[FM 13] A somewhat valiant effort to make Canadian soccer relevant

theaub5 · November 28, 2012

The 2015 CONCACAF U-20 Championship is upon us. Unlike 2013, where we surprised a lot of people by getting to the finals, the bookies have us as a pre-tournament favourite to take home the title. And why not? We have Nick Nonni starting in the Barclay's Premier League, Luca Gasparotto starting in Serie A and a bunch of other players either plying their trade in Europe or steady starters in MLS. The future looks bright, and its up to these 21 youngsters to get us, at the very least, to Switzerland for the World Cup, and at the most our first trophy in a few years.

Canada U-20 Squad

We start off with the group stage, and a pair of matches against Guatemala and Trinidad & Tobago. In both cases, the opposition is hopefully outmatched. Zaccaria Melegari had a high-profile transfer for Arsenal in the winter of 2015, and while he didn't make it into a game with the Gunners, he shows why they invested over $3,000,000 in him as he puts up a hat trick against Guatemala, including a stunning 30 yard free kick goal that will bode well for him controlling set pieces for the senior team. We move onto the Trinis in the second match, and its more of the same. We're scoreless at the hour mark, but after that Keven Aleman sets up Antonio Gauss for what turns out to be the game winning goal, and soon after its Melegari with a brilliant cross that finds the head of Gauss to double the lead. The winger decides to add his fourth goal of the tournament in the 90th minute to round off a dominant group stage performance. The only downside is that Gauss did take yellow cards in both matches, so he will be out for the quarterfinal with Niall Bonifacio starting for him.

Canada - 3, Guatemala - 0

Goals:

CAN: Melegari 37', 45', 63' (pen)

Cards:

CAN: Jelicic 5, Gauss 16, Nonni 27'

GUA: Escobar 73'

Trinidad & Tobago - 0, Canada - 3

Goals:

CAN: Jackson 83', 88'

Cards:

None

We finish first in the group, and therefore draw El Salvador, who finished in second place in Group D, behind Honduras. Anyone who had questions about Bonifacio's ability to fill in for Gauss were quieted in rather stunning fashion in the first half, as the 17 year with all of one appearance for Vancouver in his two years at the club put up a well-deserved hat trick. After adding a fourth goal early in the second half, he was subbed off to a standing ovation and a likely start in the semi-finals. The Canadian defense, led by a partnership of Gasparotto and Thomas Hadzic in the middle were rock-solid, as El Salvador could not manage a single shot on goal. A decisive 4-0 win ensured that Canada would participate in their second straight U-20 World Cup.

Canada - 4, El Salvador - 0

Goals:

CAN: Bonifacio 25', 38', 42', 49

Cards:

None

The semi-final draw was a bit unfortunate and put us up against Mexico, while the other two qualifiers, USA and Honduras paired off in the other semi-final. We catch a massive break in the 16th minute, as Mexican defender Raul Orduna attempts a simple header back to his keeper Raul de la Rosa, but the young Santos Laguna keeper is caught off his line, and can only deflect the ball as it bounces over him and into the open net to give us a 1-0 lead. El Tri put on some sporadic pressure, but once again we're dominating the match and it appears that we just need a second goal to cruise to the final. It finally comes with just over a quarter hour left, as Gasparotto, who has been a rock in the back the entire tournament, gets up on a corner and heads it home to give us the 2-0 lead. Gauss, who replaced a somewhat disappointing Bonifacio in the 70th minute scores the insurance marker, and with four matches played we have scored 13, conceded none and are a match away from a trophy. Unfortunately we will be without star midfielder Nonni, who picked up his second yellow card of the tournament.

Mexico - 0, Canada - 3

Goals:

CAN: Orduna (og) 16', Gasparotto 74', Gauss 90'

Cards:

CAN: Oliveri 13', Nonni 49', Gasparotto 90'

The final puts us up against Honduras, who stunned the Americans in their semi-final on penalties. Amazingly, we probably play our best match of the tournament. Gauss returns to the starting lineup and immediately opens his account in the 10th minute to give us the lead. We can't keep a clean sheet for the entire tournament, but its not the Hondurans who score as defender Jason Gantar puts an admittedly impressive header directly into his own goal. However, we take the advantage back right before the break as right winger Chris Scicluna gets into the box and puts home a loose ball. We take complete control of the match in the second half, smothering the opposition attack and as Samir Salihovic adds the final tally in the 89th minute, we can start to celebrate our first ever U-20 championship.

Honduras - 1, Canada - 3

Goals:

HON: Gantar (og) 33'

CAN: Gauss 10', Scicluna 44', Salihovic 89'

Cards:

None

As well, the group stage draw has happened for the final tournament. Our group is certainly challenging with Colombia and Holland, but I am hoping we can have a rather deep run in the tournament.

2015 U-20 World Cup Groups

theaub5 · November 29, 2012

Its Gold Cup time! We'll look at the actual tournament in the next post, but there was the squad announcement and some pre-tournament friendlies to be played before the show begins.

For the Canada squad, it will be the last international tournament for two of our biggest stars. Atiba Hutchinson has announced that his recurring knee injuries are too much to handle and he wants to retire before requiring another major surgery. However, he will be around to give it a final go for the national side. Michael Klukowski made the team due to his dominant form in Cyprus, but he too will be hanging them up after the tournament. Andre Hainault and Luca Gasparotto miss out due to injury, but here is the final 22 man roster for the first true major international tournament of the Gord Smith era.

Goalkeepers

Defenders

Midfielders

Forwards

We played three friendly matches that I won't get into overwhelming detail about. In essence, the latter two disappointing losses to El Salvador and Jamaica offset the win against Barbados, but on the plus side we were the better squad in all of the games. We'll just need some clinical finishing, and it looks like Lucas Cavallini will be the man up front as he moves into a more prominent role with the national team.

Canada - 3, Barbados - 0

Goals:

CAN: Edwini-Bonsu 47', Cavallini 64', Gittings (og) 68'

Cards:

CAN: Cavallini, Simpson, Hutchinson, Melegari, Johnson, Aleman

Canada - 0, El Salvador - 1

Goals:

ESV: Nonni (og) 69'

Cards:

CAN: Alderson

ESV: Romero, Sanchez

Canada - 0, Jamaica - 1