Gold Cup: Day 4

I guess last night can be called day 4 since its the fourth night of play, even though it was the fifth day since the tournament kicked off.  It was a busy day in the Gold Cup as in the afternoon news came out that no less then 5 of the Mexican players had been ruled out thanks to failed drug tests.  So either the Mexican team have been doping together or something is a bit fishy here, or should I say "chickeny".  (I promise that will be my only failed attempt to make a joke about this). The five players that tested positive for the banned substance were: Francisco Javier Rodriguez, Antonio Naelson, Christian Bermudez, Edgar Duenas, and Guillermo Ochoa.  I am not going to get bogged down in trying to explain why the five players were banned for taking a substance that is often prescribed to help with breathing problems but suffice to say this is not the first time the drug Clenbuterol has caused problems.  Previously Alberto Contandor, a tour de France winner, has come under question for testing positive for the same thing and he is still trying to defend his innocence.  The Mexican Federation has said that they will stand by the players since they believe the failed test was not from doping but rather from the team having eaten some tainted chicken.  I for one doubt that 5 of the Mexicans all decided to take the same drug, for the Gold Cup at that where they were all ready favourites, and that it might just have come from tainted chicken as they suggest.  But enough about that, lets talk about actual games now!

On day 4 the games were all played at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte and the first match featured Costa Rica who cruised to a 5-0 win in their opener against Cuba taking on El Salvador who were on the wrong end of the same score line against Mexico.  In this match a draw would probably be enough to ensure that Costa Rica would be moving on to the quarterfinals but for El Salvador a win would have been a huge boost to their hopes of moving on as one of the best third placed teams.  The game was very even from start to finish with both teams creating a fair few finishes.  Costa Rica should have taken the lead in the first half after a great counter attack but the finish was straight at the keeper who did will to push the ball over the bar.  A number of other chances in the first half ended up being wasted as shots were being fired right at the keepers and were tame enough that they had no trouble handling them.  It took a real spectacular moment in the closing minutes of the half to finally open the scoring.  El Salvador were awarded a free kick from 20 some odd yards out which was fired home into the top corner by Rodolfo Zeyala.  The shot gave the keeper no chance what so ever as it curled over the wall and dropped in just below the bar.  For me this goal has to be the early favourite for goal of the tournament and it gave El Salvador the half time lead.

The second half was once again quite even with both sides getting their chances.  The run of play did begin to slowly favour Costa Rica who were pushing forward in hopes of getting the equalizer.  They appeared to have it in the 69th minute but despite the ball being in the back of the net the goal was ruled out due to offside.  It was the correct call and it kept El Salvador in the lead.  A few mintues later Costa Rica again had a chance to equalize but some terrible finishing saw them miss basically a tap in from 6 yards out.  They would get the breakthrough though in the 90th minute after a long ball was brought down in the box and Randall Brenes slid it past his defender and just out of the keepers reach.  The end result was a 1-1 draw which was probably a fair one as both teams worked hard and it was a fairly even contest.  The point should see Costa Rica move on to the last 8 but now for El Salvador their next match against Cuba is going to be crucial if they are hoping to ensure a place as one of the best third place teams.

In the second game of the night we had Cuba, who gave up 5 goals in their opener, taking on Mexico, who scored 5 goals in their opener.  It looked like we were in for a lot of goals in this one if Mexico could overcome the drama from earlier in the day.  The good news was that the doping suspensions did nothing to lessen the potent attack of Mexico which was led by Javier Hernandez and Gio Dos Santos.  In the early exchanges of the game it looked like the doping scandals might have had some impact on Mexico as they struggled to get the ball rolling.  They were creating a fair few chances and firing all kinds of shots towards the goal but the first half hour went by without a goal.  Mexican fans could be reassured by the fact that in recent Gold Cups the team has been doing most of its damage in the second half including all 10 of their goals in the previous 2 games.  They would get a breakthrough in the first half this time though as Chicharito netter his fourth goal of the tournament already as he rose up to head one home in the 36th minute.

