Canada eager for Gold Cup rematch with U.S.
Posted June 7, 2011 10:25 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
DETROIT — The final gut-wrenching moments of Canada’s loss to the United States at the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament have been watched over and over by thousands of soccer fans, courtesy of YouTube.
Atiba Hutchinson can account for at least a few of those views.
The Canadian midfielder scored what would have been the tying goal in second-half stoppage time against the U.S. in the semifinals, but Mexican referee Benito Archundia ruled the goal offside, unceremoniously dispatching Canada from the tournament with a 2-1 loss.
“I watched it on YouTube for a couple of weeks after, it was hard not to,” Hutchinson said. “We try to not really think about what happened in the last game that we played them, but of course it’s kind of hard to move on from.”
The Canadians haven’t played the U.S. since that game at Soldier Field in Chicago, but will finally have the chance to exact some revenge on their cross-border rival Tuesday night in their opening game of the Gold Cup tournament.
“It’s always been pretty much a big rivalry for us, especially to play against the States, it’s probably our biggest game that we look forward to,” Hutchinson said. “But it’s not only that game that’s important for us, it’s the whole tournament that we really want to do well in.”
While the 28-year-old Brampton, Ont., native tries to shrug off the 2007 no-goal debacle as ancient history, the 45,000-plus soccer fans who’ve viewed the YouTube clip entitled “Gold Cup Robbery!” might not.
The clip shows Hutchinson, who plays for PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch league, alternately waving his arms at Archundia and clutching his head in disbelief. Paul Stalteri and several other irate Canadians follow the four officials off the pitch before Stephen Hart finally rushes in to pull his players away.
Hart, who coached both the 2007 and 2009 Gold Cup teams, and is Canada’s current head coach, said he doesn’t use the incident to motivate his players.
“No, I think that’s in the past and we don’t dwell in that too much. You do tell the players that refereeing is something that’s not in their control and you try to get them to discipline their minds around that,” Hart said. “You do remind them of various incidents, things that have happened to them.”
Midfielder Dwayne De Rosario, who like Hutchinson is making his fifth Gold Cup appearance, said it’s key the Canadians keep their cool against the U.S.
“Of course, (the 2007 result was) 100 per cent frustrating, it was at a time when we were playing well and we deserved to walk out of that game with something,” De Rosario said. “But we’ve got to control our emotions going into this game definitely. Canada, we let our emotions get the best of us. The U.S. is a good side so we can’t burn out in the first 30 minutes or so, so we have to really pace ourselves and be tactically smart.”
The United States holds a 12-8-9 advantage over Canada in a series that dates back to 1925. The U.S. also has a 2-0-1 Gold Cup record versus Canada, including a tie in the 2002 semifinals that saw the U.S. advance on penalty kicks.
“I think any time we play the U.S. in any sport, there’s a rivalry,” De Rosario said. “I think the U.S. has really excelled tremendously in football, and every time we’ve played the U.S. it’s always been an intense game and an intense atmosphere. So I can pretty much imagine that this wouldn’t be any different.”
Will Johnson was just 20 in 2007 and didn’t play in that Gold Cup, but he’s heard plenty about the Hutchinson goal. But the Real Salt Lake winger echoed his teammates in saying the game against the No. 22-ranked U.S. is just the first of three group games Canada needs a good result from.
“Obviously I think everyone is still a little bitter about that goal that wasn’t, or was, and all the rest of it. But it’s like anything in soccer, there’s always controversy, there’s always plays that happen, it just happened to be in the semifinal of a big tournament,” Johnson said. “But we can’t put too much emphasis on this opening game, because there are two other massive, massive games within the group.”
The 76th-ranked Canadians face Guadeloupe at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., on June 11 and No. 67 Panama at newly named Livestrong Stadium in Kansas City on June 14.
Guadeloupe is unranked because it is not a member of FIFA.
