Canada destroyed Guatemala 3-0 in a Gold Cup quarter-final match in which Guatemala was fortunate to get the nothing. Canada dominated from the start and Guatemala had no answer to a team that controlled the game in all areas of the field.

There might have been a few eyebrows raised when Coach Stephen Hart recalled midfielders Patrice Bernier and Martin Nash in place of Issy Nakijima-Ferran and Chris Pozniak. As it turned out the Guatemalans hardly got close to Nash all afternoon and Atiba Hutchinson and Julian De Guzman were given free rein to control the midfield. De Guzman must have covered every blade of grass at least twice while Hutchinson exhibited a fantastic change of pace when breaking from the midfield.

As expected, Guatemala started the game defending deep and allowing Canada possession. However, after a lapse in concentration led to Canada’s first goal Guatemala found it impossible to adjust from their one-dimensional game. The second goal scored by Ali Gerba was probably as nice a goal as Canada as ever scored. A series of one touch passes eventually found Gerba unmarked in the centre of the penalty box and he powered a side-footed shot high into the Guatemalan net.

The third goal that came before half-time was an own-goal courtesy of Henry Medina. Even at 3-0 down Guatemala was unable to mount any kind of threatening attack and Canadian goalkeeper Pat Onstad’s only action came when he was put under pressure and had to hack away a ball that had been played back to him.

Altogether an exceptional performance from Canada and now a Gold Cup semi-final game waits on Wednesday at Soldier Field in Chicago against the host country. 

Officiating - Referee Courtney Campbell of Jamaica had an outstanding game with one exception. The elbow thrown by Carlos Ruiz that cut Richard Hastings should have been a straight red card. Instead Ruiz got away with a yellow.

As the Canada – Haiti match coincided with part of the FSR last night I didn’t get a chance to see the full game until today.

An improved performance by Canada – they played at a higher pace and kept Haiti under pressure when they had the ball. Toronto’s Chris Pozniak came into the side to play as the defensive midfield player, while Atiba Hutchinson dropped a bit deeper to play alongside Julian De Guzman in the centre of midfield. Over the ninety minutes the two moves gave Canada a more solid look in the engine room although the price paid was a lack of support to Rob Friend who played as the lone striker. 

Dwayne De Rosario’s two goals inside five minutes just after the half hour mark of the first half put Canada in the driver’s seat. The first came after a Stalteri cross that bypassed striker Rob Friend but dropped to De Rosario. The Haiti keeper got caught out badly at his near post. The second was from the penalty spot when the lively Issey Nakajima-Farran was fouled after nipping around a defender. The power in De Rosario’s spot kick compensated for a placement that was a bit to close to goalkeeper Gabart Fenelon for comfort.

Either side of half time Haiti enjoyed their best spell and that lasted for around twenty minutes. During that time Canada lost their way defensively and needed keeper Pat Onstad to come to the rescue on at least three occasions. In one case Onstad took a sickening shot to the head as he dove at an on-rushing Haitian forward. After a delay of over five minutes Onstad continued on.

Going into the last eight of the Gold Cup (opponents still not known) the centre of the Canadian defense is probably the biggest concern. Under any sort of pressure Hastings and Hainault look very uncomfortable. Despite De Rosario’s two goals against Haiti there were long stretches of the game when he was not involved in the game as he was left marooned out on the left wing. To be consistently successful Canada has to find a way to bring De Rosario into the game for longer stretches.

Ian Hume was left on the Canadian bench again – something that I think surprises many people while Rob Friend could have benefited with more support up front. He was left to plough a lone furrow with minimal support from midfield.

A post-script to how Guadeloupe stacks up against other teams in the region. In the Shell Caribbean Cup of 2007 – the qualifying competition for this Gold Cup – Guadeloupe played eleven games, winning seven and losing four. They beat French Saint-Martin, Dominica, Martinique, Dominican Republic, Antigua & Barbuda, Cuba and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. They lost to Guyana twice, Haiti and Cuba. In total they scored 22 goals and conceded 14.

After a 2-2 draw with the Columbus Crew Toronto fans are left to decide whether the glass is half full or half empty. While scoring their first goal and gaining their first point on the road is another step forward, Toronto will feel that they let a chance to gain something greater get away.

While most MLS teams have international call ups to worry about in the next few weeks the problem has already hit Toronto. Both Carl Robinson (Wales) and Andrew Boyens (New Zealand) were called up for a friendly in Cardiff and it forced Coach Maurice Johnston to make changes to a side that had been fairly settled over the last four games.

In came Marco Reda as a straight switch for Boyens at centre back while Canadian Chris Pozniak came in to make his first start at left midfield. In turn Andy Welsh moved to the right side of midfield and Ronnie O’Brien took over Robinson’s spot in the centre of midfield. Also coming into the TFC side was striker Jeff Cunningham who arrived this week from Real Salt Lake in exchange for Alecko Eskandarian.

It was, however, a Columbus Crew striker who made the biggest impact in the first half. Making a return after a four-game suspension for elbowing,  Andy Herron took advantage of sloppy Toronto defending to score twice before being forced to leave the game due to a thigh injury with less than forty minutes played.

Both Crew goals left Toronto defender Marvell Wynne badly exposed after poor positional play and marking by the Toronto central defenders. In between the two Columbus goals Toronto had equalized through a classic big-man wee-man combination of Dichio and Cunningham. After Dichio controlled and knocked down a long-ball to Cunningham, the new striker played a return pass that Dichio whipped past Andy Gruenebaum in the Crew goal from the edge of the penalty box.

Mo Johnston must have administered his own form of the air dryer at half time as a more defensively sound and organized side appeared in the second half. And it didn’t take long for Toronto to tie the game up. Five minutes into the second half a simple but well executed free kick routine saw Jim Brennan hammer home a shot from 30-plus yards out. However, given that the ball hit closer to the middle of the net than the corner you would have to question keeper Gruenebaum’s positioning. 

Columbus may have enjoyed more of the possession in the second-half but it was Toronto that created more scoring opportunities as Dichio drifted into deeper positions and left space behind the Crew defense for Cunningham to exploit with his pace. Cunningham took advantage and found himself with only the keeper to beat on a number of occasions but failed to score each time.

The draw leaves both teams on the same number of points but and with a number of challenges to overcome. Without Andy Herron the Columbus Crew attack looks as threatening as a rubber knife, while Toronto’s lack of squad depth could prove costly over the next six weeks.  

Next up for Toronto is a visit from the Colorado Rapids next Saturday while the following day the Crew is away to Chicago Fire.