In the second half of the game it looked like Mexico found another gear and Cuba had no answers for it. The chances quickly started to turn into goals around the hour mark and the route was suddenly on.  When this Mexican attack starts flying they are almost impossible to stop as they get down the field so fast and have a handful of players who can finish well.  Dos Santos made it 2-0 in the 60th minute with a  clever little flick to convert the low cross, the De Nigris got the tap in at the end of a great move to make it 3-0 shortly after he had been brought into the game.   Dos Santos would get his second on 67 minutes as he brought down a cross in the centre of the box and was given all the time in the world to slot the ball into the far side of the net.  Not to be outdone Chicharito popped up in the box to slot home another cross for his second goal of the game despite also wasting a number of chances.  So in just under 15 minutes Mexico had ballooned their lead out to 5-0 and from there they basically just cruised to the end.  It was third straight match, including 2009's final, that Mexico scored 5 goals and once again they did most of their damage in the second half.  The scariest part of all this scoring is that in the first two games Mexico have never really looked like they were going all out and they could still just be getting better.

So with 2 rounds down in Group A it looks like Mexico are going to be the winners of the group with them only needing a point from their last match against Costa Rica to ensure that.  Then barring Costa Rica getting routed by Mexico they should have enough to come through in second place.  El Salvador and Cuba will be battling for third but even if Cuba wins their is no guarantee that getting to third place would see them advance with that -10 goal difference.  A win for El Salvador though would put them in very good shape for getting into the next round despite being at -5 GD.  Either way the last round of play in the group should be an exciting one.

Gold Cup: Day 3 (Canada Day)

June 7th was setting up to be a very big day for Canadian Soccer but in the end the results were not quite we would have all liked to see.  The afternoon kicked off with the Women's National team playing their final warmup friendly in Budapest against the Hungarian team.  The women would have been hoping to rediscover their scoring touches and hopefully fire a few past the Hungarians but that was not to be.  In the end they got the win that they wanted thanks to an 88th minute goal from Matheson which was enough for the 1-0 win.  The win set the stage well for a great day for Canada with the mens team preparing to play in the evening and it also ensured that the Women's team would be going into the World Cup feeling pretty good about themselves.  The match was also the 100th cap for captain Brittany Timko making her only the 7th Canadian woman to reach that mark.  (Women's World Cup preview coming later this month)

Now we get to the Gold Cup.  The first match last night opened up play in Group C with Panama taking on Guadeloupe in Detroit.  In the early stages this match looked like it was going to be yet another lopsided score as Panama took a 2-0 lead in the first half only to see Guadeloupe have a player sent off to the second questionable red card in as many nights.  Having been reduced to 10 men Guadeloupe could have folded but they were ready to put up a fight.  Things only got worse for them though when they opened the second half by conceding a penalty which was converted by Gabriel Gomez to give Panama a 3-0 lead.  Even though Panama was up by 3 the game had seemed a lot closer then that based on run of play.  Both sides were creating chances and it was fairly balances but everything seemed to be going in Panama's favour in the first hour.  After the 60th minute Guadeloupe began an impressive fight back led by Brice Jovial who plays for Le Havre in France.  Jovial would net goals in the 64th and 78th minute to hand Guadeloupe a lifeline but it was all to little to late as time ran out on them before they could salvage anything.  To the other teams in the group it should now be clear that Guadeloupe are not a team that you can take lightly as they will never give a game up and it also showed that both they and Panama possess the kind of quality needed to give Canada and USA tough games.

