely an off night in which the majority of the Canadian players delivered lesser performances in the context of the standard that Floro has set. Ultimately, it was certainly good to deliver this poor performance in a friendly versus a more important CONCACAF fixture. With their weaknesses exposed, it is now back to the drawing board for Floro and company, particularly with respect to the Canadian attack.
Man of the Match
Milan Borjan
For the third straight match, Milan Borjan delivered a solid performance between the sticks for Canada. The Canadian keeper was the difference between a draw and loss for Canada with a number of big saves to prevent goals by a Panamanian side that looked more dangerous overall. Borjan demonstrated good command of his box and distributed the ball well throughout the match.
Honourable mention
On a day in which Canada looked lethargic and toothless going forward, second half substitute Russell Teibert breathed some life into the attack with his energy, pressing and work ethic. The Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder was in on several of Canada’s rare scoring opportunities and he used relentless effort to win his team a number of corner kicks.
Canada Line-up
Milan Borjan
Doneil Henry
David Edgar
Adam Straith
Karl Ouimette
Patrice Bernier
Julian de Guzman
Issey Nakajima-Farran
Atiba Hutchinson
Dwayne De Rosario
Tosaint Ricketts
Substitutions: Russell Teibert for Issey Nakajima-Farran (62); Jonathan Osorio for Patrice Bernier (62); Marcus Haber for Dwayne De Rosario (78); Ledgerwood for De Guzman (80); Bekker for Hutchinson.
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