CONCACAF Archive

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Two comebacks help Canada to third-place honours at U-17 Championship

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/20/2013

Jordan Haynes

Jordan Haynes

The Canadian team played the third-place match as if it was playing for gold.

Canada scored two dramatic equalizers against Honduras — one at the end of normal time, one at the end of extra time — and then won the penalty shootout 4-2, to take the third-place game at the CONCACAF U-17 Championship.

In a consolation game, and with several lineup changes made ahead of the match in Panama City, it would have been all to easy (and forgivable) for coach Sean Fleming’s teen charges to mail this one in.

But, despite spending most of regulation time down 1-0, Canada got its equalizer four minutes into stoppage time. TFC Academy’s Elias Roubos crossed the ball in for his club-and-country teammate, Jordan Hamilton, to head home.

Having finally clawed back into the game, the Canadians put themselves in a position where another comeback was needed. Sixteen minutes into extra time, Honduras’s Steven Ramos finished with his left foot to give the Central Americans the 2-1 lead.
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Canada scores early, but can’t hang on against Panama in U-17 semi

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/18/2013

CONCAPANAMACanada took the lead before the five-minute mark, but couldn’t hang on in hostile territory.

Ervin Zorrilla’s 81st-minute goal gave Panama a 2-1 win over Canada in a CONCACAF U-17 Championship semifinal in front of a partisan home crowd at the Estadio Rommel Fernandez.

Canada’s goal of making it to the U-17 World Cup was achieved simply bu qualifying for the semifinal, but this crop of kids couldn’t repeat the feat of their predecessors — making it to the final of this tournament, that is.

Moving onto the bumpy grass pitch at the big stadium for the first time in the tournament, Canada actually looked more comfortable through the first 20 minutes than the home team did. And, before the game was five minutes old, the Canadians got a deserved lead. After a nice switch of play to the left wing, Matthew Chow laid in a perfect cross to Marco Bustos to head home.
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Canadians can expect Panamanian gamesmanship, even at the U-17 level

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/15/2013

PHOTO: Canada Soccer/MEXSPORT

PHOTO: Canada Soccer/MEXSPORT

It doesn’t matter if it’s men or boys on the pitch — when Panama is hosting an international soccer match, there’s going to be gamesmanship.

Canada faces the Panamanians in the semifinals of the CONCACAF U-17 championship on Wednesday. And, even though Canada clinched a berth in the U-17 World Cup with the 4-2 quarter-final win over Jamaica, coach Sean Fleming was clear that the team’s goal is to win the confederation championship.

“We let the boys enjoy it for 48 hours,” said Fleming in a conference call on Monday. “And today it’s back to work.”

But it won’t be easy. The semifinals will be staged at the national stadium, on grass — where a large crowd is expected to support the home side. Canada’s group-stage matches and quarter-final match was staged on an unpredictable artificial surface.

Will Canada get the chance to train on grass ahead of the game? No. Fleming said they’ve been allocated a turf field. Funny that no grass fields were available. And that’s a big thing: Anyone who has trained on turf in the heat knows that not only is it harder on the knees, but it reflects the heat in a way that grass doesn’t. If it’s hot outside, it’s even hotter on the turf.
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Canadians rally from two deficits and book their spot in U-17 World Cup

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/14/2013
Gordon_Andrew_D2012www

Andrew Gordon

For the second game in a row, a Canadian team faced adversity on Central American soil, And, unlike so many editions of Canadian national teams we’ve seen before, they rose to the occasion.

Canada fell behind twice to Jamaica in the quarterfinal of the CONCACAF U-17 Championship quarterfinal in Panama. And twice they came back — and then some. Final score, Canada 4, Jamaica 2 — and coach Sean Fleming’s crew wrapped up a spot in this year’s U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

Late last week, Canada fell behind 1-0 to Costa Rica in its final group-stage match, but rallied with a late goal from Hanson Boakai to ensure the end of that match wouldn’t be a nervous one — and clinched the Group B title.

And Canada trailed to Jamaica, too. The quarter-final, the most important game of the tournament for the Canadians as it acted as a single-game World Cup qualifier, didn’t start off well for the boys in red. Jamaican striker Khalil Stewart got behind the backline and converted the chance, just five minutes after the kickoff.
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Canadian U-17s will have to deal with heat, bad turf in key CONCACAF quarter-final

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/12/2013

Sean Fleming

Sean Fleming

Jamaica is a quick team that works hard and has no issue getting stuck in.

But the Canadian U-17 team can’t just prepare for the opponent in their do-or-die CONCACAF U-17 Championship quarter-final match. Already having to wrestle with the heat and the turf in Panama, the Canadians found out the Jamaica match had been moved up. It’s now a late-afternoon/early evening match. And that means Canada and Jamaica could be playing in forecasted temperatures of 33 C — and that’s before the humidity is factored in.