The second match was the one that we have all be waiting for basically since June of 2007.  Ever since the last meeting between Canada and the United States ended so badly Canadian soccer fans have been left with a really bad taste in their mouth.  The Canadian supporters would have been hoping to get a measure of revenge in Detroit for the recent struggles that we have had against the Americans.  I for one was hoping that for the first time in my life Canada would get a win over the United States in a competitive match.  With all the hope among Canadian fans I almost forgot that Canada was still the major underdogs for this match.  Spend enough time around passionate fans and they might just have you believing that Canada can hold their own against anyone in the world.  That is a good thing though since fans really should have an almost blind faith in the teams that they support.

The game itself went nothing like we had all hoped.  Canada's Josh Simpson made a promising run down the wings to start the game off but his cross was over hit and after that the run of play became all USA.  The Americans were dominant in possession and creating all sorts of chances in the early minutes.  The breakthrough came on 14 minutes when a play that seemed like it was no real danger.  Jozy Altidore picked up the ball in the book and he was held out wide but his low shot was hard enough that it snuck under Lars Hirschfeld before he could get down to stop it.  Hirschfeld probably should have done a lot better with the strike as he was in position to make the save and the shot came from a poor angle.

Following the opening goal Canada seemed to be rather stunned.  The players were all passing off the ball like they didn't want it.  Other then a bending effort from De Rosario just past the half hour mark that barely missed bending into Howard's top corner there was little to be excited about for the Canadian fans.  It appeared that the choice to go with only Jackson up front left Canada without a really threat in attack as their buildup play was not good enough to provide Jackson any support and Jackson was not big enough to serve as a target man against the American centre backs.  The second half of the game began with more of the same as the Americans controlled the run of play and were the only ones really generating any chances.  They were rewarded for that dominance in the 61st minute when Clint Dempsey got in at the back post to tuck home a low cross from Altidore.

Having gone down 2-0 and not shown much in terms of being able to get forward and attack Canada were forced to make some changes.  The moves that Hart did make gave Canada much more of an edge with Ali Gerba being able to generate probably the two best chances of the game for Canada.  Gerba first forced Howard to deal with a powerful effort which would have been heading into the top corner until Howard got his hand on the ball and forced it over.  Gerba's second chance was probably even better as the ball fell to him in close after a scramble in the American box but a great reaction save from Howard kept Canada off the board.

Based on the late surge from Canada they were probably a bit unlucky to not get a goal for their efforts.  I think that in the end the Americans showed that they are still the better team and that they have the quality to control the pace of matches like this one.  Canada showed that they have more questions then answers at this point as they need to find a way to generate more and play with a bit more edge in their attacks.  The game might have been a lot different if say Tim Howard was in Canada's net since it may just have ended up 2-1 Canada but we can only work with what we have and despite the early mistake that led to Altidore's goal Hirschfeld put in a solid effort.

The real highlight of the match for me was seeing the excited and loud bunch of Canadians that had travelled down to Detroit for the match.  Section 118 of Ford Field was filled with a bunch of familiar faces from the game at BMO and folks that came down made the best of their trip.  Despite Canada giving them very little to cheer about they were in full voice for more then 90 minutes and deserve to be considered the man of the match for this one.  Well done to the Voyageurs and anyone else who made the trip down, I wish I could have joined you.

Up next for Canada is a trip down to Tampa Bay where they will play Guadeloupe on Saturday at 6 PM EST.  The team will likely feature a few changes from the group that started against the Americans.  I can see Peters, De Guzman, Gerba, and Borjan all getting starts in this one in hopes of improving the teams attack as well as tying down Borjan as a Canadian international.  I more complete preview of the next game will be up in the coming days!

Playing Surfaces are real Problem

This post is brought to you by Ford Field.  The field that will be home to a pair of matches tonight in the Gold Cup has come into question in the days leading up to the match for the quality of its playing surface and that led me to think about some of the other low quality fields that I have come across watching soccer in North America.

