|
Jamaica's Reggae Boyz showed Canada that home advantage was no advantage.
Canada played to a 1-1 tie with Jamaica on Wednesday night before 21,978 fans at Toronto's BMO Field, getting off on the wrong foot as it began its journey toward qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Julian de Guzman scored for Canada early in the second half, but his goal was wiped out just minutes later when Canadian goalkeeper Pat Onstad made a horrendous error, mishandling the ball off a Jamaican corner kick before bundling it into his net.  Canada's Paul Stalteri is tackled by Demar Phillips in Wednesday's 1-1 draw.
"I'm disappointed in myself and I feel like I let the team down," Onstad admitted. "The ball was whipped and as I was going for it I got bumped and someone had a pretty good grab of my left sleeve, but ultimately it's my job to keep the ball out … so I have to shoulder the blame," he later added. Canada, ranked 79th in the world by FIFA, is in a group with No. 32 Mexico, No. 61 Honduras and No. 108 Jamaica. Mexico leads the group with three points after defeating Honduras 2-1 Wednesday night in Mexico City. Each team plays the other at home and away with the top two advancing to the final round of qualifying for the CONCACAF region. From there, three of six teams automatically qualify for the 2010 World Cup. In the build-up to the showdown with Jamaica, coach Dale Mitchell stressed how vital it was that his Canadian squad earn as many points as they can from their home games. "This was the most important game for us because this should have been three points in our pocket. Jamaica is the weakest team in this group, and we wanted to take advantage of that, but we lost two points at home," de Guzman told reporters. Canada enjoys balance of play early Canada enjoyed the balance of play in the opening 30 minutes, with midfielder Atiba Hutchinson using his speed and creativity down the right wing to cause Jamaica's defence problems. Jamaica withstood the pressure and wrestled control of the game away just after the half-hour mark. The visitors threatened Canada's goal with a dangerous cross played into the box, but forward Deon Burton couldn't connect on a header and the ball sailed wide of the post. Canada broke the deadlock in the 47th minute. Dwayne De Rosario's cross into the box found Tomasz Radzinski and he played a perfect pass back to de Guzman, who beat Jamaican goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts with a half volley at the far post. Canada's lead lasted only five minutes. Toronto-born Andy Williams scored for Jamaica, his corner kick somehow landing in the back of the net after Onstad's botched save attempt. Canada poured on the pressure with 20 minutes left in regulation, only to see Ricketts came up big with several sensational saves, including stopping De Rosario with an expert diving stop. Canada’s three road matches are Sept. 10 in Mexico, Oct. 11 in Honduras and Nov. 19 in Jamaica.Source: www.cbc.ca |
I love the face-lift!! Colours: awesome.
