Posted by

Steve Bottjer ,

July 14, 2013

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Canada 0 – 0 Panama

Prelude to Battle

Canada entered their final match of the 2013 Gold Coup group stage with a clear goal of scoring a goal. With the Canadians held scoreless in their first two matches of the tournament, anything less than a win over Panama was going to see the Canadian squad heading home after the group stage.



With Canada shorthanded due to illness and injuries, Interim Head Coach Colin Miller shuffled his deck somewhat, giving TFC left back Ashtone Morgan his first Gold Cup start and pushing Marcel De Jong from fullback to a more forward flank position. Pedro Pacheco also got a start in the midfield in place of 18 year old Samuel Piette. Colin Miller:



The Opening Forty-Five

The first half was far from epic, with neither side playing particularly well or generating scoring chances.



The first scoring chance of the match came in the 18th minute when a poor clearing attempt in the Canadian box by Ashtone Morgan set up Marcos Sánchez for a great chance that he ultimately shot wide on.



As the half progressed, the Panamanians continued to flop and constantly writhe on the ground like they had been tasered.



Panama had the best chance of the half to break the deadlock in the 40th minute when a poor clearance of a corner kick by Pedro Pacheco allowed Blas Perez the chance to head the ball into an open net, but FC Dallas forward put the ball wide of the post.



The Second Half

The second half was pretty much a mirror image of the first, with Canada having some decent runs of possession but looking completely void of ideas once they moved into the final third.



Similarly, Panama seemed most interested in falling to the ground and complaining to the referee like Paris Hilton yelling for another drink after the bar had already closed. They were lacking class and looked kind of pathetic, but they obviously did not care.



Miller tried to jumpstart the Canadian attack by subbing on three attacking players – Tosaint Ricketts, Kyle Porter and Issey Nakijima-Farran – but none of the trio ended up having a significant influence.



The Final Word:

Canada unable to create any scoring chances in must win game.

In what was likely an extremely frustrating afternoon for anyone with any investment in the Canadian Men’s National Team, Canada never threatened in a match in which they knew heading in that they had to win in order to keep their chances of moving on to the next round a possibility.



With the scoreless draw, Canada exit the 2013 Gold Cup with a record of one draw and two losses and having not scored a single goal during the tournament. While the Canadian team certainly had their backs against the wall for a multitude of reasons during the tournament, the complete lack of goal scoring and even chances created was what ultimately sealed the team’s fate. Panama keeper Luis Mejía was never really tested in this match and that basically summed up the game.



Ultimately, Panama went into this one knowing that a scoreless draw would be enough for them to clinch first place in the group and that likely played a role in the fact that this one was very far from being a classic match. It didn’t help that the referee constantly saw fit to penalize Canada’s Marcus Haber again and again due to the simple fact that he is bigger than the other players. If Canada’s inability to create chances wasn’t enough alone to make this one a hard match to watch, the antics of the Panama players, who continually went to ground in typical CONCACAF fashion, were truly embarrassing to watch. While there are certainly differences in culture that must be taken into account, you have to wonder whatever happened to Latino machismo? Panama delivered the type of cynical performance that will likely have many hoping that they are eliminated from the tournament in the next round. While it wouldn’t have any bearing on Canada’s progress as a national team side, it would certainly be interesting to see Panama go up against a team from Chechnya some day.



In terms of the negatives, the biggest one has to be the fact that Canada showed little urgency going forward, even down the stretch of a must win fixture. Of course, that is easy to highlight while sitting behind a computer, but the end result would have been somewhat more palatable if Canada would have been able to hit a post or generate one or two close calls on the Panama net.



In terms of positives that Canada take away from the tournament as the entire program gets a fresh start under incoming Head Coach Benito Floro, there were a few that could be found if you looked closely enough.



Keeper Milan Borjan consistently made excellent saves to keep Canada in all three matches. Playing in front of the 25 year old keeper, the central defense duo of David Edgar and Doneil Henry had a solid tournament and they should only improve as they play together more often. In the midfield, Kyle Bekker both showed flashes of the potential he has and also illustrated at times that he isn’t quite ready for prime time and needs more minutes at the club level. However, his ability on set pieces and his willingness to play dangerous looking balls forward does mark him as player who could be important as Canada explores ways to kick start its offense under Floro.



Realistically, while Canada struggled in the tournament as a whole, the minutes played by young players such as Henry, Bekker, Haber, Samuel Piette, Ashtone Morgan, Jonathan Osorio and even the still young in goalkeeper years Borjan should contribute to all of these players being more effective in future competitive matches



Canada Lineup

Milan Borjan

Nik Ledgerwood

Doneil Henry

David Edgar

Ashtone Morgan

Pedro Pacheco

Julian de Guzman

Jonathan Osorio

Kyle Bekker

Marcel De Jong

Marcus Haber



Substitutions: Tosaint Ricketts in for Pedro Pacheco (58’); Kyle Porter in for Marcel De Jong (64’); Issey Nakajima-Farran in for Kyle Bekker (81’).