I do understand that maintaing a quality grass playing surface takes a lot of time and money and it can be very difficult to do in areas where the weather is not good enough for the entire length of the season.  For a lot of cities in Canada and the northern United States it would be difficult to have a natural grass playing surface in good shape earlier enough in the spring to start the season since it is still to cold and wet for grass to grow.  That has forced a lot of teams to resort to using some form of field turf to ensure that it will be in playable condition for more months of the year.  I have played on a wide variety of surfaces myself as an amateur player and though I can see the positives to using an artificial surface it really is not the same thing and it takes a real toll on your body not to mention how awful turf burn can be from some of these surfaces.

That brings me back to Ford Field which is normally an artificial playing surface which is quite common in the NFL which is the fields main use.  I would have understood if they decided that they could not put in a real surface at Ford Field but I was glad when I heard that they would be putting in a grass playing surface for the Gold Cup matches since that would be better for the players and will improve the quality of the game.  This way we also wont have to deal with any issues of having NFL lines on the soccer field making it look poor and being a distraction as you cant tell which one is the touchline a lot of times.  The choice that they ended up making at Ford Field though was to bring in a natural grass surface and place it on top of the artificial one.  The concern with this is that the grass will not be thick enough and by the time that the second match in a row is getting near its end the surface may very well be torn up and filled with divots.

The players have reported that training at Ford Field has been good and they are enjoying the surface which is very promising.  Hopefully the grass is thick enough and able to stand up to have two matches played on it since that is a lot more stress on the field then just training sessions.

While I am on the topic of playing surfaces I really hope that in the near future Vancouver is going to be moving to a better one.  The White Caps current playing surface is artificial and with each passing game it seems to be getting worse and worse as the grounds crew are forced to add more and more plastic pellets to the surface every game and even more so when it has rained just to make it playable.  It may not be the direct cause of any injuries but I cannot be doing the Whitecaps players any good having to play on that terrible surface so often.  I remember seeing the condition it was in for the first league of the Nutrilite Championship and it was more plastic pellets then fake grass it seemed as some areas had taken on a dark almost black shade rather then being green.

The point is that playing surfaces are key and while grass is the ideal I understand it is not always possible but for the sport to advance in North America and in Canada in particular we need to work on ways to improve the field quality on which we play both for the quality of the games and for the safety of the players.

Gold Cup: Day 2

Last night was Day 2 of the Gold Cup and with the games being played all the way across the continent in Los Angles the kickoffs were a bit later.  The first game kicked off at 9 PM EST and the second one at 11 but I am glad that I stayed up to watch the second one because it was a highly entertaining match.

First off I would like to vent a little bit about the awful commentary that was provided for the games on the CONCACAF website last.  I do appreciate that they are providing free streaming but it would have been nice if they got someone with a bit of experience and quality to commentate on the matches.  Even the majority of local broadcast journalism students in LA would probably have done a better job.  I turned the audio off and just watched the video feed and it made things a lot better.  The other problem I had was with some of the kit choices.  It was a bit of an assault on my eyes trying to watch the bright yellow and green of Jamaica taking on the green and red of grenada so at least all the blue and white of the second match between Honduras and Guatemala was a nice change.

As I just mentioned the first match was between Jamaica and Grenada and it continued the trend of lopsided score lines.  Jamaica were the clear favourites for this one since unlike Grenada they have actually scored a goal in the Gold Cup before.  The match followed the expected script as Jamaica were in control of things from start to finish as they only allowed Grenada one shot the entire match and even that was a fairly speculative effort.  Jamaica in the end scored 4 goals of their own but that was a fair few less then they probably should have been able to net based on the run of play.  They scored 4 chances but I can think of a handful of other chances that they wasted so I am not exaggerating to say that they probably could have won this match by 6 or 7 without much difficulty.  Ryan Johnson of San Jose was probably at the centre of most of the games excitement as he was one of 4 different scorers for Jamaica and also guilty of missing some real good chances as he managed to take 5 decent chances.  

