Toronto — That’s more like it!
Canada salvaged some pride and stemmed the growing tide of fan unrest and media criticism by cruising to a 4-0 victory over St. Kitts and Nevis Tuesday night before an announced crowd of 10,235 at BMO Field.
Dwayne De Rosario led the way for the Reds in a World Cup qualifying match, scoring his 19th goal for the national team to tie Dale Mitchell’s record as Canada’s all-time leading scorer.
Tosaint Ricketts added two goals for Canada, who completed the second round of CONCACAF qualifying with an unbeaten record (4-2-0) and outscored the opposition 18-1.
Tuesday’s goal-fest was the perfect reply from a Canadian team that put in a dire performance the last time out.
Canada was shockingly held to a 0-0 draw away to St. Kitts last Friday, outplayed and outworked by the humble side from the West Indies. Still the result was enough to see the Canadians advance to the third round of the CONCACAF qualifiers where they will compete in a group with Cuba, Panama and Honduras starting next summer.
Though Tuesday’s match was meaningless from a standings perspective, coach Stephen Hart used it as an opportunity to experiment.
In total, Hart made six changes to the starting lineup he employed against the Sugar Boyz in Basseterre, bringing in goalkeeper Kenny Stamatopoulos, defender Ashtone Morgan, midfielders Patrice Bernier and Nik Ledgerwood, and forwards Olivier Occean and Ricketts.
Ranked 83rd in the world by FIFA, Canada has come under heavy condemnation for its lack of offence in the qualifiers thus far – half of its 14 goals before Tuesday came in a 7-0 whitewash of lowly St. Lucia, and the Reds were held to goal-less stalemates in their last two matches.
With that in mind, it was hardly a surprise to see Hart introduce Occean and Ricketts up front, augmenting the attacking talents of De Rosario and Josh Simpson.
Hart’s roster shuffle paid off. Ricketts made the most of his first start for his country, causing plenty of problems for St. Kitts down the right flank with his speed and effectively linking up with Occean.
Hart praised Ricketts for his solid effort.
“Ricketts on the right stretched them a lot, gave room to the midfield so we could pass the ball better,” Hart said.
Hart also called attention to youngsters Morgan, David Edgar and Adam Straith.
“Now (we’re) showing that maybe we have a little more depth than we thought,” Hart stated.
After Friday’s debacle in St. Kitts, Hart said the Canadian players owed it to the fans to come out with more passion this time around.
“Our mentality right from the kickoff was to put them under pressure, try to create (scoring) opportunities and be a little more composed in front of net,” Hart explained.
It was the 109th-ranked St. Kitts who carved out the first scoring opportunity early on, with George Isaac slamming a shot against the post from the edge of the 18-yard area.
Canada broke the deadlock in the 27th minute on a well-worked set piece. De Rosario played a shot corner kick to Will Johnson, who hit it first time across the box to the back post for Occean to bury.
Occean’s goal ended Canada’s scoring drought at 211 minutes.
The Canadians had the momentum and continued to press, leading to Ricketts being hacked down inside the box. De Rosario converted from the penalty spot in the 36th minute to effectively put the game beyond the islanders’ reach.
De Rosario felt honoured to tie the record held by Mitchell, who played for Canada at the 1986 World Cup and coached the team from 2007 to 2009.
“Dale was a great player. He’s been a great role model for us in Canada. He’s held that (record) for a long time and to be along the same line as that is a great feeling,” De Rosario said.
Simpson scored on a header off a corner kick just before the halftime whistle to make it 3-0. The rout was on.
Simpson should have scored on another header into an empty net early in the second half, but he managed to send his effort over the crossbar.
Canada dominated possession the rest of the way, and sealed the win in the 88th minute when Ricketts stabbed home a rebound off a De Rosario shot.
NOTES: Canada’s schedule in the next round of World Cup qualifying sees it play away to Cuba (June 8), Panama (Sept. 11) and Honduras (Oct. 16). The Canadians host Honduras on June 12, Panama on Sept. 7, and Cuba on Oct. 12. Locations for the matches will be announced in early 2012 … With Tuesday’s win, Canada extended its unbeaten run to eight consecutive matches. The Canadians also broke a record for most consecutive shutouts (five) and set the second-longest shutout streak in team history at 533 minutes – eight minutes off the record.