Canada’s Men’s Soccer team filled BC Place with passion as they hosted the visiting El Salvador, but despite Canada’s 3-1 win they finished in third place in CONCACAF Group A of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.
Both Mexico and Honduras played to a nil – nil draw in the other match of the night.
Canada survived the opening 15 minutes as El Salvador came on the pitch with both passion and excellent ball possession soccer testing Canada’s “keeper” Milan Borjan from various areas of the pitch.
It wasn’t until the 11th minute that Canada’s Cyle Larin scored the games opening goal taking a ball off the El Salvador defender and making them pay for the mistake giving Canada a 1 – nil lead.
Canada had an excellent opening half as they easily could have had a 5 goal lead at the half if not for El Salvador goalkeeper Oscar Daniel Arroyyo Pena who held the Canadians to a lone goal in the opening half.
The second half saw El Salvador continue to play with passion and some good ball control but it was Canada that took a 2 – nil on a great goal by Nik Ledgerwood in the 53rd minute.
The 55th minute saw El Salvador forced to play with 10 men when Captain Darwin Delgardo was booked for a Red Card for a dangerous tackle on Atiba Hutchinson of Canada.
Referee Vladin Legister and crew of Jamaica were quick to make the call, which El Salvador contested, but the card was out and the call stood.
Canada tested El Salvador’s ten men by opening up space as they were looking to open the lead for more than two goals.
Arroyo Pena’s play was brilliant as he kept the match at two, but it wasn’t until the 78th minute when Nelson Sanchez sent one sailing past Borjan (Canada) making 2-1 after 90 minutes.
Extra time saw Canada’s David Edgar take a pass from Hoilett and banged home Canada’s third marker of the night and a 3-1 lead.
Final standings in the A group had Mexico at 5-1-0 (16 points), Honduras 2-2-2 (8 points), Canada 2-1-3 (7 points) with El Salvador finishing with at 0-2-4 finishing with 2 points in the Group.
Canada outshot their opponents 18-6 while shots on target were 9-4 for Canada and Canada’s Milan Borjan had 5 saves, while El Salvador’s Arroyo Pena made 6 in the match.
Both clubs tested the officials as El Salvador had 23 fouls and Canada had a slim 13.
Tosaint Ricketts stated “You can see how much it meant to the guys as we left it all on the field and we gave it everything.”
He continued “I am proud of the guys, I am proud of the team. I am proud of the organisation and the steps we have taken through the whole cycle.”
Of the five (5) home matches there were 115,793 spectators from the three qualifying rounds, which included 54,798 at BC Place on 25 March in a match against Mexico which set a new record for any National team of any sport ever played in Canada.
Man of the match was Canada’s Cyle Larin who “thanked” the fans by them returning the applause given them at the end of the match.
Of the 43 Canadian players that dressed for 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Qualifiers, 23 took part in their first-ever cycle of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, which included starters Scott Arfield, Doneil Henry, David Junior Hoilett, Manjrekar James, and Cyle Larin.
Samuel Piette mentioned “The positive thing that we can draw from this cycle is the confidence that Benito has instilled in the young players and there are a lot of young players in this team, so the future looks good for us, for this team, for the program.”
Six Nations are still alive in the CONCACAR hexagonal round and they are Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, USA, and Trinidad and Tobago.
From that final group of six, the top three nations will qualify for Russia 2018 and the fourth nation will advance to an intercontinental playoff.
Thanks to Soccer Canada Media Relations Carrie Croft and Richard Scott for their assistance given to Sportswave!!
Entertaining, now time to move on!!
Photo’s by D. Laird Allan – Sportswave’s Official Photographer
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