Steven Sandor's Blog, page 7

Canada’s 3-0 win may be the most fortunate 3-0 win you’ll ever see

I finally had the chance to watch Canada’s opener at the U-17 Women’s World Cup on PVR. I knew that Canada beat Colombia by a 3-0 count in Uruguay before I hit the play button.

So, my evening went kinda like this: By halftime, I was wondering, “really, Canada won this game 3-0?”

By the 60-minute mark, the score still at 0-0: “Really, Canada won this game 3-0?”

Then, it got even more interesting, as Canadian defender Maya Antoine gave the ball away deep in her own half. With two Colombian players rushing towards the Canadian goal thanks to the turnover, Antoine compounded the mistake by bringing down Gisela Robledo from behind. Penalty to Colombia.

And I thought: “Really, Canada won this game 3-0?”

So, I watched keeper Anna Karpenko stop Maireth Perez’s penalty, then the rebound, too. To be fair, Perez didn’t hit the world’s best penalty, pushing it up the middle with not a lot on it.

With 20 minutes left to go, it was still 0-0, and then Caitlin Shaw was brought down by a clumsy challenge from Colombia’s Andrea Perez, who was already on a yellow. Perez did what many players who are on yellows do when they make rash challenges; she rolled around like she got the worst of  it, trying to sell the referee on the idea that the infraction was a lot closer to a 50-50 challenge than maybe it first seemed. Well, she saw a second yellow, anyway.

Still, in the 72md minute, Karpenko leaped to tip Maria Reyes’s free kick off the bar. Colombia was inches away from taking the lead. And I thought: “Really, Canada won this game 3-0?”

Finally, Canada got the breakthrough when Jordyn Huitema was left wide open to nod in a corner kick. But, Colombia, despite being down a player, roared back, and Kelly Caceido walloped a free kick that had Karpenko beat, but crashed off the bar.

So, Colombia fluffed a penalty kick, and hit the woodwork twice. And I thought: “Really, Canada won this game 3-0?”

I finally got to the two late goals that sealed it for Canada. The first: Andersen Williams had a tap-in after Colombian defender Laura Marcelo made a hash of a goal-line clearance. Marcelo did keep the initial attempt from going across the line, we can give her that, but she got absolutely no distance on the clearing attempt.

The second: Jessica De Filippo finished it off with a goal deep into stoppage time, as she brought down a cross and beat two defenders with a deft turn before smartly placing the ball in the corner of the goal.

In the end, this was a scoreline that flattered Canada. You wonder what would have happened had Colombia converted the penalty and gone ahead. The Colombians hit the woodwork on set pieces. If this one would have finished 3-3, you couldn’t have complained that it was an unfair result.

It was a 3-0 scoreline that flattered Canada.

 

The CanPL deal: League1 Ontario can “be a platform for the best Canadian footballers, period”

League1 Ontario commissioner Dino Rossi believes that the league’s men’s and women’s divisions will soon be a proving ground for not only the best players in his home province, but from across Canada.

Obviously, Rossi was feeling mighty bullish Wednesday, with the announcement that the Ontario division-three league had been acquired by the Canadian Premier League. While Rossi says the status quo will remain for the 2019 season, once the relationship with the new owners are better established, L10’s scope and reach will only grow.

“I want this league to be a platform for the best Canadian footballers, period,” Rossi said.

L10 has helped develop some of Canada’s brightest young talents. Players like Besiktas’s Cyle Larin, LAFC’s Mark-Anthony Kaye and the Chicago Fire’s Raheem Edwards have played in the league. But, if the league is to be a feeder for a national Canadian Premier League, there will be more opportunities for elite players from coast-to-coast.

To do that, Rossi said teams will need to focus on helping players get housing and transition to their new homes. For example, the teams could try to help players find part-time work.

And, yes, Rossi does see a future when some of the league’s teams could aim to move to the Canadian Premier League. The league has been public that, if it grows, it supports a move to promotion and relegation.

“I think there are a lot of our teams that have catchment areas that could support full professional soccer,” said Rossi.

But, expanding the league’s scope, the possibility of teams moving up, those are long-term things. For 2019, we shouldn’t expect to see too many changes.

“In the short term, the status quo will remain,” said Rossi. “Right now, the Canadian Premier League has their hands full with all that comes with launching a new league. Teams are stocking their rosters. So, we will be bringing them up to speed on everything that we do. Then, we will focus on alignment. The question: How do we make this league an engine for development?”

