Late substitution Ali Gerba scored a late goal to help the Canadian men's national team to a 2-2 draw with Venezuela in their final friendly before the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Toronto's Dwayne De Rosario also scored for Canada, which was playing its first game against the South American nation. 

Canada opened the scoring just three minutes into the game when striker Rob Friend crossed a ball that De Rosario headed into the goal. It was the eighth career national team goal for De Rosario, a midfielder with Major League Soccer's Houston Dynamo.  

Canadian interim coach Stephen Hart was pleased with his team's performance, but would like to see the club play a consistent 90 minutes.

"We started out playing really well," he said. "After we scored early, we came off the accelerator a little bit."

Alejandro Cichero put Venezuela on the board midway through the first half off a free kick from Ricardo Paez. Just two minutes later, Giancarlo Maldonado hopped on a loose ball in the box and found the back of the net to give the South Americans a 2-1 edge after 45 minutes. 

Canada carried most of the play in the match, but couldn't find the net until five minutes left in the second half. Gerba, a Montreal native, subbed in for Friend in the 82nd minute and made his mark shortly after with his second career goal for the national team.

''It was really good for us to play Venezuela,'' said Hart. ''They play much like Costa Rica. It was also extremely hot down here.''

Canada flies back to Florida Saturday to begin its final preparations for the Gold Cup, a 12-team continental championship for North and Central America and the Caribbean. 

Canada is slotted in Group A and plays its first game against Costa Rica on Wednesday. Canada also plays Guadeloupe (June 9) and Haiti (June 11) in the first round. All three games will be held in Miami.

Group B features the defending champion United States, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Trinidad and Tobago, with games in Carson, Calif., and Foxboro, Mass.

Group C is made up of four-time champion Mexico, Cuba, Honduras, and Panama with games in East Rutherford, N.J., and Houston.

The top two teams in each group and the two best third-place teams advance to the second round.

The final is scheduled for June 24 in Chicago. 

With files from the Canadian Press