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Posted by
Steve Bottjer,
July 7, 2013
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Steve Bottjer
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Canada 0 – 1 Martinique
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Prelude to Battle
With Canada’s 2013 Gold Cup tournament kicking off on Sunday, the Canadian squad did not enter play in any position in which to ease their way in the tournament. Placed in arguably the competition’s Group of Death, Canada were already facing a much win match against opening opponent Martinique.
With remaining group stage matches against CONCACAF powers Panama and Mexico looming, the match was quite simple for Canada. Earn all three points and Canada would give itself a fighting chance of qualifying for the knockout round. Draw or drop all three points and the Canadians would likely be going home at the end of the group stage.
Canadian Men’s National Team Head Coach Colin Miller went with a starting lineup composed of both young players and veterans, with youngsters Samuel Piette, Russell Teibert and Doneil Henry filling out a roster headlined by players such as Julian de Guzman, Will Johnson and David Edgar.
The Opening Forty-Five
Canada generated the first decent scoring chance of the match in the 10th minute when Russell Russell Teibert delivered a well-placed cross that forward Marcus Haber got a solid header on. However, Martinique keeper Kevin Olimpa was positioned to make the save.
Martinique first chance of the match came 10 minutes later when forward Kevin Parsemain tested Canadian keeper Milan Borjan with a dangerous save.
As the half progressed, Canada looked very sloppy with the ball at their feet and continually gave it away leading to chances that more seasoned opposition would have finished.
Martinique came close to opening the scoring in the 42nd minute when Gregory Arnolin had a glorious chance but shot high on a chance that he should have buried in the back of the Canadian net.
Colin Miller
The Second Half
Canadian striker Simeon Jackson came on in place of the ill Will Johnson following the half-time break.
Martinique generated the majority of the scoring chances in the second half, with Milan Borjan standing tall and make a number of excellent saves to keep the proceedings scoreless.
Canada engineered a decent chance in the 57th minute right back Nik Ledgerwood worked his way into the final third, but also saw his cross through the box sail out of the reach of Jackson at the far post.
Canada came close again in the 64th minute when Haber blasted a shot that Olimpa tipped over the crossbar. An offensively dangerous run by Canada was capped off a minute later when Teibert delivered a well-placed cross that David Edgar headed off the crossbar.
In the 76th minute, Canada almost got lucky when Arnolin almost scored an own goal. From that point on the match was all Martinique, with Borjan continuing to make solid saves to keep the opposition off the score sheet.
In a cruel stroke of fate for Canada, Martinique substitute Fabrice Reuperne delivered the winning goal on a superb strike during injury time.
The Final Word: Canada already behind the eight ball after poor performance in a must win game.
There aren’t really any positives to take away from this game if you are a Canadian National Team supporter. Outside of Russell Teibert, who showed flashes of promising play for the Canadians, and Milan Borjan, who made some big saves, this was a tepid and poor performance by Canada. In a match which had been clearly defined as a must win before kick-off, Canada never looked like a team that had a win in them.
While it isn’t completely outside of the realm possibility that Canada will be able to bounce back from this defeat and still find a way through to the knockout round, following this match, it looks extremely unlikely. Panama and Mexico are vastly superior sides to Martinque and likely would have punished Canada 4-0 or 5-0 today based on the quality of the Canadian national team’s performance.
Martinique was the much better team on this day and Canada looked like a side that was almost completely barren with respect to offensive creativity. The Canadians also played a very sloppy game and gave the ball away constantly, while Martinique took the game to Canada and completely out chanced Colin Miller’s side.
If this was the first audition by Canadian players for new national team head coach Benito Floro, he likely was not very impressed by more than one or two players. Ultimately, this match said a lot about how long and challenging a road Floro and the Canadian National Team have ahead of them.
Given that Miller went with a mostly veteran team, it will be interesting to see what lineup he trots out on Thursday against Mexico.
Canada Lineup
Milan Borjan
Nik Ledgerwood
Doneil Henry
David Edgar
Marcel De Jong
Samuel Piette
Julian de Guzman
Tosaint Ricketts
Will Johnson (c)
Russell Teibert
Marcus Haber
Substitutions: Simeon Jackson in for Will Johnson (46’); Jonathan Osorio in for Marcus Haber (86’).
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