Rossi said that the women’s division was a key part of the deal. He said the CanPL brass showed a lot of interest in L10’s women’s program.

There were 17 teams in the men’s division in 2018; 13 teams in the women’s division.

But is the deal a kick in the pants for the other provinces? Is this a signal that, if they don’t start putting together some sort of ladders or pyramids in their provinces (or regions), that they’ll fall behind?

“I think this is a validation of what we have been doing for the last five years,” Rossi said. “That being said, Ontario is a different beast. What we have that works here may not be what works in Alberta or British Columbia or Nova Scotia.”

FC Edmonton has 13 “verbal agreements” in place with players

FCE coach Jeff Paulus said he hopes that the team will be able to announce some player signings by the end of November.

But he said that the team has 13 “verbal agreements” in place with players who want to be with the club when it kicks off play in the Canadian Premier League in late April of 2019.

He said that not all of the 13 are Canadians.

“Other coaches are talking to players from all over, I am talking to the players who I know,” he said.

Paulus said he’s been in contact with many former NASL players, many of whom didn’t play for the Eddies, but know the team from coming to Clarke Stadium as visitors. These are players he would have spoken to post-game, shaken hands with — and some are showing interest in joining FCE when it comes to the Canadian Premier League kickoff.

It’s a Bitar-sweet beginning to the CanPL draft

The first-ever No. 1 pick in a Canadian Premier League draft is Carleton University’s Gabriel Bitar.

Cavalry FC made him the first player taken at the CPL-U Sports Draft. The players will selected will be invited to the CanPL camps. Players who make their respective teams can either sign developmental contracts, which will see them keep their university eligibility, or a professional contract.

Bitar was the 2017 USports rookie of the year, and scored 13 regular-season goals for Carleton. He’s a product of the Ottawa Fury developmental program.

“In Bitar we have an exciting, pacy and skilled forward with a good goal scoring record as he’s shown with Carleton University,” said Cavalry FC coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. in a release.

Valour FC went for a veteran of the Canadian soccer program with its first pick. York University’s Dylan Carreiro, who left the Toronto FC Academy to pursue his European dream, played a handful of games for Dundee after playing for Queens Park Rangers’ youth side. He’s spent the last couple of seasons in League1 Ontario.

National player of the year Jace Kotsopoulos was selected by Forge FC. He scored 15 times for Guelph this past season and is the all-time leading scorer in school history.

If you made a prediction before the draft, you’d have bet that FC Edmonton, owning the seventh, eighth and 21st picks, would probably go with University of Alberta players. You would have been dead on, as coach Jeff Paulus went with 1st Team All-Canadian goalkeeper Connor James, forward Ajeej Sarkaria and defender Noah Cunningham.

And, all of those names are familiar to Eddies supporters because all three of them are products of FCE’s Academy. So, basically, the Eddies spent their draft picks selecting players that the club had helped groom in the first place.

Coach Jeff Paulus, who had the final pick of the first round, said he would have moved up if he could to make sure he got the players he needed. So it wasn’t a case of simply playing favourites.

“For me, these were the players I needed in order to fill my roster. I didn’t bypass anybody.”

But he said it’s a bonus to be able to bring in players who, after they get out of school in the spring, can join the team and already know what the coach wants.

“I’ve been working with these players for six to seven years. They know the system inside and out.”

Like FCE, Pacifc FC stayed close to home, picking three players from the University of British Columbia. Thomas Gardner, selected in the first round, saw USL action with the former WFC2 program.

Cape Breton University and the University of Alberta were the top schools in the draft, with each program having four players selected.

 

DRAFT SELECTIONS

Cavalry FC: Gabriel Bitar (Carleton), Joel Waterman (Trinity Western), Easton Ongaro (Alberta)

Valour FC: Dylan Carreiro (York), Lewis White (Cape Breton), Jack Simpson (Cape Breton)

Forge FC: Jace Kotsopoulos (Guelph), Aboubacar Sissoko (Montreal), Marko Mandekic (Toronto)

York 9: Daniel Gogarty (York), Emmanuel Zambazis (York), Daniel Pritchard (Cape Breton)

Halifax: Peter Schaale (Cape Breton), Andre Bona (Montreal), Christian Oxner (Saint Mary’s)

Pacific FC: Thomas Gardner (UBC), Zach Verhoven (UBC), Nick Fussell (UBC)

FC Edmonton: Connor James (Alberta), Ajeej Sarkaria (Alberta), Noah Cunningham (Alberta)

As Canada’s senior men’s team gives us hope, the U-20s provide a harsh reality check

Canada’s trip to Florida for the CONCACAF U-20 Championship has turned into a nightmare. All that needs to happen is for the team bus to run out of gas on a lonely road, and then be “helped” by someone who brings the team back to a long-forgotten haunted house.