The lack of conversion did not cost Jamaica at all though as at the end of the day the 4-0 win is going to be enough to see them sitting on top of Group B after the first round of play.  They will need a better effort in their next two games though as Grenada are clearly the weakest team of the bunch and will be lucky to even come away with a single point.  Personally I will be cheering for them to at least get one goal before the end of the group stage so they can put that behind themselves.

In the late game Honduras took on Guatemala in what was by far the best game of the 2011 Gold Cup so far.  It was certainly worth staying up to watch if you enjoy a good intense matchup between two teams that were going all in for every tackle and loose ball.  After seeing 14 goals in the first three matches it was nice to finally see a close contest.

The opening moments of the game saw what would be one of the best chances of the match as Carlo Costly missed an open net in the first minute for Honduras before Carlos Ruiz almost opened the scoring for Guatemala at the other end.  I quickly found myself getting behind Guatemala in this game as they were the underdogs and they were giving Honduras everything they could handle in this one.  Both teams were tackling hard and fighting for the ball so it was kind of surprising that the first half ended with no cards being handed out.  It was a half where as I was watching it I expected a goal to come at any moment as both teams were fairly open and the play was quite fast paced and back and forth.  The second half once again lacked for goals but it had a bit of everything else but shamefully Mr. Gutiérrez stole the show in the second half with the cards he handed out.  Personally I think that the red card which he gave to Guatemala's Gustavo on 61 minutes was more then a little harsh.  Gustavo did make a hard tackle but he got a lot of the ball and though I can see it being a foul and maybe a yellow card it was certainly very harsh to send him off for that.  Guatemala were just trying to hang on from then on but a second yellow card for Medina saw them go down to 10 men for the final 15 minutes of the match.  Guatemala did manage to find a way to hang on even if I was less then impressed with some of the stalling that they engaged in with several players going down like they were shot and spending several minutes on the ground.  In the end the game was 0-0 but it was a more exciting match then any of the high scoring games were.

For me the Honduras-Guatemala match was the real start to the Gold Cup.  Watching such an intense battle between two teams who clearly don't like each other got me really fired up for tonights 1812 Derby between Canada and the United States.  Then when the ref came in and ruin the game with a needless sending off I got even more fired up with memories of 2007 coming flooding back.  Remember the Carlos Bocanegra tackle on Julian De Guzman that was not a red card, well that tackle was about 20 times worse then last nights.  And that is not to even mention this:

Game Day!  Let's Go Canada! Go all 1812 on the Americans!

8 PM EST on Rogers Sportsnet One.  You better all be watching!

Gold Cup: Day 1

The central story line of day 1 at the Gold Cup has got to be the very lopsided score lines.  To me the games really served to illustrate just how large the gap now is between the top teams in CONCACAF and the teams that are just barely able to make it into the Gold Cup and will be among the first ones out of World Cup qualifying when it starts in the fall.  On the other side of the coin Mexico and Costa Rica both showed that they are going to be tough teams to beat and that should set up a good clash between the two of them with top spot in the group likely on the line.

There was some good news for Canada on Day 1 as the lopsided score lines mean that the team that finishes third in group A is likely to have a bad goal difference.  That is good for Canada in case they finish third in group C since in the Gold Cup the top two teams advance and then the 2 best third place teams also make it though.  So unless we get a lot more one sided scores then its not looking for great for who ever ends up third in group A, but lets not get to far ahead of ourselves with that since it was only the first day of the tournament.


The games themselves were entertaining affairs unless you are a fan of either of the losing teams in which case they were probably about as much fun as getting a root canal. The tournament opened with Costa Rica taking on Cuba in front of a decent crowd at Cowboys stadium. The crowd was no where near the kinds of record numbers that the new Cowboys Stadium is none for but at least the place was not dead and anyone who stayed to watch both matches were treated to a lot of goals. Costa Rica stole the show in the opener with their 5-0 win over Cuba thanks to getting goals from 4 different sources with
Marcos Urena, a Russian Premier League player, netting a pair.  The game was fairly close, on the score sheet at least, through the first 40 minutes but that is when Costa Rica put the game out of reach.  A goal just before half was followed up by a shocking 2 goals in the first 2 minutes of the second half to put this one beyond doubt.  The 5-0 scoreline in the end was nothing more then Costa Rica deserved as they completely controlled the match and Cuba never even looked like a threat to score while their back line seemed completely outclassed and unable to stop the constant attacks.

