Canada set to tangle with Jamaica at Gold Cup
Last Updated: Friday, July 3, 2009 | 2:36 PM ET
By Vijay Setlur, Special to CBC Sports
Ali Gerba, Atiba Hutchinson and Julian De Guzman should be in the starting lineup Friday when Canada takes on Jamaica at the CONCACAF Gold Cup. (Stephan Savoia/Associated Press)LONG BEACH, Calif. — Failure often leads to a desire for quick retribution.
Canada and Jamaica will get that opportunity when they square off at Home Depot Center Friday night to open the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The two teams couldn't be in more similar situations heading into the tournament, which crowns the soccer champion for North America, Central America and the Caribbean, as both are coming off disappointing World Cup qualifying campaigns.
In Jamaica's case, the disappointment was harder to handle.
After losing its first three matches, the Reggae Boyz stormed back to win its last three, only to fall just shy of advancing to the final qualifying round on goal differential to Mexico.
Canada simply failed to live up to expectations.
Despite starting the semifinal round of qualifying with a favourable schedule of two games at home, Canada could only get a single point from those games. The missed opportunity seemed to weigh heavily on Canada, which flamed out over the remaining four matches.
The poor performances prompted both countries to make coaching changes.
Jamaica didn't wait long, relieving Rene Simoes of his duties after just three games into the semifinal round. Long-time defender Theodore Whitmore replaced Simoes on an interim basis and led the team on its late run. He gave way to John Barnes, but then reclaimed the position after Barnes left in June for a coaching opportunity in England.
Fans disappointment
Canada didn't act as quickly, to many fans' disappointment, firing Dale Mitchell in May — five months after the fact — after taking time to assess the situation. The Canadian Soccer Association reinstated Stephen Hart on an interim basis for the rest of the year.
In his first go-around, Hart led Canada on a surprising run to the semifinals of the 2007 Gold Cup before being eliminated by the eventual champion United States. So, with coaches that produced results at the helm once again, Jamaica and Canada are looking to this year's Gold Cup to rebuild their programs.
"I think [Whitmore] has a done a good job with them in the past and he'll have them tight and organized and closing space down and trying to get behind us with their speed," Hart said. "We know what to expect, so I think it should be a very close game."
Still, that hasn't taken away from Hart's concerns coming in over proper match preparation, but he has tried to make the best of the situation. He was pleased with a week-long training camp at nearby Oxnard, Calif., that wrapped up with a 3-0 win over Guatemala in a friendly earlier this week.
Take some sting away
"Training has gone well," said Hart. "You'd always like to have that little extra game under your belt, but other than that things have gone well relatively injury free."
That should take some of the sting away from the absence of attacking midfielder Dwayne De Rosario, defender Adrian Serioux and striker Rob Friend.
Jamaica, in contrast, has a few matches under its belt in recent months and appears to be ready to pursue its first Gold Cup title. Whitmore has assembled one of the strongest teams in years.
"The only absentee we have now is veteran Ian Goodison, which we can't do anything about," said Whitmore. "But I'm pretty much happy with our preparation heading into the Gold Cup."
Luton Shelton and Ricardo Fuller lead an attack that will look to its speed along the flanks to create havoc for Canada's defence.
In anticipation of that tactic, Canadian goalkeepers Greg Sutton and Josh Wagenaar practised handling crosses into the penalty area with goalkeeper coach Paul Dolan during the team's training session Thursday.
Hart hasn't tipped his hat on who would start in goal, but the edge may go to the younger Wagenaar, who appears to be Canada's goalkeeper of the future.
Canada will look to its strength — the midfield — to drive the offence. Julian de Guzman, Atiba Hutchinson and Issey Nakajima-Farran will look to hold the ball away from Jamaica's outside threats and find young strikers Ali Gerba and Simeon Jackson up front.
Much more intriguing
The strikers will have to do a better at finishing, especially as they had trouble against Guatemala, despite Gerba's two goals.
That the two teams are familiar with each other makes Friday's match that much more intriguing.
Both were in the Group of Death in the semifinal round of qualifying and faced each other twice. After playing Canada to a draw at BMO Field last August, Jamaica won the rematch convincingly 3-0 in November at home in Kingston.
In both games, Jamaica's speed exploited Canada's veteran defence, which looked slow and uncoordinated. Therein may lie the key to the game.
Paul Stalteri, Richard Hastings and Kevin McKenna will anchor Canada's backline and must play well together to give either Wagenaar or Sutton a chance.