On Tuesday, the Canadian team’s chances to advance out of its six-team group were turned into very long odds thanks to a 2-1 loss to Panama. But, it only took till Thursday for Canada to turn “long shot” into “DOA.” Canada was on the losing end of another 2-1 score, this time to… OK, breathe, calm down, clear your mind…

St. Kitts and Nevis.

That’s right. The U-20s aren’t going out with a whimper. They’re going out, supernova style.

Romario Martin opened the scoring for the Kittitians and the Tyreese Shade doubled the lead before halftime with a long, speculative, skipping free kick that beat Canadian keeper Thomas Hasal, who was very late to move on the ball.

Jordan Perruzza scored on a free-kick effort in the second half to pull Canada within one, but, despite having almost all of the ball down the stretch, the Canadians didn’t turn the possession into a shooting gallery. In the end, Canada finished the game with only six shots on target. Yes, St. Kitts had only three, but soccer is about taking advantage of your opportunities, not how many opportunities you get.

After Panama, we knew Canada was in deep. But Thursday’s match, for these young players, was more about showing their bounce-back-ability and, well, yeah.

Yes, some of Canada’s best U-20s are being saved for the senior team, who will play, you guessed it, St. Kitts and Nevis in the CONCACAF Nations League on Nov. 18. But, still, with the players on offer, players who have USL experience, who are in MLS academies, you’d expect to see more from the U-20 team that had a lot of the ball, but struggled to break down an organized Kittitian defence. When Canada got to the final third, the ball movement was too slow, too measured, to create enough openings.

When St. Kitts and Nevis goalie Zaykeese Smith bobbled crosses — and he did that on big occasions a couple of times, there weren’t Canadians waiting on the doorstep. And, in the final five minutes, when you’d expect a frantic push, the Canadians looked like they’d accepted their fate, as we saw a team allow its Caribbean opponents to clear its lines far too easily.

Instead of being another U-20 World Cup qualifying process where we can say “shucks, just outside the top group,” we can wonder, outside of a few shining stars playing for the senior team, just how many cracks in our program need to be fixed. Just as the senior team is giving us new hope, the U-20 team has provided us with a reality check.

Hello Kittitians: Herdman expects Canada’s toughest Nations League test yet

In two CONCACAF Nations League wins over Puerto Rico and St. Martin, the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis has established a +11 goal difference. OK, 10 of those 11 goals came against St. Martin.

Longtime MLS striker (and former Whitecap) got a hat trick for his nation the last time out. Harry Panayiotou, who played one game for Leicester City and now plays at Nuneaton Borough, has three goals over two games.

So, the Canadian side is expecting a much stiffer test on Nov. 18 in Basseterre than they got in Nations League wins over the US Virgin Islands and Dominica.

“We are moving from CONCACAF tier three to CONCACAF tier two,” said coach John Herdman Thursday.

A Canadian national team that’s very different than the one that Herdman named on Thursday faced St. Kitts and Nevis in a home-and-home World Cup qualifying series back in 2011. Canada could only manage a 0-0 draw in the Caribbean but got a 4-0 result at home.

So, Herdman has had extensive scouting videos prepped for him. The lighting at the team’s practice venue will be upgraded. Herdman said that “no stone will be left unturned” when it comes to prepping for the Nov. 18 match.

“Our game is going to be tested in tough conditions,” he said.

Herdman expects the hosts to be organized at the back, hit on the counter and to play a direct game.

The challenge for the team’s starting keeper, whether it be Milan Borjan (who shut out Liverpool in Champions League action earlier this week), Maxime Crepeau (the USL’s first all-star team goalkeeper selection) or Simon Thomas will be to remain “in tune” with a game when Canada has lots of possession, and be ready for what could be an opposition scoring chance that comes out of nowhere.

“They will have to keep things connected,” Herdman said of his keepers.

“They are definitely a threat to catch you on the counter and crosses on set plays.”