The second game of the night was not much different which I sure pleased the largely pro-Mexican crowd that was in attendance.  The Mexican fans would have come into the match expecting a comfortable win over the much weaker El Salvador and would probably have been very uncomfortable with their teams first half performance.  At the break the match was 0-0 and Mexico was failing to make anything of the number of chances that came their way.  The second half was a completely different story though as they found their stride and under the leading of Javier Hernandez, the Manchester United striker, they found their scoring boots.  Chicharito scored a hat trick which was capped off with a 93rd minute penalty after Juarez and De Nigris had each scored to give Mexico a 2-0 lead.  Again the 5-0 score line was probably a deserved result as the Mexicans completely dominated to run of play firing 20 shots towards the net and constantly threatening the back line of El Salvador.

Things that I will be taking away from the first round of matches is that:

- Costa Rica and Mexico are the two teams almost certainly going to be fighting it out for top spot in group A.  

- Mexico are deserving of being labelled as pre-tournament favourites, along with the States, and will be a force to be reckoned with

- Javier Hernandez is going to be a force in this tournament having spent all season causing some of the world's best centre backs problems his pace is just going to be too much for most teams

- We might just be in for a treat this year in terms of the number of goals scored

Day 2 is likely to be a bit less exciting in terms of the number of goals scored but Jamaica-Grenada and Honduras-Guatemala should still be interesting matches.  Honduras are probably the team to watch in group B as I would consider them the favourites to win it and the one team in the group that could provide a shock and go far in this tournament.

Results before Support: More Thoughts

I have spent a lot of time thinking about the comments that are made all to often that the Canadian Mens National team will get more support when it starts to get better results.  That has led to me trying to figure out where the line is going to be.  What does the team have to do to win over enough support to even fill up half of BMO field?

Let us imagine for a moment or two that Canada makes it to the finals of the Gold Cup or even wins it and along the way they beat a team like Mexico or the United States.  Would that be enough to win over any new supporters?  I would say no.  That might seem like the pessimistic answer but with the Gold Cup receiving limited coverage in the Canadian media, granted Sportsnet, the Score and CBC are all putting in a real effort, not enough people are going to realize that Canada is involved in a major tournament this month.  It is shocking how many people who play soccer and claim to like the sport I have come across that don't even know that the Gold Cup is underway right now.  So that is why I think that even winning the Gold Cup will not do that much to boost the support for the team.  I hope I am wrong and that a good showing this month means a few more people will come out and support the team this fall when it begins its world cup campaign but unless the team gets a lot more attention in the news people will continue to be oblivious to the fact that they are already now worth supporting.

I will say that if Canada wins somehow this month, or even makes a good run, it should still have more of an impact then the runs of 2000 and 2007 because the coverage is improved since then.  The games are all being shown on TV even if its on Sportsnet's alternate channel and a dedicated group of journalists and bloggers are doing their very best to get the word out.  That will all help, even if it is only slightly, and at this stage every extra fan that can be won over is going to be a boost in the long run since they might one day bring a friend along to see a match and that is the best way for support to grow in numbers.

Now to get back to my original point of what would it take to get a decent amount of support for the team across the country and in the Toronto area.  I think it would take the team making a serious push towards World Cup qualification.  If they were to make it to the final stages and for example have a match at BMO field against either the United States or Mexico with a spot in the WC on the line then that stadium would be packed.  Maybe even if the same spot is on the line and we are hosting a match against Costa Rica or Honduras we would see a full stadium with most of the crowd being pro-Canadian.  But the fact of the matter is that Canada is still probably some ways off from making a serious push to qualify for the world cup and any such push is going to require the team being almost unbeatable at home.  That creates a sort of catch 22 for the program since they need strong support to provide that much needed home field advantage but they clearly need to win more before they are going to receive that kind of support.

