Canada are about to do something they haven’t been able to do very often in the last few years – try to build off of a victory.
The team earned their first win of 2015 on Friday, a 1-0 result in a friendly against Guatemala in which striker Marcus Haber’s early goal was the difference. The 26-year-old, making his 13th appearance for the senior national team, explained what that result could mean in the coming months.
“We view these friendlies as being as important as ever,” he said following Friday’s game. “We’re getting up to the real thing with the Gold Cup and World Cup qualifiers so it’s important we get some results, and everyone’s happy for sure.”
Canada get back into action against Puerto Rico in a friendly on Monday, their final match before a summer that includes World Cup qualifying in June and the Gold Cup in July. Assuming Canada triumph in their early-round World Cup qualifiers against either Dominica or the British Virgin Islands, they’ll embark on another difficult qualifying journey through the CONCACAF region.
It’s a region where Canada have often found themselves troubled by weather conditions and controversial decisions by referees. There was a little bit of both on display Friday, with heavy wind throughout the game and Haber being denied what seemed to be a clear penalty shout in the second half.
“I thought I had a penalty,” said Haber. “But you never know what you’re going to get so you just try to keep playing and hope for the next one.”
As for the weather, head coach Benito Floro said it did have an effect on Canada’s game – albeit a counterintuitive one.
“It was a very good game for us because the wind favoured us in the first half and the players really didn’t know how to handle that,” said Floro. “We didn’t play well except for only 10 minutes in the first half. In the second half, when we were going into the wind, I think the team played very well.”
Despite that, Floro was pleased with the result, especially considering that Canada were missing several regulars, including midfield stalwart Atiba Hutchinson.
“This game was important for us with the victory and how we played.”
Haber was also pleased with his squad’s ability to grind out a win in adverse conditions – especially since Canada will have to face plenty of adverse conditions once they begin travelling down the long and winding road to Russia 2018.
“We know that playing in CONCACAF it’s going to be hot weather a lot of the time and we’re going to need everyone,” he said. “We feel good as a team and we’ve got good depth and players that can contribute all over the park, and the players that came off the bench gave us a lift.”
