It was always going to be tough for Canada to reach the FIFA Under-20 World Cup – and things just got a whole lot tougher.
A heartbreaking 3-2 stoppage-time loss to El Salvador on Thursday leaves Canada with just three points after three matches at the CONCACAF U-20 Championship. The team will now likely need to win its final two group-stage matches, against Cuba and Honduras, to keep its hopes of World Cup qualification alive.
But according to head coach Rob Gale, now isn’t the time to lose faith.
“We haven’t become a bad team overnight here,” Gale said after the game. “It’s the challenges of Canadian soccer with players not playing regular matches and in these types of conditions at this time of year, so we want to respond and rebuild and build momentum.”
Indeed, the heat in Jamaica has appeared to cause problems for Gale’s side – a recurring historical theme for Canadian teams in CONCACAF play – though the head coach isn’t looking to use it as an excuse.
“We have to respond and regroup,” he said. “We’ve tried to freshen the pack and keep as many legs as we can. With the draw we knew we were going to have more games than anybody else in the middle of the day in the heat. It’s not an excuse. We have to come to terms with that.”
The schedule and conditions have put a strain on Canada’s depth; the team was already missing Dylan Carreiro and Fraser Aird, who weren’t released by their club teams for the tournament. Sam Adekugbe also missed Thursday’s game with an injury, while Hanson Boakai (pictured above) came into the tournament nursing an injury of his own.
That didn’t stop Hanson, the FC Edmonton starlet, from making an instant impact upon entering the game at halftime, as he scored just two minutes after the break to knot the score at one apiece.
“At halftime we made a tactical change and looked to occupy spaces higher up the field and move the ball better,” said Gale. “It was a great goal from [Boakai]. Unfortunately he took a knock right after that.”
Despite the obstacles and the setback on Thursday, Canada’s hopes of reaching the World Cup are still alive. But given the result against El Salvador, Gale knows that there is no margin for error against Cuba (Jan. 19) and Honduras (Jan. 22).
“We’ve got two very difficult opponents that will be very similar and used to these kinds of conditions so we will respond in the right way and make sure we get it right in the next game.”
