WASHINGTON – Tuesday night's international friendly between Canada and Ghana at RFK Stadium was one of the stranger nights in recent memory at a venue that has witnessed more than half a century's worth of quirky occasions.
The quality on the field was substantial, with two motivated squads playing out an entertaining 1-1 draw full of attacking intent. But far from either team's infrastructure or native fan base, there was a surreal quality to the off-field environment.
The Canadian players, motivated to perform ahead of World Cup qualifying, seized the moment and should look back fondly on an occasion that may prove to be a foundation for future success.
“It's been a great challenge for us and a required challenge for our programs moving forward, when we can play a team like Ghana, ranked 25th in the world,” said Canada assistant coach Michael Findlay, deputizing on the night for head man Benito Floro, who was with the Under-23 national team for their Olympic qualifying finale.
“So we're very pleased to see this evening's performance, we're very pleased with the application of our players, and at the end of the day, we might've been unlucky not to even get a victory. But that's football, and we'll move forward and use this as an opportunity to build toward Honduras.”
Les Rouges had lined up the West African contenders as preparation for next month's World Cup qualifying showdown with Los Catrachos, Canada's CONCACAF bogey team of late. Despite a bevy of new and youngish faces in the lineup, Findlay's squad dealt well with Ghana's speed, strength and dynamism, passing out of pressure and connecting intelligently to create a hatful of scoring chances beyond the long-range rocket that left back Marcel de Jong netted in the first half.
“It's been a while!” joked de Jong of his 35-yard blast into the top corner. “No, I don't think I ever scored one like that.
“We've been showing for the last couple of games that we're a team that's hard to beat, and I think today especially, with the team we have and the team we usually have, that's a really, really good performance for us and a good result.”
Perhaps most impressively, Canada achieved all this while handing international debuts to a whopping six players: Charlie Trafford, Kianz Froese, Wandrille Lefèvre and the elusive Junior Hoilett earned starts, while Marco Bustos and Fraser Aird came off the bench later.
It was clear that Floro's extended training camp near Orlando over the past week-plus had a positive effect, with everyone in red looking purposeful and confident in the flexible 4-3-3/4-5-1 formation that seems the likely approach for the tough qualifiers ahead.
“What you saw tonight was players who have come in and spent the week with us in Florida under a tactical plan that's been developed by Benito and applied very well,” said Findlay. “The players who came in, they gelled extremely well with the group this week, they took in the information very responsibly, and we saw the evidence tonight.
“We had some players that were inserted into some very key areas of the park – central defense, in attack, in central midfield. We had a very young midfield. So in terms of how they performed and how they applied themselves, we were extremely pleased and Benito will be extremely pleased. … There'll be some players here that will make our decisions, and Benito's ultimate decisions, very difficult.”
Findlay was careful to note that Canada's optimism was tempered by the defensive breakdown that allowed Ghana's Albert Adomah to equalize just seconds before halftime. Such small blips in concentration are often punished in high-stakes settings. Yet the overall tone of ambition and positivity offers fans a welcome shift after the extended frustrations of the last few years.
“That is a process of maturing for this team; we need to learn how to manage games better, and hopefully we'll learn from that error,” said Findlay. “We are pleased that each and every one of the players that appeared tonight played with not just honor for the country, but a sense of pride and positive play that we've lacked. But we can't be satisfied – we didn't win the game.”
