Canada Drop Gold Cup Opener to U.S. in Detroit

Canada showed that it still needs to improve and come together as a team after falling 2-0 to the United States in the opening Gold Cup match for both teams. 28,209 fans at Ford Field came out to show their colours including many Canadian supporters who travelled to Detroit to cheer on the red and white. Despite a decent turnout, they were clearly outnumbered by the US supporters.

Jozy Altidore, who was named Man of the Match, and Clint Dempsey scored for the Americans while U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard made three great saves in the second half to preserve the clean sheet.

Far from perfect and despite giving up two goals in its Gold Cup opening match, Canada can feel no shame in the outcome of the match. The team settled down after the first goal and played well in the second half creatting numerous chances but were unable to get the ball past Howard.

All the talk going into the match was about Canada hoping to avenge its 2-1 loss when the two teams last met in the 2007 Gold Cup semifinal. Although the team wasn’t able to exact any revenge on Tuesday night, Canada can move forward knowing that they continued to play well as the game went along.

"As the game went on it sort of opened up a little bit and we got a little better feel for the game," said midfielder Josh Simpson. "The first 25 minutes they were really taking it to us, they used their physical attributes to do that. As the game went on, we sort of got into a rhythm and had a fairly consistent attack. I felt we were dangerous but we just couldn’t get it past Howard."

Canada was playing the U.S. for just the fourth time in Gold Cup history with the Americans having won three and drawn once. The Americans remain unbeaten at the group stage having never lost a match in the opening round of the tournament.

"Congratulations to the United States," said Canada Head Coach Stephen Hart. "I thought they came, what we knew they were going to do and come and press us early and try to get the early goal and they got it. Once we went behind, we took way too long to settle down."

"I think it’s a overall team thing. Too many players didn’t want the responsibility of the ball, we were a little slow closing down the ball and the energy level wasn’t high enough. When we did get it we moved the ball too slow, we were very predictable."

US striker Altidore didn’t think Canada played predictable, but carried the play at times in the second half.

"I don’t think they played predictable at all," said Altidore. "I think at times they controlled the game. They had some spells, especially in the second half. It was kind of nervy for us until we got the second goal so I thought they were a pretty difficult team to play against."

Despite the loss, Canada should be able to take a lot away from this game and come out holding its collective heads held high.

"The way we played all around, I think we can walk away with our heads up despite giving up two goals," said Dwayne De Rosario. "There’s a lot of positive to take out of this game as we move forward to Gaudeloupe and Panama."

Canada is already looking past this result and will fly out to Tampa Bay today and will face Guadeloupe on Saturday in its second group stage game of the tournament.

"It’s behind us," added Simpson. "We get on a plane tomorrow and we’re down in Tampa, it’s behind us. It’s a difficult game but we’re past it now."

Playing in Detroit meant that CONCACAF had to stage the game in a big venue that was not meant for soccer. Organizers probably wanted to play here because of the close vicinity to the Canadian border to attract Canadian fans and potentially expose a new market to soccer. The game was played at Ford Field where the NFL’s Detroit Lions play its home games and natural grass was laid over the artificial turf just one day prior to the Gold Cup matches.

Panama and Guadeloupe played the first match of the day with Panama winning 3-2. However, after that game was over, the field was not in the best condition. As the Canada-US game played on, the conditions of the pitch worsened and some spots looked chopped up. Neither team liked the pitch but both teams were at the same disadvantage.

"No, I think both teams are playing on the same pitch, we’ve played on those before and they’re always difficult when they lay over turf but it’s the same for both teams," said Hart. "It was a dead pitch, a very dead pitch and I thought we adjusted better to it in the second half because we tried to get the players to play deeper balls because we knew it wouldn’t run off the field.

But both teams are on the same pitch, the pitch is not an excuse."

US midfielder Dempsey shared similar thoughts.

"It’s tough but both teams had to deal with it," said Dempsey. "I don’t know why they would schedule it at venues where you have to lay grass over the turf. But maybe it’s a chance to bring soccer to a new area and help grow the game in the states so I’m all about that. Both teams had to deal with the conditions but ideally you don’t want to play on a surface like that."

From the opening whistle, the US played with pace and were able to find space with its speed and physical size. Altidore and 18 year-old Juan Agudelo led the attack up front as the Americans employed a 4-4-2 formation and created majority of chances in the first half.

With the the ball helmed in Canada’s half, the US continued to build pressure and create opportunities, but the Canadian defence played well by blocking shots and clearing the ball out of harm’s way. The US did come close in the 12th minute when defender Michael Bradley fired a hard pass to Carlos Bocanegra but his hard touch sent the ball over the goal.

The US were able to captialize in the 15th minute, when Jozy Altidore made a run down the right side and fired a bad angle shot that somehow got past Canadian goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld. The shot should have been stopped and Hirschfeld looked deflated afterwards. Canada knew it could not gift goals to the Americans and were suddenly down 1-0 early in the match.

With the US up a goal, the team sat back just a bit and were more selective when pushing forward. Canada was able to slow the game down considerably after the 30 minute mark by clogging the midfield. Canada finally had an attempt at goal in the 34th minute when De Rosario’s strike from 30 yards out just curved wide of the goal. Howard was at the post and most likely would have stopped the shot anyways.

Agudelo had two good chances towards the end of the half, both times nearly fooling Hirschfeld with strikes with the outside of his foot. In the 40th minute Hirschfeld stretched to make the save from in close when he was moving the other way. Less than a minute later, Agudelo’ from 25 yards out deflected off a defender and but Hirschfeld reacted well to make another big save.

Canada played a much better second half and in spurts controlled possession while creating chances of its own. However, the US increased its lead to 2-0 on a perfect play set up by Altidore. In the 62nd minute, the US forward darted into the Canadian box and placed a great cross over to Dempsey who slid and directed the ball past a helpless Hirschfeld.

Ali Gerba came off the bench in the 65th minute to replace Will Johnson and had an immediate impact for Canada. He had three chances in the game but Howard made big saves on all of them to keep Canada off the scoresheet. The best chance was in the 85th minute when Gerba volleyed a ball at goal but Howard made an acrobatic save to keep the ball out.

Altidore thought Howard was his usual self, "Normal. That’s Timmy. He’s one of the best goalkeepers in the world. I don’t care what anybody says and he showed that again tonight."
 

As the final whistle blew, the Canadian players walked over to its supporters to saluted them while defender André Hainault high-fived fans and gave away his jersey.

Coach Hart knows that if his team plays like it did in the second half for the rest of the tournament, then Canada should be able to produce positive results on the pitch.

"I honestly felt we played a much better second half," said Hart. "We adjusted really, really well. We didn’t create that many chances but when we did create were very good. We know what we need to do and if we come out and play like we did in the second half we’ll get results for sure."

The next match in the tournament will be against Guadeloupe on Saturday, June 11 in Tampa Bay. Meanwhile, the US plays Panama in the second match on the same day.