 

CANADA ROSTER

1- GK- Simon Thomas | NOR / Kongsvinger IL

2- FB- Zachary Brault-Guillard | FRA / Olympique Lyonnais

3- CB- Manjrekar James | DEN / FC Fredericia (on loan)

4- CB- Derek Cornelius | SRB / FK Javor Ivanjica

5- CB- David Edgar | CAN / Ottawa Fury FC

6- M- Samuel Piette | CAN / Impact de Montréal

7- M- Russell Teibert | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC

8- M- David Wotherspoon | SCO / St. Johnstone FC

9- F- Cyle Larin | TUR / Beşiktaş JK

10- M- David Junior Hoilett | WAL / Cardiff City FC

11- FB- Samuel Adekugbe | NOR / Vålerenga Fotball

12- W- Alphonso Davies | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC

13- M- Atiba Hutchinson | TUR / Beşiktaş JK

14- W- Liam Millar | ENG / Liverpool FC U-23

15- CB- Doneil Henry | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC

16- FB- Marcus Godinho | SCO / Heart of Midlothian FC

17- M- Liam Fraser | CAN / Toronto FC

18- GK- Milan Borjan | SRB / FK Crvena zvezda (Red Star Belgrade)

19- F- Lucas Cavallini | MEX / Puebla FC

20- F- Jonathan David | BEL / KAA Gent

21- M- Jay Chapman | CAN / Toronto FC

22- GK- Maxime Crépeau | CAN / Ottawa Fury FC

23- AM / F- Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla | ESP / FC Barcelona B

(Shamit Shome of the Montreal Impact is being brought to St. Kitts and Nevis as a ”training player.”

Membership numbers are surging for York 9, but team still has a ways to go

Less that a month after York 9’s vice president and head coach Jim Brennan disclaimed any concern over sluggish membership sales, the numbers have surged.

In early October, five months after the team’s launch in May, membership sales were reported at 256; many of the other Canadian Premier League teams had each passed the 1,000-member mark. There are few available indicators to show how well Canadian Premier League teams, working toward the league’s inaugural season in 2019, are doing. New members of CanPL teams often report their membership number on social media, providing at least a small insight into a club’s progress.

York 9 might be beginning to turn the corner. And team President and CEO Preben Ganzhorn says that this has created a “real buzz around our office.” Ganzhorn credits the turnaround to several initiatives the club has recently launched.

“We have a geo-targeted online [social media] campaign in place. That is driving the awareness in the area of the club and that we are starting our conversion of membership deposits into season tickets. The other thing is the fact that we now have this agreement with the clubs and the program in place where they get a financial benefit … they sell a $399 ticket and we will [return] $50 to the club. So there is a great opportunity for the clubs to have a significant amount go back to them based on that commitment from us. And those are really the [two] things that are driving [membership sales].”

At time of writing, the club’s membership numbers have nearly tripled during October to 702, an amount that still leaves them behind five of the other clubs preparing to kickoff in April, but represents a significant increase.

“We were kind of waiting to really push for memberships because we wanted people to see what the offering was,” says Ganzhorn “And now that we’ve released some of these renderings of the stadium it’s really helping to drive the awareness and understanding of ‘What is it that I’m buying into here?’”

But even if a corner has been turned, there are still bumps on the road. When York 9 released its stadium renderings — the club will begin 2019 at Alumni Field on the campus of York University and then move to York U’s York Lions Stadium once renovations are complete — it also released its season ticket prices and there was an immediate negative reaction on social media. In particular, the price jump from $199 per season ticket for a standing supporter’s area behind the goals to $399 per season ticket for a seated general admission grandstand was seen as excessive by commenters on social media platforms such as Twitter, Reddit, and the Voyageurs Forum.

York 9’s supporter’s section tickets are in line with the other four clubs who have released their pricing to date. Both Hamilton Forge and Halifax Wanderers are charging an identical $199 for their supporter’s section while Winnipeg Valour and FC Edmonton are charging $225 and $240 respectively. But these same four clubs also have seating options that come in under $399 for a season ticket. For example, Forge has $259 and $339 options while Valour has $270 and $315 options. FC Edmonton is the most directly comparable with all seats along the sidelines being priced $375 per season ticket or higher.

Despite the reaction, Ganzhorn is undeterred saying that the majority of the feedback the club has received about ticket prices has been positive. He states that prior to determining their prices the club used nearby Toronto FC’s ticket prices as a benchmark and says on average York 9’s are “60 per cent cheaper.” And the new CanPL club is hoping to take advantage of other factors, such as York Region’s residents having an easy trip to York University to watch York 9 rather than a much longer and more complicated trip to Toronto’s lake shore to BMO Field to watch TFC.

