Brimming with confidence after climbing 38 spots in the FIFA rankings, Canada will try to book its spot in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup when it takes on Guatemala on Saturday afternoon.

The quarter-final encounter between the two countries at Gillette Stadium, in Foxborough, Mass., comes three days after Canada shot up to No. 56 in the monthly rankings published by FIFA, soccer's world governing body.

Dwayne De Rosario powered Canada to the quarter-finals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup with two goals against Haiti last Monday.
(Alan Diaz/Associated Press)

Canada, ranked No. 94 in May, made the big jump thanks to a pair of victories over Costa Rica and Haiti at the Gold Cup, a biennial tournament for national teams from North and Central America, and the Caribbean.

The Canadian team finished the round-robin portion of the competition with two wins and one loss (to Guadalupe) and six points to secure first place in Group A. Dwayne De Rosario scored twice as Canada defeated Haiti 2-0 on Monday in Miami, helping his country earn a spot in the quarter-finals.

If Canada can get past Guatemala, it will move on to the semifinals next Thursday in Chicago where it will take on the winner of Saturday's United States-Panama quarter-final contest.

De Rosario gave Canada a 1-0 lead over Haiti in the 32nd minute when the Houston Dynamo star took a long, lofty cross from Paul Stalteri on the right side and hit a one-time volley from almost parallel to the goal-line past goalkeeper Gabart Fenelon.

"My game is to create and score goals and when I get a chance at that in the box my main objective is to see if I can score," De Rosario said. "The goalie came off the post anticipating the cross. I just hit it low as hard as I could and fortunately it went in the back of the net."

Just three minutes later, De Rosario converted on a penalty kick after Issey Nakajima-Farran was fouled by a Haitian defender inside the penalty area. Fenelon got a piece of De Rosario's low shot inside the left post, but there was still enough pace on the ball to give Canada a 2-0 lead.

That was all the offence Canada needed, as goalkeeper Pat Onstad made a handful of big saves in the second half to preserve the victory.

"The players did a tremendous job pulling themselves together after the loss on Saturday [to Guadeloupe]," said coach Stephen Hart.

"After reviewing the tape against Guadeloupe, I felt we didn't play badly, we just failed to capitalize on our chances. We knew that to get a result against Haiti would require more discipline and patience. I think we accomplished that."

The quarter-final round continues on Sunday in Houston when Mexico takes on Costa Rica and Honduras faces Guadalupe.

The Gold final is slated for June 24 in Chicago.