And the old artificial surface, which doesn’t see the ball roll or bounce consistently, amplifies the heat at field level. It reflects heat and shoots it right back at the players.

Still, coach Sean Fleming said his team will not use the conditions as an excuse. They have come down here with one goal: To qualify for the semifinals, which, more importantly, earns Canada a berth at the U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates later in 2013.
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Boakai’s wonder strike steers Canada toward U-17 knockout phase

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/11/2013

Hanson Boakai

Hanson Boakai

The Canadians looked to be set for a nervy finish to their final group-stage match at the CONCACAF U-17 Championships.

Canada went into its final group-stage match Wednesday knowing that all it had to do was not lose to Costa Rica by two goals or more. Do that and the Canadian U-17s would win Group B and get a spot in the elimination rounds. But, after 75 minutes, Canada found itself down 1-0, and had seen another Costa Rican effort strike the woodwork.

And that’s when Hanson Boakai, the teenager who is set to become the NASL’s youngest player, unleashed a wonder strike that put Canada in the safe zone. The FC Edmonton midfielder showed us all why his club’s brain trust deemed him ready for a move to the pros and promoted him to the senior side, even though the midfielder is just 16 years of age. Final score, 1-1. We could all exhale.

Out of nothing, he scored maybe the goal of the tournament so far. Cutting off the right wing, he came across the top corner of the box, then unleashed a curler of a left-footed shot that swung back towards the near post and in.
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Canadians open CONCACAF U-17 tourney on right note

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/07/2013

Jordan Hamilton

Jordan Hamilton

Because only one of the players on the Canadian U-17 roster is currently playing with a club contract in hand, it’s not quite accurate to use the term “professional performance” to describe the team’s 2-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago in their CONCACAF Championship opener.

But, while it wouldn’t be accurate, it would be at least be somewhat fitting. Canada got the goals it needed in Panama and the back line didn’t allow too much to trouble Marco Carducci. And, at no time did you feel that Canada had to shift into third or fourth gear, that this team should have plenty in the tank for its second group-stage match against Costa Rica.

In other words, a professional performance.

Canada dominated the match through the first half, but had to wait until just before halftime before the deadlock was broken. Marco Bustos made like he was going to take the free kick from right outside the Trinidad and Tobago penalty area, but instead turned and touched the ball to Marco Dominguez-Ramirez, who smashed a shot into the roof of the net.
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Fleming cuts four, adds Lopez to Canada’s U-17 roster

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/06/2013

CONCAPANAMASean Fleming, coach of Canada’s U-17 team, has cut four players from the roster and added one new face ahead of Saturday’s opening game of the CONCACAF Championship.

Canada opens group-stage action in Panama Saturday (streamed on Sportsnet.ca) with a match against Trinidad and Tobago. If Fleming’s Canadians can make it to the semifinals of the tournament, the side will qualify for the U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

Fleming had 23 players called to a pre-tournament cap in Florida. But, he had to bring the Canadian roster to the 20-player CONCACAF limit 24 hours ahead of the kickoff of its first match of the tournament.
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Canada names preliminary U-17 roster ahead of CONCACAF Championship

By
Steven Sandor
– 03/28/2013

Hanson Boakai

Hanson Boakai

Six members of the Vancouver Whitecaps Residency and five players from TFC Academy are featured on coach Sean Fleming’s pre-tournament roster ahead of the CONCACAF U-20 Championships.

Fleming has called 23 players to camp, which begins on Saturday in Sunrise, Fla. and runs until April 4. The CONCACAF U-17 Championship, a qualifier for the U-17 World Cup, begins April 6. Fleming can only declare a 20-man roster ahead of the opening game in Panama, so three players from this roster won’t be part of the finalized squad.

There is only one senior-squad player on the roster; and that’s Hanson Boakai, the 16-year-old wunderkind who was moved from the Reserves to FC Edmonton’s senior roster in 2013. Read the rest of this entry »

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Galaxy’s CCL hopes force Impact to juggle its schedule

By
Steven Sandor
– 03/21/2013

LA-Galaxy-logoAs has been expected for almost two weeks, MLS has postponed the Montreal Impact’s April 6 road date against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Commissioner Don Garber had been quoted on MLSSoccer.com, saying that the league was looking at clearing the schedules of the Galaxy and the Seattle Sounders, who each play Mexican opposition in the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals. That came to pass Thursday, as the league has cleared the Sounders and Galaxy of playing commitments for the April 6-7 weekend. That now gives both MLS clubs the chance to have a weekend off between their two CCL midweek semifinal legs. The Galaxy will play Monterrey, the two-time defending CCL champs, while the Sounders play Santos Laguna, who knocked Toronto FC out of the tourney last season.
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