CARSON, Calif. -- Canada was more or less happy with the scoreless draw against El Salvador in its CONCACAF Gold Cup opener Wednesday night, exiting with the understanding that there's plenty of room for improvement, especially in the attack, when the team gets to Houston.
The Canadians were certainly sharp defensively, limiting El Salvador to handful of opportunities -- all in the first half -- despite nearly constant forays forward. That's no surprise; they've been astoundingly good at the back this year as Spanish coach Benito Floro's revolution takes hold.
Floro, two years into the job, has emphasized tactical acumen as he looks to build Canada's national team into a regional power, at the very least, and the numbers look good.
They haven't conceded a goal since January's friendlies against Iceland in Orlando, Fla.. In fact they've posted five successive clean sheets, first in March friendlies against Guatemala and Puerto Rico, then in both legs of last month's World Cup qualifiers against Dominica, and now in the Group B openers at StubHub Center. That brings their shutout streak to 475 minutes.
“We take a lot of pride in that. We work hard at it,” said David Edgar, a center back from Birmingham City in England who captained Canada. “I think it is [a product of Floro's work]. He's very keen on defensive shape, and we work a lot as a back four, back five, pushing up and dropping off. It's down to the work we do on the [training] pitch, and we're happy with that."
Edgar and former D.C. United defender Dejan Jakovic teamed in the middle, with Marcel de Jong and Nik Ledgerwood wide and Adam Straith in front of the backline, and they left the Salvadorans little space to maneuver in the final third.
El Salvador created a few solid chances in the first 45 minutes but found no satisfaction. Irvin Herrera forced Kenny Stamatopoulos to parry sharp shots in the 26th and 27th minutes, and Richard Menjivar might have sliced through three defenders in a run to the right post in the 45th minute, but there was no space for him to find a teammate once he got there.
“We knew [El Salvador had] good technical players with a lot of fans behind them,” said de Jong, who joined Sporting Kansas City this year after five years in Germany with Augsburg. “They were good in the first 70 yards of the field, but the last 30 meters, they didn't have the big chances, maybe one or two. I thought we did well.”
Edgar agreed.
“I think we defended as a unit quite well,” he said. “We restricted them to a few chances, long shots and crosses that we dealt with quite easily. We're happy with that defense. Now we move onto the offensive side, and we've just got to regroup and move on, hopefully take our chances when they come next game.”
Canada hasn't scored in its last four Gold Cup matches -- they were shut out in all three of their 2013 outings. They also have just two goals, both on Dwayne De Rosario penalty kicks in 2011, in their last seven games in the tournament. They should have scored at least one Wednesday, but Cyle Larin missed on an open net in the 36th minute.
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“I think we should have won,” de Jong said. “We had some good opportunities but, unfortunately, didn't score. The biggest thing is we didn't lose, and no goals against. We stayed calm, didn't panic, and, overall, we were satisfied. But we know we can do a lot better than this.”
Meanwhile Costa Rica and Jamaica tied in the opener of Wednesday's double-header. That means both of those teams, as well as Canada and El Salvador, are all even on points, and all head to Houston for a Saturday showdown. Canada faces off against Jamaica, and Costa Rica plays El Salvador. Who advances to the quarterfinals likely will be determined in the final twin bill Tuesday night in Toronto, when Canada will meet Costa Rica.
