Taking a look at Canada's impressive 1-0 victory over Belarus Tuesday evening.
First, let's paint you a picture. The team was staying at a lavish resort in an area on the Mediterranean I like to call the Turkish Riviera. That should give you an idea of what it looks like. Then there was big hotels, golf courses, beaches, and swimming pools. Ataturk Stadium is an older 10,000 seater in the centre of the city of Antalya. The stadium isn't much, but the pitch was excellent.
We got there before the team and when I walked onto the pitch. It looked like the far touchline was a mile away. I didn't want to feel stupid and say it out loud. Not like I've never been wrong before. My suspicions were confirmed though when head coach Stephen Hart took one look at it and marvelled at the width. He then proceeded to pace it off at about 76 yards. That's some pitch. The match was basically played in front of a bunch of empty seats. There was no interest in Turkey to watch two foreign nations go at it I suppose.
Canada started in what Hart described to me as a 4-2-1-3 formation. Atiba Hutchinson and Will Johsnon were sitting in front of the back four. Pedro Pacheco patrolled the midfield in front of them and right behind Rob Friend. Josh Simpson and Simeon Jackson roamed the wings left and right respectively. Right from the outset, the formation paid dividends. Using the wing players effectively and with Hutchinson and Johnson controlling the midfield, Canada launched attack after attack. The missing ingredient (haven't we seen this before?) was the final pass or the finishing touch.
Canada dominated that first half with four corner kicks. In fact, goalkeeper Milan Borjan never touched the ball for the first 20 minutes. Although Belarus did gain some momentum as the match wore on, they never threw anything at Canada that they couldn't turn aside.
The performance of goalkeeping tandem Milan Borjan and Lars Hirschfeld will leave Canadian supporters pleased and probably relieved. Let's face it; goalkeeping has been an issue in recent years. Borjan didn't have a lot to do but made a couple of key saves and distributed the ball with authority. Belarus tested Hirschfeld more prolifically in the second half couldn't find a way to beat him. He was commanding in his presence and authoritative in his shot stopping; He bobbled one attempt but quickly recovered. He also collided awkwardly with defender Kevin McKenna late in the game causing an anxious moment, but the peril vanished without danger.
The back four of Klukowski, McKenna, Hainault and Ledgerwood never put a foot wrong. There may have been a couple of ill-advised back passes, but nothing too serious. Ledgerwood got the start because as Hart said "he trained very well this week." Will Johnson and Atiba Hutchinson both had strong games. It's a continuing story for Hutchinson and an emerging one for Johnson who seems to get better each time out. Pedro Pacheco is quick. There's a role for him on this team. Hart has always known it.
I thought Simeon Jackson struggled at times. But this team is playing so well, that anyone who is less than excellent gets noticed. Rob Friend had a strong game in my opinion. He should have scored early in the game but the keeper made a quick reaction save. His size and physical strength caused all kinds of trouble for the Belarus backline. If there is one complaint, it would be the inability to finish in the first half when the chances were there. That was the theme in the dressing room during half time. But this time, they excelled in the second half thanks to Andre Hainault's 58th minute winner.
A reminder, you can see it all on Soccercentral Saturday and on our website as well. We will also have feature reports on several Canadian players over the course of the next few weeks.