Ultimately, the answer to whether or not York 9 has gotten it right will be seen in the stands during the inaugural season. Come April 2019, membership numbers may be a distant memory and paid attendance will tell the real story.

Miracle-working MDS takes on his biggest task yet: The Whitecaps

I was chatting with a former Ottawa Fury player and the topic of Marc Dos Santos came up.

“Players would run through a wall for him,” the player told me, stating that MDS was the best motivator he ever played for.

He’s the kind of person who keeps in touch with his former players. A man who has done really everything there is to do in the second division of North American soccer. Three years, three separate teams — Ottawa Fury, Swope Park Rangers, San Francisco Deltas — and three appearances in championship games.

And, on Wednesday, the rumours became hard truths when MDS was named the new head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps. MDS signed a three-year deal, and will get the MLS chance that, well, a lot of Canadian soccer followers will say is long overdue. MDS is only  41, but with his track record, it feels, well, like he’s been around forever, doesn’t it?

The team has stated that MDS will be given full control of all player transactions.

In 2017, I believe MDS put up the  most impressive coaching display we’ve seen in North American club soccer, be it MLS, USL or NASL. He took over the San Francisco Deltas and, by the halfway mark of the season, it was clear that this team was going to be a one-year-and-done franchise. It was a lame-duck team, with players facing uncertain futures.

Despite that, they became a force in NASL, and ended up winning the title.

“We close the door of our locker room,” said MDS back in 2017. “We stick together like a family in the locker room. We have an incredible mentality towards each other. Nobody’s bigger than anyone in the locker room. We’re very near to the ground, I do my job as a coach, the players do their jobs as players, we hold ourselves accountable. And, every time we open the door of the locker room and we hear noise, we close it back again.”

Dos Santos has a history of squeezing whatever he can from Canadian talent. The Fury’s roster was filled with Canadians when the team went to the 2015 NASL final, and many of them were what you would consider reclamation projects, players who thought their careers might have been over before the Fury gave them the chances to re-energize their careers. We saw Amer Didic flourish at Swope Park Rangers, with playing time for the likes of Mark Anthony Gonzalez and Tyler Pasher. And, in San Francisco, Kyle Bekker began a career renaissance, which continued this year when he was named a second-team USL All-Star. MDS praised the ethic of Nana Attakora; Maxim Tissot and Karl Ouimette also played strong roles.

“Whitecaps FC are a club with a rich history, from the NASL days, to CSL, USL and now in MLS,” said Dos Santos in a statement released by the team on Wednesday. “It’s a club with an incredible potential to grow and become an example for others. I believe in the structure the club has and in the passion of the people involved. I look forward to meeting with our supporters and listening to them, sharing in their dreams and ambitions. They are a very big part of what this club is all about, and together we will meet the challenge of becoming a championship-calibre club.”

The enthusiasm MDS has for the game, plus the game’s potential in Canada, comes off pretty well every time you talk to him. He’s spent the previous season as an assistant with LAFC, but this is his time.  One thing the Whitecaps have lacked, and this was identified by the players in the team’s season-ending press availability, was an identity. If MDS has full control as promised, we may finally see a “Whitecaps way to play” in 2019.

Canada needs a miracle after loss to Panama at CONCACAF U-20s

It had two sendings-off. Bad bounces. Time wasting. When Canada met Panama Tuesday at the CONCACAF U-20 Championship, well, the game was probably everything the cynical Canadian soccer fan would have expected.

Canada lost 2-1, with Panamanian keeper Marcos Allen making a spectacular save on a late second-half Mathieu Choiniere volley to preserve the win for the Central American side.

Under the new format for the U-20 Championships, where teams need to win their groups to advance, the loss to Panama all but buries Canada’s hopes to qualify for the U-20 World Cup. Canada will need to run the table and hope Panama coughs up points and goal difference against the other Caribbean minnows in the group.

(Note: That’s not going to happen.)

Panama played for nearly an hour with the man advantage, as Michael Baldisimo was sent off in the 24th minute for stomping on the ankle of Panamanian captain Victor Griffith. But, should Griffith had been on the pitch? Just minutes before, he saw only yellow after going through Choiniere with a two-footed, ahem, “tackle” from behind.

Griffith got the benefit of the doubt from Costa Rican referee William Arrieta Barrantes. But, when Baldisimo was the guilty party, he did not.

You could argue that maybe a fair result would have been the teams playing 10v10. But, remember that the player Baldisimo studded was Griffith, the very player who could have been sent off just minutes before. So, a person could advocate that the player who drew the foul on Baldisimo shouldn’t have been on the pitch in the first place.