I guess the best that we can hope is that the group of people already dedicated to the cause continue to put in the hours of tireless work trying to support the team and with each passing game the crowd grows slightly larger.  It is going to take a lot of time but since support helps with results we need to give the best support possible to the team so that in the future more fans will come out who have been waiting to see results first.  Sadly though the people waiting to see results first are going to be missing out on a lot of good matches and great times.

Gold Cup Preview: The 1812 Derby

This weekend the CONCACAF Gold Cup kicks off in the States and the attitude around the Canadian mens national team is that they are in it to win it.  It is going to be a tough task for the Canadians who will almost certainly have to get past the Americans and the Mexicans if they hope to win for the first time since 2000.

For most Canadian soccer fans when you mention the Gold Cup there are two images that come to mind.  The first one, hopefully since its a lot happier, is of Canada winning it all in 2-0 thanks to goals from De Vos and Corazzin.  Canada triumphed over Columbia that year down in Los Angles but the high point of the tournament was almost certainly when Richard Hastings scored a 92nd minute golden goal to give Canada a 2-1 win over Mexico in the quarter finals.  The image of Hastings celebrating with his shirt on backwards is engrained in the minds of many Canadians and has to be among the happiest moments in our national teams history.  The other image that the Gold Cup triggers is one that makes passionate fans annoyed, angry, or sad but either way it is one that has stuck with them all.  The image comes from the semifinal of the 2007 edition of the tournament when Canada was playing the United States.  With Canada down 2-1 late in the match it appeared that Atiba Hutchinson had levelled the game.  He latched on to a through ball that had deflected off a defender before calmly slotting it home.  The only problem was that it was wrongly flagged for offside by the assistant and the referee went along with him.  I don't often remember who was the referee for a match that took place almost 4 years ago but I can tell you that on that day the refs last name was Archundia who has reffed in the World Cup but to me he will always be remembered for June 21, 2007 at Soldier Field in Chicago when he cost Canada a chance to beat the United States.

But that is all in the past now and 2011 gives Canada another chance to make a magical run to the title.  Several members of the current squad were on that 2007 team and they will be looking to get a measure of revenge when they take to Ford Field in Detroit on Tuesday to play against the United States in what is sometimes referred to as the 1812 Derby.  The Canadians open up with what is by far the toughest game of their opening round group stage.  After the match against the Americans on June 7th they have dates with Guadeloupe on June 11th and then Panama on the 14th.  With the set up of the Gold Cup it is not crucial that Canada beats the United States but for the momentum and national pride that would come from such a match it makes the game a lot more important.  Canada can get through to the knockout stages by finishing either first or second in the group or be one of the two best third place teams.  With only 12 teams in the whole tournament and 8 needing to advance to the quarter finals it is key that Canada finds a way to win at least one match in the group stage.

For the sake of seeding it will be beneficial to Canada to win as many games as possible since that will likely give them the easiest draw in the next round.  For example if Canada comes in second in this group which is where I would expect them to end up at the very least then they would get to play the winner of the group featuring Honduras, Jamaica, Grenada, and Guatemala which would not be the worst draw imaginable.  On the other hand though is Canada finds a way to win the group then they would get one of those two best third placed teams.

