For Canada’s national team, confidence is the name of the game at the moment.
Les Rouges were brimming with it on Monday night after a resounding 3-0 win in Puerto Rico. The victory was Canada’s second in a row, coming three days after a 1-0 win against Guatemala, and gives the squad some much-needed momentum heading into World Cup qualifying in June and the CONCACAF Gold Cup in July.
The Puerto Rico game also provided highlight moments for a pair of players, as both Orlando City SC’s first-overall pick Cyle Larin and Randy Edwini-Bonsu scored their first career goals for Canada’s senior national team.
“It feels good to get back into the rhythm of scoring,” said the 19-year-old Larin. “I’m happy I scored my first goal for my country. Scoring gives you a lot of confidence and I think that’s important for me, to go back to Orlando with a lot of confidence so I can go and start scoring for them.”
Larin isn’t the only MLS youngster who got a boost in this Canadian camp. Maxim Tissot, 22, of the Montreal Impact started both games, and was feeling pretty comfortable by the time the second half of Monday’s game rolled around.
“The group feels good and it feels good to have two victories,” Tissot said. “It gives us a lot of confidence. The next games are still a few months away, but we need a foundation from these two games and we built it with these two wins.”
Canada’s next games are World Cup qualifiers against Dominica in June, and head coach Benito Floro believes that Monday’s showdown in Puerto Rico provided some valuable preparation.
“We are going to play Dominica on a pitch similar to this one tonight in these conditions, so it has been a good test,” Floro said. “We consider this game is a good practice to play against Dominica.”
Indeed, Puerto Rico (No. 160 in the latest FIFA rankings) and Dominica (No. 181) are likely to provide a similar level of competition for the Canadians. But Floro was quick to put Monday evening’s result into perspective.
“We knew the opponent had a lot of under-23 players with about four experienced players,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter because our intention was to develop the same tactical subjects like pressing and maintaining a good formation. The victory and performance, we consider those to be good.
“We have a lot of respect for Dominica, because the most important thing is to win the qualification game.”
Still, it was tough for Canadian fans – and some of the team’s young players – not to get excited about Monday’s result, especially given the hardships the team has endured over the last several years. And with a year of important games ahead, the program will gladly accept all the good vibes it can get.
“We believe in our chances, not only in the qualifiers but in the Gold Cup as well,” said Tissot. “The group is confident and I think we can do some good this summer.”
