Canada Eliminated From FIFA U-20 Without Scoring A Goal
Posted July 8, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Canada ‘s opportunity to host one of the world’s biggest soccer tournaments may prove memorable, but the nation’s performance at the FIFA U-20 World Cup was anything but.
In their third and final round-robin game Sunday night, Canada was eliminated from the tournament field in a 2-0 loss to Congo . The Canadian side was shutout in three losses.
Head coach Dale Mitchell had said prior to the tournament that it would be a disappointment if his team failed to get out of the group stage.
Chile , Austria , Spain , Zambia , Mexico , Gambia , the U.S. , Poland , Argentina , Czech Republic , Japan and Nigeria went through to the round of 16 by finishing first or second in their groups while Congo , Uruguay , Portugal and Brazil also got in with the best records among the third-place finishers.
Canada couldn’t have been further off the pace on a wet and slippery Commonwealth Stadium pitch knowing they needed to beat Congo by three goals. When the Congolese tallied thanks to Ermejea Ngakosso in the 26th minute, the Great White North’s hopes were all but dashed.
Critics argue Canada ‘s performance is proof of exactly how far the nation’s program has to go to catch up with the elites of the soccer world.
“Our game is maybe not developed as much, or as well as the competition that you face against many of the teams,” Mitchell admitted. “That requires good technical ability and good savvy and ability to open people up.
“That’s a part of our game at this level that we’re still trying to develop.”
