Canada U-17 wins silver in soccer

Canada won a silver medal at the 2011 CONCACAF Men’s Under-17 Championship on Sunday in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Canada finished in second place after falling 0:3 in extra time against USA in the championship final. Both teams had several chances to score in an entertaining and competitive 90 minutes of regular time, but could not make the crucial breakthrough before the match moved to extra time.

The second-place finish represents Canada’s highest finish ever at the CONCACAF Men’s Under-17 Championship. In the match for third place, Panama won 1:0 over host Jamaica. The top four teams – USA, Canada, Panama and Jamaica – all qualified for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Mexico 2011.

"I’m very proud of our team," said Canadian U-17 head coach Sean Fleming. "We have a great group of guys and they will work very hard towards the FIFA U-17 World Cup."

Canada enjoyed the better of the scoring opportunities in a competitive opening 45 minutes. Both teams opened the match defending aggressively in midfield, closing down space from the opposing attackers.

The young Canucks had the first clear chance of the match in ninth minute as Jay Chapman, who was making his first for Canada in the competition, stole the ball from a USA defender in the middle of the field to break in one-on-one with the USA goalkeeper Kendall McIntosh. The goalkeeper reacted well to dart off his line and charge-down the scoring chance.

Four minutes later the Canadian duo of Michael Petrasso and Keven Aleman, so dangerous throughout the tournament, again combined to create another chance. Wide player Petrasso played the ball from the left flank into the path of Aleman who neatly skipped inside his defender before letting go a fierce left-footed shot which sailed over the bar.

Canada was clearly on the front foot at this stage as the Canadian attacking quartet of Chapman, Aleman, Petrasso and Nanco were looking dangerous every time they moved forward with the ball, each player moving well to support the ball carrier and dribbling fearlessly at the USA defence.

Aleman was played in behind the USA defence by Petrasso in the 28th minute but McIntosh again came smartly off his line to dive bravely at the feet of Aleman to stop the chance.

The USA gradually maintained more and more of the possession as the half progressed and was able create a couple of half chances before the end of the first half.

Canadian goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau, who had been spectacular throughout the tournament, made a rare error as his under-hit his clearance attempt fell dangerously to a USA attacker, but the resulting shot bounced wide and the half-chance was gone.

USA kept up the pressure following the miscue as USA defender Matthews Dunn strode confidently into a long range shot which was blasted into the side of the Canadian goal in the 33rd minute.

USA maintained its possession advantage to start the second half and nearly opened the scoring eight minutes after the restart from a corner kick. The high cross was momentarily misjudged by Crepeau who deflected the ball towards the Canadian goal, luckily for Canada Macro Lapenna was in perfect position to clear off the goal line and preserve the 0-0 scoreline.

The majority of the second half followed a pattern of USA holding more possession but failing to create clear chances and Canada counter-attacking and looking occasional dangerous going forward.

Canada was able to create its second half chances from free kick opportunities, coming closest to scoring on couple of crazy scrambles in the USA penalty area. USA’s best chance of the half also came from a free kick. The USA attacker hammered a 30 yard free kick directly on goal, but Crepeau strongly punched the long drive away.

Following the completion of the 90 minutes of regular time the match moved to two 15 minute halves of extra time.

Just two minutes into the first period of extra time, USA’s Nathan Smith broke the deadlock with an absolutely stunning goal. Canada had not given up a single goal thus far in its five matches at the competition, but could do nothing about the quality of the strike from the USA defender. Left back Smith came in from the left flank and drove a beautiful dipping drive into the top right corner past an outstretched Crepeau from fully 35 yards out.

The USA added a second goal in the first extra time period as the excellent Andrew Oliver broke away from a tired Canada defence and beat Crepeau with a low shot. Oliver and the USA benefited from some confusion over who had won a throw-in and Oliver was able to surge past a surprised Canadian squad as he raced in alone from nearly the midfield line.

Alfred Koroma added a third USA goal in the final minute of the match as Canada pushed defenders forward in an effort to claw back into the match.

For the championship final, Canada’s starting XI featured Maxime Crépeau in goal, Marco Lapenna at left back, Daniel Stanese and Luca Gasparotto at centre back, Parker Seymour at right back, and Bryce Alderson, Keven Aleman, Jay Chapman, Michael Petrasso, Samuel Piette and Chris Nanco from the midfield up through to the attack.

Canada made three substitutions in the match, replacing Chapman, Petrasso, and Alderson for Jordan Hamilton (56th minute), Wesley Cain (67th minute), and Sali Jalali (101th minute).

The starting XI for USA, meanwhile, featured Kendall McIntosh in goal, Nathan Smith at left back, Andrews Souders and Zach Carroll at centre back, Joe Amon at right back, Matt Dunn, Marc Pelosi, Esteban Rodriguez and Dillon Serna at midfield, and Andrew Oliver and Mario Rodriguez up front.

Four days before the final, Canada qualified for the FIFA U-17 World Cup for the fifth time in Association history. The FIFA U-17 World Cup Mexico 2011 runs this 18 June to 10 July.