Molinaro on Canada: Chasing shadows
Posted February 29, 2012 3:47 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
If only a soccer match lasted 15 minutes.
Canada led early and dominated the opening part of its friendly against Armenia on Wednesday, but the Reds faded quickly and eventually succumbed 3-1 on a rainy and windy night in Limassol, Cyprus.
It would be foolish to indulge in that favourite Canadian soccer past-time of reading too much into one result, particularly one that didn’t feature Canada’s all-time leading scorer (Dwayne de Rosario) and several other key players (Will Johnson, Andre Hainault and Patrice Bernier).
And seeing how coach Stephen Hart still has until June to make adjustments ahead of the start of the next round of World Cup qualifying, to push the panic button at this moment would be grossly reactionary.
Still, Wednesday’s encounter against Armenia (ranked No. 41 in the world by FIFA, 30 spots ahead of Canada) underlined a long-standing problem for the Canadian team: its inability to put together a complete performance over 90 minutes against a quality opponent.
Canada entered this match riding a much-hyped eight-game unbeaten run but all of those encounters, with the exception of Panama at last year’s Gold Cup, came against lightweights such as St. Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, and Puerto Rico.
You have to go back to last March, and a 1-0 win over Belarus, to find the last time Canada posted a solid, 90-minute effort against an opponent with any real substance.
There’s no shame in losing to Armenia, a side that has shown great improvement over the past few years and came close to qualifying for Euro 2012.
However, what was particularly disappointing was how Hart’s men could not sustain the early advantage they carved out for themselves and the ease with which the Armenians assumed control of the match.
The major problem was the lack of connection between the defence and midfield. It was encouraging to see Atiba Hutchinson back in the line-up after such a lengthy injury layoff, and the PSV midfielder did have one or two of his attacking flashes.
But Hutchinson and Julian de Guzman barely provided any defensive coverage, leaving Canada’s back line badly exposed and outmatched by Armenia’s dynamic trio of attackers.
Defensive errors ruled the day, too, as Canadian defenders were often caught in possession or simply delivered a stray pass in their attempts to play the ball out the back. Canadian fullback Mike Klukowski was the worst offender, his rash tackle that led to Armenia’s late third goal off a penalty shot completing what was by all estimations his worst-ever game for Canada.
Tosaint Ricketts caused plenty of problems for Armenia down the right wing before eventually fading out of the contest. Deprived of quality service, striker Simeon Jackson was a non-factor, and whenever Canadian attackers did penetrate the final third, their lack of final touch became alarmingly obvious.
Hardly a surprise, then, that Canada’s lone goal (by Kevin McKenna in the fifth minute) was scored off a corner kick and that its only other legitimate scoring chance came off a set piece.
Armenia’s goal in the 23rd minute by Brazilian-born Marcos Pizzelli marked the turning point. Canada could barely get a touch on the ball, the Armenians bossing play in midfield and forcing the Canadian players to chase shadows.
About the only positive Canada will be able to take away from this match was the play of goalkeepers Milan Borjan and Kenny Stamatopoulos, who both played 45 minutes.
Borjan was called upon to make a pair of good saves in the first half, and he expertly came off his line and acted like a sweeper to stop a probing run by Yura Movsisyan. Stamatopoulos also looked comfortable between the posts, and neither he nor Borjan had much chance of stopping Armenia’s three goals.
Chances are neither did enough to displace Lars Hirschfeld as Canada’s No. 1, but hopefully they gave Hart something to think about.
Hart now looks ahead to June and a marquee friendly against the United States and the start of the third round of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers. He has his work cut out for him, but then we hardly needed to watch the Armenia match to come to that conclusion.