Panama capitalized just before the break, as Saed Diaz scored after pouncing on a ball in the penalty area after Canadian defender Daniel Kinumbe lost a challenge for a 50-50 ball and no other fellow defender stayed home in front of keeper Alessandro Busti.

Diaz hit the woodwork early in the second half, and, despite being down to 10 men, Canada got some life after that.

And, thanks to a bizarre back-heel flick in his own penalty area from Panamanian defender Soyell Trejos, the  ball was put on a tee for Noble Okello Ayo to find an equalizer.

But Panama got what would work out to be the winning goal on a bad bounce.

The grass fields on the soccer complex at Bradenton, Fla. are seeing game after game after game; and the wear on the natural surface is starting to show. You could argue, with a schedule like this, on so few fields, well the playing surface of choice should be artificial turf, not grass. Grass is wonderful when in good shape. When it’s in bad shape, well, the fake stuff starts to look pretty good. And, with a schedule like the U-20s are playing, you could fly Arsenal’s ground crew to Florida and they wouldn’t be able to keep the surface in really good shape.

The bad grass got the better of Canada. A harmless long-distance shot that Busti looked sure to capture took an awkward bounce off a divot and came up into the keeper’s face. The ball then caromed to Diaz, who scored his second off a nothing play.

But there would be another turn. In the 85th, Panama’s Jorge Mendez would see his second yellow for the most CONCACAF of all infractions; time-wasting. And, on a scramble after the ensuing free kick, Allen was called upon to heroically knock away Choiniere’s effort. He also stopped Theo Bair on the rebound, though it looked like, had Bair’s headed effort gone in, it would have been ruled out for offside.

The elephant in the room needs to be addressed, though. This was not Canada’s best U-20 selection. There are players like Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David who are playing with the senior national side. David is playing in Belgium, while Davies is about to join Bayern Munich. We can imagine “what if” those players would have been on the pitch for Canada.

The reality is that Canada needs a miracle, now. And Canada doesn’t have a rich history of getting miracles out of CONCACAF.

Subs rescue Canada in a nail-biter of a win over Guadeloupe

A trio of subs helped Canada made a great escape in Sunday’s action at the CONCACAF U-20 Championship.

The Canadians needed a late second-half goal from FC Dallas draft pick Adonijah Reid to save them some serious blushes — Canada got out of the match with a narrow 2-1 win over Guadeloupe.

Coming into the match off a 4-0 win over Dominica, Canada was expected to have little trouble with Guadeloupe — and coach Dominic Olivieri left his twin-tower strike force of Theo Bair and Noble Okello Ayo on the bench to start the game.

But he had to bring in both of them in the 65th, with the score tied 1-1. Ten minutes later, he brought in Reid.

The subs paid off, as it was Okello who pushed a ball past the Guadeloupe backline for Bair to run on to. Then, instead of shooting, Bair slid the ball across the face of the goal for Reid, who had a half an open net to shoot at. He didn’t miss.

In the new format introduced for 2018, the 35 teams in the CONCACAF U-20 Championship are divided into six groups. Only the six group winners advance to the next round — and keep their hopes of qualifying for the 2019 U-20 World Cup alive. With seeded Panama in its group, Canada simply cannot afford slip-ups against the lower seeded Caribbean federations

Canada started the game well enough, with Mathieu Choiniere giving his side the lead just seven minutes in, as hs deflected shot nestled inside of the far post.

Dante Campbell was close to making it 2-0 before the break, but the ball was cleared off the line.

But, Canada was caught napping early in the second half. Guadeloupe forward Luther Archimede got behind Canadian centre back Julian Dunn-Johnson. Keeper Alessandro Busti came off the line, but couldn’t get there in time as Archimede got to the ball first and pushed it under onrushing goalkeeper and into the goal. Canada was stunned.

Campbell had a chance to give Canada back the lead, but Guadeloupe keeper Erwan Regulus leaped to palm away his free-kick effort.

Finally, though, Canada got the break it needed late in the game. Still, it needs to be noted that Canada didn’t move the ball nearly as well as it did in the opener against Dominica, and allowed the pack of Guadeloupe defenders time to organize and reorganize. And, unlike Dominica, Guadeloupe did show some teeth on the counter, with Archimede providing a dangerous target that possessed a mix of size and speed.

It was an escape, but not an impressive one. Canada has a lot of work to do.