Canada avoids Haiti slip-up in tournament opener

Maybe it’s the new format — which makes it much more difficult for Canada to qualify for the U-17 World Cup than in he past. Maybe it’s the fact that the national U-20 team flamed out so spectacularly in its recent attempt to qualify for its age group’s World Cup. But there’s no denying that the Canadian sentiment towards this crop of U-17s is more muted than past years. There’s no chatter of who’s going to be the next Great Canadian Hope. But, on Saturday night in Honduras, this group survived its first challenge of the CONCACAF U-17 Championships, with a 3-1 win over Haiti. Duwayne Ewart, Matthew Baldisimo and Kadin Chung got the goals. For Canada, with the new format, there is no margin for error in matches against the so-called minnows. In years past, the round-robin would often see one ranked CONCACAF nation paired up with two lesser lights. Win the group, and you were well on your way to a U-17 World Cup berth or at least a playoff for a U-17 World Cup spot. But, wisely, CONCACAF changed the format. For the smaller nations, sending a team to play just two games made little financial or developmental sense. You arrived and were eliminated in the blink of an eye. So, the new format sees the field split into two groups of six. Each team is guaranteed five matches in a compressed amount of time; so coaches are forced to utilize most of their squads — and, so, more players will get minutes of international action. For Canada to qualify for the U-17 World Cup, it needs to either win its group (an automatic spot) or finish second or third in the pool and then win a crossover playoff match against a second- or third-placed team from the other six-team section. Canada’s group also includes Mexico (ulp), Costa Rica (ulp) and Panama (ulp).To have a chance to get to the World Cup, Canada must finish ahead of one of those three teams. And that means there’s no margin for error when playing the two minnows — Haiti and Saint Lucia. The Haiti game was mission accomplished for Canada; though, with all due respect to the Caribbean side, a two-goal margin might not be much help Canada in the goal-difference section. In a comparable first-round match, Costa Rica beat Saint Lucia by four. (Panama lost to the Mexicans by a 3-1 count). “With this new format, I think it’s critical that we get three points in our first game,” Canadian coach Sean Fleming said after the match. “I give Haiti a lot of credit. I know we can see some of their players were struggling physically with the conditions but the character they showed, I really give great respect to them. I liked some of the things our players did and being the first game, there are some things we have to get better at but overall, I’m quite pleased with the start to the tournament.” Costa Rica is the next opponent, and that game will give us a better sense of just where this Canadian side stands. READ THE NEW ISSUE OF PLASTIC PITCH! CANADIAN SOCCER. CANADIAN STORIES. OUT NOW FOR APPLE and ANDROID DEVICES. Or, visit the PLASTIC PITCH SHOPIFY STORE!