No need for Canada to panic

By John F. Molinaro, CBCSports.ca

It was a Canada Day that Dale Mitchell would like to forget.

Canada stumbled to an embarrassing loss Sunday in its opening game at the FIFA U-20 World Cup, as Chile pasted Mitchell's squad 3-0 in Toronto to ruin the team's Canada Day festivities.

"It was an experience, but it was not an extremely pleasant one," Mitchell told reporters after the game. "It was tough for our boys. The better team won tonight, better in every department."

The loss puts the Canadian team in a difficult position in their opening-round group, though the host nation has two games to turn things around.

Still, Canada will need a far better effort if it has any chance of advancing in the tournament. Otherwise, it is doomed to exit this biennial competition in the first round for the second straight time.

Chilean midfielder Gerardo Cortez and Canadian defender Kent O'Connor battle for the ball on Sunday. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

Offensively, Canada struggled on Sunday, something they will have to improve on in their next game on Thursday against Austria.

Against Chile, midfield dynamo Jaime Peters barely made an impression as the Canadian attack sputtered along and failed to test Chilean goalkeeper Cristopher Toselli. Forward Andrea Lombardo saw very little of the ball, and was substituted early in the second half.

"A lot of things went wrong tonight," said Lombardo. "We conceded three goals and we just can't do that and expect to get anything. They were a strong team and they deserved the win."

Chile was without suspended forward Alexis Sanchez, touted as one of the best players in this tournament, but it hardly mattered. Playmaker Mathias Vidangossy ran the Canadian defence ragged with his probing runs in midfield, while Nicolas Medina, captain Carlos Carmona and Jaime Grondona supplied the goals.

Vidangossy was given way too much free room to operate, as Canadian defensive midfielder Jonathan Beaulieu-Bourgault struggled to contain the wily Chilean. Centre-back Marcus Haber was guilty of two defensive errors that both led to goals, and proved to be a defensive liability for Canada.

Outplayed, outclassed and outworked for 90 minutes, it would appear Canada is in big trouble. Congo and Austria play in Edmonton Monday and if one of those teams win, they'll sit in a first place tie with Chile and will stand three points ahead of Canada in the Group A standings.

It is important to remember, though, that even if Canada doesn't finish in first or second place in the group, it can still move on to the second round, since the four best third-place teams from the six opening-round groups also advance.

After the Chile game, Mitchell reminded reporters that Canada ended the first round of the 2003 tournament with just three points but advanced to the knockout round as one of the top third-place finishers.

The Canadians eventually advanced to the quarter-finals and were denied a spot in the semifinals when they lost a heartbreaker to Spain in extra time.

"There's still plenty to play for for our team and that's what I told our boys after the game," said Mitchell, adding that, "there's still six points on the table."