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Canada 0 Puerto Rico 0
Fresh off a dominant performance away in St. Lucia on Friday, Canada arrived back home looking to deliver another standout performance in front of what was expected to be a large crowd of Canadian supporters at BMO Field in Toronto. Standing in the way of a home victory for Stephen Hart’s side was a Puerto Rico side that is generally conceded to be the second best team in Group D after Canada.
Josh Simpson comments about playing a team that had no desire to attack and breaking down a group with an all-out-defend mentality
Hart made three changes to his lineup, with Lars Hirschfeld getting the nod in net, Josh Simpon replacing Olivier Occean and Terry Dunfield taking the place of the injured Will Johnson in the midfield.
The First Half
The first half kicked off Canada patiently building up their play and passing the ball well. From the Puerto Rico standpoint, the visitors played the entire first half with a very defensive formation with only one man playing up top whenever the home side had the ball.
Canada engineered their first scoring chance of the game in the 5th minute when Dwayne De Rosario sent a dangerous cross into the Puerto Rico box, but with Iain Hume shooting the ball wide of the near post.
In the 17th minute, Hume showed a nice engine and work ethic when he beat a Puerto Rico defender to win a ball in the right corner near the visitor’s goal, but his cross went right into the waiting arms of keeper Brandon Saldana.
Olivier Occean
Puerto Rico gave Canada a bit of a scare in the 19th minute when a missed clearance by the home side on a corner kick allowed midfielder Tyler Wilson to get a shot off on a bicycle kick that ultimately sailed wide of the Canadian net.
Canada was forced to make a substitution at the thirty minute mark when Hume pulled up lame and had to be replaced by Olivier Occean.
In the 34th minute, De Rosario tried to catch Saldana out of his net with a long shot, but the Puerto Rico keeper was able to recover and catch the ball.
The first half would end with neither side really threatening the net of their opposition, with Canada getting plenty of crosses off, but with none of them finding a red shirt in the box.
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#usmnt fans. Remember, as negative and anti-football as the team can get, it's never as bad as the #cmnt situation. Sorry, Canada.
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The Second Half
The early going of the second half continued the style of play that at times made the match feel more like an exhibition match than a World Cup qualifier.
In the 55th minute, De Rosario delivered a nice ball to send Simeon Jackson in on Saldana, but his shot from a difficult angle was blocked by the Puerto Rico keeper.
Two minute later, Josh Simpson unleashed a shot from distance that was a couple of feet wide of the left post, as Canada started to look a little more dangerous as the second half progressed.
In the 65th minute a mistake by Puerto Rico allowed Simpson to break in on goal, but an excellent stand up save by Saldana prevented Canada from opening the scoring.
Four minutes later, Ante Jazic set up Simeon Jackson in the Puerto Rico box, but the hat trick hero from St. Lucia shot high over the cross bar.
Canada Head Coach Stephen Hart endeavoured to kick start the Canadian offense in the 70th minute when he brought in Tosaint Ricketts in place of Jackson.
Puerto Rico almost took the lead in the 84th minute, but Canada keeper Lars Hirschfeld came up with a huge save on a point blank shot by Andreas Perez.
Canada would press for a goal through the remainder of regulation and three minutes of injury time, but could not break through, as Puerto Rico keeper Brandon Saldana was the top player from either side in this match.
The Final Word: A lack of Canadian offense rears its ugly head
Considering Canada was coming off a 7-0 obliteration of St. Lucia on Friday, it’s hard not to be disappointed by how flat the Canadians were in this one. While Puerto Rico played a very defensive game for the entirety of the match, Canada simply has to be better at breaking down that type of opponent if they hope to break through and qualify for a World Cup. In front of an excellent crowd of 12, 178 Canadian supporters, the home side looked out of sorts in a worrying performance that wasn’t a deadly blow to their goal of qualifying for the next round, but that was something of a step backward after a pair of impressive victories away against Puerto Rico and St. Lucia. When comparing the two sides, it was obvious that Canada was the superior team based on all aspects of game. That said, the game is ultimately decided on who scores more goals, and in that capacity, Canada will need to deliver a resounding bounce back performance next month.
While it wasn’t the worst CONCACAF refereeing that national team supporters have seen over the years, there were a number of debateable calls that if they had gone Canada’s way, would have made for a considerably different post match analysis. And Puerto Rico, who are considered by most to be the second best team in the group, also played a tactically astute road match that played a big part in the end result. Whether or not it was the curse of ex-TFC defender Marco Velez haunting BMO Field, Canada looked a little snakebitten in this game. Ultimately, the bottom line is that Canada has the players to break down a defensively focused side and the Canadian players simply did not execute offensively on this day.
Lars Hirschfeld only had to make one genuine save all night, but he came up with a top class save that prevented Canada from losing in an embarrassing fashion. And with that being the only real scoring chance that Puerto Rico generated, Canada can and should take some solace from another clean sheet earned without Kevin McKenna leading the back line. While it’s hard to judge the back line based on the fact that Puerto Rico showed almost zero interest in attacking, Adam Straith, David Edgar, Ante Jazic and Nik Ledgerwood did a good job of snuffing out any danger before it really began. While the forwards will garner a lot of the criticism for Canada’s inability to put one in the back of the net, the offensive support and passing from the midfield was not up to snuff on this day, as it looked very much like Atiba Hutchinson was missed against Puerto Rico.
Another positive that Stephen Hart can take from this match was the play of substitute forward Tosaint Ricketts, who didn’t score but who very much breathed some genuine life into the Canadian attack when he came on late in the second half. He certainly showed enough to suggest that Hart should consider giving him a start against St. Kitts and Nevis in November. And while Olivier Occean did not always appear to be on the same instinctive page as his teammates up top, the big target man also looks like he will be a genuine weapon once he gets more games playing with Canada under his belt. In the big picture, the emergence of players like Ricketts, Straith, Edgar and Occean does affirm that Canada is building more depth as a team. And, in the long run, that depth just might be the ingredient that will get Canada to the tournament that all Canadian soccer fans desperately want them to be at.
Canada Starting Lineup
1 Lars Hirschfeld
13 Ante Jazic
5 Adam Straith
15 David Edgar
2 Nik Ledgerwood
6 Julian de Guzman
17 Terry Dunfield
14 Dwayne De Rosario
11 Josh Simpson
7 Iain Hume
10 Simeon Jackson
Substitutions: (34) Occean in for Hume (70) Ricketts in for Jackson.
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