TORONTO – Victory at last for Team Canada.
The Canadian men's national team earned a 3-1 victory over Jamaica at BMO Field Tuesday night, the first win for new manager Benito Floro and their first since 2012. The former Real Madrid manager said he was happy with his side’s performance and was gracious in his “thank yous” for the congratulations afterward but was all business in his post-game news conference.
“I don’t like to speak in percentages,” Floro (pictured above) said of his team's progress since he took over in August 2013. “But, my idea, we are now 40 percent, so we need to increase a lot the pressing, throw-ins, and we need the forward wingers to look for the opponent’s back often. In front of the opponent’s defense, it’s very difficult to create a move. So, there are three offensive moves we need to [improve on].”
Floro added that the Canadian camp had planned for Jamaica’s physicality and speed, but it was still a facet of their game that left Canada exposed at times.
“The problem was we lost three throw-ins,” Floro said. “Throw-ins, I explain to my players always, is the most dangerous play in the game both offensively and defensively. We lost three throw-ins and the consequence, Jamaica developed three counterattacks.”
He also said, after his first time on the sidelines at BMO Field, that the grass at the stadium made for a fast-paced game, something that his side will adjust to in the future.
Though improvement will be the focus in the weeks ahead, on this night the players were all smiles after the match, celebrating a win they had been craving. It had been a long time since Canada last won a match – a two-year stretch, in fact, spanning 16 matches, adding even more meaning to a first win under Floro.
“It means everything,” midfielder Atiba Hutchinson told reporters after the game. “It’s been a while. We’ve all been working hard at it. It’s a bit of a building stage for us, but it’s always nice to come home and get the fans behind us; to get a win at the end of it, it’s a good feeling for us.”
Hutchinson worked in a three-man midfield alongside Montreal Impact defensive midfielder Patrice Bernier and former Toronto FC man Julian de Guzman. With Jamaica pressing forward in large numbers, Hutchinson and his two midfield teammates found plenty of space in the middle of the park to exploit, something Floro instilled in the team.
“There are a few things that we’ve been adding,” Hutchinson said. “Benito’s philosophy is a special philosophy, and we work on a lot of tactics. Today, we went out there and showed we trust him and believe in him.”