On paper the Americans have to be the favourites for the June 7th match.  They have won the Cup 4 times in the past, are fixtures in the World Cup, and are ranked 22nd in the world by FIFA.  As recently as 2006 the Americans were ranked number 4 in the world which was probably a very favourable ranking but it does illustrate the quality that their side possesses.  Canada on the other hand is probably ranked a bit unfairly at 75th.  Despite the apparent gap though the two teams have played each other fairly close in recent meetings but that match in 2007 was the last time they met at this level having avoided playing each other in the 2009 Gold Cup and in World Cup 2010 qualifiers.  If you look back into the history of this rivalry you will see that for the past 2 decades it really has been all the United States as Canada has not been able to claim a win over their neighbours to the south since a friendly back in 1985.  The players on this years team might not know when the team last beat the USA but they will know that it has been a long time and that is something they will be desperate to change.  A win against the USA could go a long ways towards increasing the profile of the mens national team in this country as well as erasing some of the pain of 2007.

For the Canadian National team the start of 2014 World Cup qualification in the fall is going to be the priority but if they can go deep in this months Gold Cup it would give them priceless experience as well as momentum going into that qualifying campaign.  So a win over the USA would be a massive boost in getting the ball rolling towards 2014.  Canadian coach Stephen Hart seems to be confident in his sides ability to go out and compete in a tough group and hopefully make a run into the later stages this summer.  He has a confidence which seems to have spread to the players who are going into the match next week with a belief that there is no reason why they can not come away with a positive result.  If Canada can put together a similar performance to the one they did against Ecuador and cut out some of the sloppy errors that came from lack of time on the field together then they really should be in with a chance of coming away with something.  It is clearly going to be a tough ask but if Canada goes out and gives its best there really is no reason why they can not get something from it.

Canada's roster for the Gold Cup has a nice mix of veterans who have played in the tournament before including members from that 2007 team along with some fresh faces.  De Rosario is the only player left who tasted victory in this tournament back in 2007 and he will certainly be looked upon to provide stability in the midfield and use his experience to be a leader in this team.  Along with Atiba Hutchinson he will be key in driving the team forward and controlling the tempo against an American team with a very strong midfield.  With a veteran core in the roster Hart will be looking to some of the fresh faces to bring new energy and a desire to prove themselves at this level which could help to boost the team and set the foundations for a brighter future.  The likes of Tosaint Ricketts and Simeon Jackson will want to show what they can do at the senior level to ensure that they will be with the national team for a long time to come.  Another new face who will be asked to contribute is Milan Borjan who seems likely to be the teams first choice keeper as he is set to make his competitive debut for the national team against the United States.  A strong showing from him in the Gold Cup would set him up as the number one keeper going forward which would provide some nice stability at the back end.

1- GK- Lars Hirschfeld | NOR / Vålerenga Fotball

2- D/M- Nik Ledgerwood | GER / SV Wehen Wiesbaden

3- D/M- Mike Klukowski |

4- CB- Kevin McKenna | GER / FC Köln

5- CB- André Hainault | USA / Houston Dynamo

6- M- Julian de Guzman | CAN / Toronto FC

7- M- Terry Dunfield | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC

8- M- Will Johnson | USA / Real Salt Lake

9- F- Rob Friend | GER / Hertha BSC

10- F- Ali Gerba | CAN / Impact Montréal

11- M- Josh Simpson | TUR / Vestel Manisaspor

12- M- Pedro Pacheco | POR / CD Santa Clara

13- M- Atiba Hutchinson | NED / PSV Eindhoven

14- F- Dwayne De Rosario | USA / New York Red Bulls

15- D- Dejan Jakovic | USA / DC United

16- M/F- Tosaint Ricketts | ROM / FC Politehnica Timiþoara

17- M- Simeon Jackson | ENG / Norwich City FC

18- GK- Milan Borjan | SRB / FK Rad

19- M- Marcel de Jong | GER / FC Augsburg

20- D- Jaime Peters | ENG / Ipswich Town FC

21- M- Jonathan Beaulieu-Bourgault | GER / SC Preußen Münster

22- GK- Haidar Al-Shaïbani | FRA / Nîmes Olympique

23- M- Issey Nakajima-Farran | DEN / AC Horsens