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Posted by
Harjeet Johal,
March 26, 2016 |
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@HarJournalist
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VANCOUVER, B.C - Canada and Mexico played a brilliant World Cup Qualifying match at BC Place in front of a record crowd of 54,798 fans. The game lived up to the hype as both teams put on a terrific match with back and forth action and a bevy of interesting pitch invaders. In the end, Mexico was far too strong for Canada and had no problems dominating the match and coming away with a 3-0 win.
Listen to ESSU: Canada vs Mexico
Keeping Canada's glass half full.
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Chicharito opened the scoring and added an assist, while Hirving Lozano scored his first senior international goal. Jesus Manuel Corona Tecatito rounded out the scoring in the second half. Alfredo Talavera earned the clean sheet and made three saves.
There was a bright spot for Canada after the match. Thanks to a 2-2 draw between El Salvador and Honduras, Canada remains second in Group A with four points. Mexico tops the table with 9 points, and El Salvador sits on 2 points, while Honduras has one point. Heading into Tuesday's match in Mexico. Coach Benito Floro was showing confidence heading into in hostile territory.
"Our mission is to win one point or three points in Mexico."
Skipper Julian de Guzman would have liked to have celebrated his 35th birthday with a win, but it was not to be. He was open and honest with his post-match assessment as Canada failed to deliver in front of the biggest soccer crowd in Canadian history.
"It's pretty clear it was a big disappointment for ourselves. We let everyone down, but at the end of the day we have to bounce back as soon as possible. We've still got a couple of days to get ourselves together. I think it's pretty clear some of the things that we need to sort out going into the game against Mexico."
Canada's lone striker in a 4-1-4-1 formation had an off night, Cyle Larin didn't get much help from his teammates and Mexico did well to shut down Canada's offense. Moments of missed opportunities could have made a world of difference for Canada.
"I think in the first half we played well," said Larin. "I thought we had them against the ropes and we had a few chances in the beginning. I think if we had finished it, it would have been a different game. Mexico started getting confidence and when Mexico gets confidence they're a very good team and they scored a few goals on us."
The Opening 45
The first half was a track meet as both teams wanted to establish an early presence in their opponents half. Mexico's speed offered up fantastic chances from Hector Herrera and Miguel Layun, but Canadian goalkeeper Milan Borjan was up to the task. Canada's defensive posture was sound and Mexico was off the mark as they looked for the opening goal.
Canada had a glorious opportunity to set the tone with an early goal in the 20' minute. Junior Hoilett found himself in front of goal with time and space for days. The QPR man had an absolute sitter and sailed his shot well off the mark and nowhere near the Mexican net. BC Place supporters groaned as that was clearly the best chance for Canada in the opening half.
The misses kept coming for Canada as Orlando City striker Cyle Larin broke in behind Mexico's back-four. His attempt on target also failed him as he wildly missed the near top corner. Canada was coming close, but hitting the target remained an obstacle.
Larin and Hoilett's misses proved to be an unfortunate Canadian turning point in the first half. Mexico started to play with more control and possession, and Canada was left to rue missed opportunities. The 20 year-old Larin talked about those chances.
"It's chances we should have finished. Junior (Hoilett) had a good chance and I had a chance too, and I was at a bad angle. I should have finished it and those chances make the difference."
Milan Borjan was coming up with save after save and most noticeably on FC Porto full-back Miguel Layun. Mexico kept bringing wave after wave of offense and finally they broke through in the 31'. Laying broke down the left-flank and delivered a lovely cross to an unmarked Javier Hernandez. Chicharito calmly converted an unchallenged header past Milan Borjan to put El Tri up 1-0.
The 27 year-old Layun caused trouble for Canada all evening long. He was fantastic on the flanks for Mexico and instrumental in creating offense. Canada will have to do a better job defending Layun in Mexico. He shared his thoughts on the big win.
"I think it was a very difficult match, we knew that they was trying to win because it was very important for them. Also, we was thinking to take the three points for us, and fortunately we did very well on the pitch and now we can go a little bit relaxed on the flight back to Mexico."
Mexico wasn't done as they could smell blood within the Canadian defense. Chicharito almost scored a brace, but if not for the out stretched diving Milan Borjan. Hector Herrera followed up on the rebound and waited out Borjan before clanging his shot off the far post. Mexico would add that "Dos a Cero" goal before the end of the first half and it was a beauty.
20 year-old Hirving Lozano burst down the right-flank and left Adam Straith in the dust. He fired an absolute sublime bullet past Milan Borjan and into the near side top corner. Mexico had a 2-0 lead heading into the half, while Canada looked to re-group.
The Second Half
Burnley FC midfielder Scott Arfield made his long-awaited Canada debut as a substitute for Tosaint Ricketts just before the second half. It didn't take long for Arfield to show his potential as he had a great scoring opportunity. Junior Hoilett found Arfield, who delivered a shot on target that was turned aside by Mexican goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera.
Coach Juan Carlos Osorio and Team Mexico lulled the Canadian team to sleep in the second half. Mexico was muy contento with holding the ball, passing it around, and running out the clock. Canada lacked pace, finish, and overall will to keep up with the 22nd ranked FIFA nation. Mexico's depth and talent level was too much. Canada didn't have enough to pick up a result or a goal.
Mexico's third goal was a brilliant. After a poor clearance from part-time full-back Doneil Henry. Jesus Manuel Corona found himself with all sorts of time and space and no Canadian defenders near him. He waited out a late sliding tackle and fired high on Borjan. The Canadian keeper got a finger to the ball, but it wasn't enough. Canada was behind 3-0 thanks to Tecatito.
There was really only one team that was going to win this match and it was Mexico. Canada held in for a while until Mexico got rolling. The tactics, and strategy for Canada will have to change if they are to get a result on Tuesday at The Estadio Azteca.
Mexico Man of the Match
Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez is well worth the price of admission. He was by far the best player coming into this match and he left in the 70' minute remaining the best player on the pitch. The Little Pea opened the scoring and setup Hirving Lozano for the second Mexico tally. Coach Floro and Canada knew they had to contain Chicharito in order to pickup a result and they did not do that. The Bayern Leverkusen man was able to do whatever he pleased. If not for Milan Borjan,
Hernandez could have easily had a first half hat-trick. The former Manchester United striker was on point and brilliant for El Tri.
Canada Man of the Match
Milan Borjan made nine saves and really kept Canada in the match early on. It took a little while for Mexico to look comfortable on the BC Place pitch. Once El Tri got going, it was Borjan who was tasked with turning aside shot, after shot with his incredible saves. Make no mistake, if not for Borjan this match could have finished 5-0 or 6-0 for Mexico.
Canada Starting XI: Milan Borjan; Marcel de Jong; Adam Straith, Dejan Jankovic, Doneil Henry; Atiba Hutchinson; Will Johnson, Julian de Guzman(C) 70 (Samuel Piette), Tosaint Ricketts 46 (Scott Arfield), Junior Hoilett 82 (Tesho Akindele); Cyle Larin. 4-1-4-1
Mexico Starting XI: Alfredo Talavera; Miguel Layún, Hector Moreno, Diego Reyes, Paul Aguilar; Andres Guardado, Rafael Márquez(C) 46 (Jesus Molina), Hector Herrera; Hirving Lozano 59 (Marco Fabian), Javier Hernandez 70 (Javier Aquino), Jesus Manuel Corona. 4-3-3
Notes: Rafael Márquez left the game with pain in his right abductor.
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