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Canada 0 – 3 Australia
The Prelude to Battle
Canadian National Team supporters finally got their first actual look at their national team playing under new Head Coach Benito Floro on Tuesday.
With Canada not having won a match in some time and Australia coming off of two 6-0 losses to Brazil and France in recent friendlies, this one shaped up as two teams desperate for a victory going face to face on neutral ground at Craven Cottage in England.
While no one was expecting a tour de force performance from the Canadian team given the transition the team is currently undergoing, many supporters were probably hoping to see their side score a goal, especially considering the fact that the team had not scored in its last seven games.
David Edgar got a rare start in the midfield in place of the injured Atiba Hutchinson, as Floro elected to go with a young central defense duo of 20 year old Doneil Henry and 23 year old Adam Straith.
The Opening 45
Canada went down early in this one, with Australia taking the lead within thirty seconds of the opening whistle. After a slip by Canadian midfielder Julian de Guzman, Socceroos forward Josh Kennedy received a cross and beat both Nik Ledgerwood and Doneil Henry to head the ball past Milan Borjan into the back of the net.
The Canadians came close to evening things up in the 7th minute when Australian keeper Mitchell Langerak made a fantastic save to deny Simeon Jackson inside the left post.
Canada came close again on the break in the 15th minute when David Edgar tried to pick out Dwayne De Rosario with a cross, but the Canadian captain was called offside on the play.
Canadian Head Coach Benito Floro made his first change of the match when Toronto FC midfielder Kyle Bekker came on in place of a hobbled Julian de Guzman.
Canada’s best chance of the half came at the half hour mark when Edgar found Tosaint Ricketts with a perfectly placed cross that the forward powerfully headed on target, with Langerak once again coming up big and tipping the ball over the crossbar.
The Second Half
Floro elected to make three substitions to start the second half, with youngsters Russell Teibert, Stefan Cebara and Jonathan Osorio coming in for the veteran trio of Dwyane De Rosario, Nik Ledgerwood and Iain Hume.
Australia doubled their lead in the 52nd minute when Canada were unable to clear a corner kick and midfielder Dario Vidosic used his head to redirect a shot past Borjan into the back of the Canadian net.
As Canada struggled to generate any scoring chances of note , Borjan did his part to keep things close in the 71st minute with a big save off of a volley shot from Matt McKay.
The Australians sealed another rough day at the office for Canada in the 79th minute when forward Mathew Leckie out jumped Adam Straith and headed the ball past Borjan to put the Socceroos up 3-0.
Post-match Reaction
“For the first half, we planned to play the game with experienced players to look for a good result because in the second we planned to play with the young players,” Canada head coach Benito Floro said post-match. “In the second half the young players did not play well because the opponent was physically very powerful. They made a big press and we didn’t have any chances at goal. It’s necessary with the young players because we need to give them international experience. This is the problem for us.”
“The only way to improve our level is to play a lot of matches and by training, not only with these players but also the younger ones to teach how we want them to play,” Floro added. “It was a very valuable opportunity for (the young players) and to play in such an environment like this the best way to learn. Yes, you’re going to have guys on Australia that are more physical and I think, fitness-wise, we lacked in that department because a lot of those guys aren’t getting a lot of minutes and you could see that. Australia was a lot sharper but I think the experience guys got today was something they could build on moving forward into the future.”
“It’s obviously tough when you give up an early goal like that,” Canadian team captain Dwayne De Rosario said after the game. “But we knew that Australia was in a position that they had a lot to prove obviously with the recent sacking of their manager.”
“After we started to get our rhythm, I think we started to find the chances for ourselves and started to build up more and more confidence as the half went on,” De Rosario added. “They told quite a few of us at halftime that he was changing us and it was a good opportunity for the young guys to gain some valuable experience.”
Floro addressed the main challenges that he is facing in the months ahead as he works to mold the Canadian team into a squad capable to challenging for a spot at the 2018 World Cup.
“We have two problems: the first is a question of physical preparation but that depends on the clubs where they’re playing, and the other is technically,” Floro explained. “So the only way we can help is tactically. We need a lot camps, we need the same technical direction from the young players because we need to advance from this camp to the others and to have international experience.”
The Final Word: Canada unable to find the right formula against Australia.
In a conference call earlier in the week, Canadian Head Coach National Team Benito Floro emphasized that it is going to take a number of matches and training camps over the long term before the Canada realistically turns the corner under his leadership.
With that point in mind, the Canadians very much looked like the team in transition that they are. If you had been a casual neutral observer of the match, it would have been very clear from the run of play which team is going to the World Cup and which team is rebuilding.
While Canada had a number of moments when they looked quite bright going forward, overall this performance did not look all that different than those delivered by recent squads lead by Colin Miller and Stephen Hart. It really doesn’t need to be said again, but this match only highlighted the large amount of work that Floro and the Canadian team have ahead of them.
Interestingly but not surprisingly, Canada looked much better when the squad was made up of veteran players from the national team’s most recent World Cup qualifying campaign. When Floro made the switch to go with a large number of young players in the second half, the obvious gulf between the seasoned Australians and the still green Canadians was a large one.
In terms of the positives there wasn’t a whole lot to write home about in this one. Pragmatically, Benito Floro had another game to evaluate his squad and young players like Doneil Henry, Adam Straith, Kyle Bekker, Ashtone Morgan, Stefan Cebara, Jonathan Osorio and Samuel Piette gained further experience playing at the highest International level. Ultimately, Canada looked defensively soft on the goals by Australia and the team has now gone eight games without scoring.
One player who stood out for Canada was David Edgar. The Kitchener, Ontario native who usually plays as a defender looked quite effective in a midfield role in this game. In an appropriate move, Edgar wore the captain’s armband in the second half of the game. At 26 years old and entering the prime of his career, the 21 times capped Canadian International continues to look like a key core player for the Canadian team for the foreseeable future.
Canada Lineup:
Milan Borjan
Nik Ledgerwood
Doneil Henry
Adam Straith
Marcel de Jong
Tosaint Ricketts
Julian de Guzman
David Edgar
Simeon Jackson
Iain Hume
Dwayne De Rosario (C)
Substitutions: (25) Bekker in for De Guzman; (46) Teibert in for De Rosario; Cebara in for Ledgerwood; Osorio in for Hume; (54) Morgan in for Jackson; (60) Piette in for De Jong.
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