Soccer
Buckland Makes Delta Proud
A must win game for Canada to continue and advance to the final round and make one of the two qualifying spots for the Women’s Olympic Qualifier.
Canada came out on a mission from the time they left the tunnel and 12th player were those in the stands, let alone the 8,105 in attendance.
The first game of the day saw Haiti play Cuba in a game Haiti entered never winning a CONCACAF game in the past, until now!!
Ronald Luxeux the Coach of Haiti told the media “I think the match shows where we are in CONCACAF and in the Caribbean. We were at our best and played our strongest.
Now in the next years we will have to continue to work to reach the level of the best in CONCACAF.” He continued about the state of soccer in Haiti saying “At home we have nothing similar to a CONCACAF tournament.
Most of the girls do play in Haiti and five play in other countries. To grow I think that many will have to attend schools in other countries to continue to develop and hopefully one day reach the level of Marta or Christine Sinclair.” He was asked about the crowd and stated “I would like to take the chance to thank the Canadians for their support. The Haitian community is a lot smaller here than other places.
To win we needed the support of the crowd.” Great words from a very thankful head coach from a Country that is learning.
In a conversation with Jill Fracisco, the Deputy General Secretary of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football she told me “locally the Vancouver United donated some equipment to the squad from Haiti,, which clearly shows class from an Amateur Club.
The final game of the night saw Canada play Costa Rica where Canada dominated the game being up 4-0 at the half. Canada had two sub’s entering the second half, Delta’s Chelsea Buckland #20 and #6 Kaylyn Kyle of Saskatoon.
Dejected but not out; the second half saw Costa Rica play stronger attacking more in mid-field, with Canada shutting them down. Costa Rica made a back-pass to the keeper, who looked up at the last minute allowing the ball to roll under her foot.
The look say’s it all – clear frustration. Canada’s Brittany Timko scored a goal in the 80th minute, but was disallowed due to being offside.
Canada let up and allowed Costa Rica to get behind the defender to put the ball overtop of Leblanc, giving them the first goal of the game.
Following the game I had a chance to talk with Chelsea Buckland, who mentioned that over 30 from her grad class came to the game along with her parents to cheer Canada on.
She went on to mention how grateful she is to everyone that helped her through her career, albeit still young.
She was thrilled to see so many “home town fan’s” come out to the game with signs to show support of a Delta Athlete.
For a player who started her career as a “tom-boy” at the young age of three she never imagined she would ever play in the newly renovated BC Place. It’s great for her to take her career to new heights, with her goal set on the Olympics’ and beyond.