Canada Humbled

Canada falls to USA in Morace’s debut
Carolina Morace will just have to wait for her first taste of victory while on home soil. Tonight’s match was her fifth as the head coach for the Canadian women’s national team and her first at home during the 2009 season, which unfortunately didn’t go as well as she would have liked. Canada suffered a 4:0 shut-out by the Americans in front of 10,255 spectators at the BMO Field in Toronto.

The Americans weren’t worried coming into tonight’s match – after all, they had won their last 18 games. In fact, they made double-sure that the Canadians felt their confidence by scoring twice in each half. Canada ended up losing for the first time in seven matches.

The visiting team didn’t waste any time; they got straight to the point. In the second minute of the game, forward player Shannon Boxx scored the first goal after making an incursion deep into the Canadian’s zone. Boxx waited until Canada’s defence backed up and then made a cross shot which flew by Karina LeBlanc, who dove in vain to the right trying to make the save.

Just before the half-time break, Meghan Rapinoe doubled the American’s lead during the last play of the first half. She took advantage of a sudden reversal mid-way in her opponent’s territory. Rapinoe cut the ball just outside the penalty box which seemed to bypass goalkeeper LeBlanc to her left and then made its way into the back of the net just inside the far post.

Canada did have a shining moment during the 17th minute of the match when Kelly Smith intercepted a pass right in the middle of the field and then took off with the ball into U.S. territory. Smithy glanced off the ball to her left where Christine Sinclair wasn’t quite comfortable with the angle in order to make the potentially deadly shot.

Canada put on the pressure around the American’s penalty box which created another good opportunity to score by the home team. At the 41st minute, Canada was awarded a short distance free kick and Kara Lang unfortunately shot the ball off-target to the left side of the American’s goal.

Coach Morace didn’t make any changes to the line-up for the second half, but Kara Lang forced a corner kick by pressing deep into the opposite zone at the 51st minute. Melissa Tancredi suffered from an obstruction in the American’s penalty area, but the referee let it slide and the game continued.

Jodi-Ann Robinson intercepted the ball at the axis during the 54th minute of the game. She thwarted the defence while preparing her shot, which unfortunately went high over the cross bar.

Robinson didn’t give up though – she made a free kick just outside the American’s penalty box during the 70th minute to no avail since forward Diana Matheson was quickly pushed back by the American’s defence.

Mere seconds later, Heather Riley from the US team cut her way through Canada’s goal zone, but her upward shot missed its target.

The American offensive continued to push into Canada’s territory where Lindsay Tarpley took advantage of the confusion in the front of Karina LeBlanc’s net during a corner kick to score the third goal for the U.S. at the 76th minute of play.

Pia Sundhage’s (American coach) players were unappeased because they came right back at the Canadian’s at full force as soon as the game picked up again. They made their fourth goal not long after during the 80th minute of play when Lauren Cheney head-deflected a center pass into the near corner of the goal.

The Candians just couldn’t come back in the second half after being dominated 9 to 3 in shots taken at the net. At the end of the match, the Americans had taken 16 shots for every three tried by the Canadians.

Morace isn’t the only one who will have to wait ; she wanted her first victory in Canada while both Christine Sinclair and her opponent Abby Wambach will also have to wait before crossing the hundred goal milestone. They have both made 99 intenational shots during their careers. There was disappointment all across the board as Karina LeBlanc mourned her lost opportunity of achieving her 30th clean sheet early on during the match.

Marie-Eve Nault made her first appearance at the 64th miunte of the match replacing Brittany Timko. At the 83rd minute, Alyssa Lagonia replaced Jodi-Ann Robinson and two minutes later, Carmelina Moscato switched it up with Candace Chapman.

This was Canada’s fifth match since the start of the 2009 season (2-2-1). On the other hand, the Americans remain unbeaten since their past five games of this year (4-0-1).

Tonight was the 45th meeting between Canada and the United States and the first held in Canada since 2001. This was also their first meeting since Canada lost at the hands of their southern neighbors during the quarter final stage of the Olympic Games in China last summer.

The teams will meet again on July 19 in Rochester, NY and then again three days later in Charleston, SC.

Canada vs USA International Friendly
May 25, 2009
BMO Field, Toronto

Attendance
10,255

Scoring Summary 1-2-F
USA – 2-2-4
CAN – 0-0-0

USA – Shannon Boxx (Heather Mitts) – 2nd minute
USA – Megan Rapinoe (Heather O’Reilly) – 46
USA – Lindsay Tarpley – 77
USA – Lauren Cheney (Heather O’Reilly) – 80

USA Lineup
1-Hope Solo (18-Nicole Barnhart, 46); 2-Heather Mitts (19-Marian Dalmy, 61), 3-Christie Rampone – Capt., 6-Amy LePeilbet (4-Rachel Buehler, 46), 17-Lori Chalupny, 9-Heather O’Reilly, 16-Angela Hucles (13-Christine Nairn, 83), 7-Shannon Boxx, 15-Megan Rapinoe (5-Lindsay Tarpley, 61), 8-Amy Rodriguez (12-Lauren Cheney, 77), 20-Abby Wambach

Subs not used
11-Casey Nogueira, 14-Brittany Bock, 24-Kelsey Davis

Injured
10-Carli Lloyd

Head Coach
Pia Sundhage

CANADA Lineup
1-Karina LeBlanc; 3-Melanie Booth (14-Melissa Tancredi, 46), 9-Candace Chapman (23-Carmelina Moscato 84), 10-Martina Franko, 17-Brittany Timko (20-Marie-Eve Nault, 64); 15-Kara Lang, 19-Kelly Parker, 8-Diana Matheson, 7-Rhian Wilkinson, 21-Jodi-Ann Robinson (4-Alyssa Lagonia, 83), 12-Christine Sinclair – Capt.

Subs not used
2-Emily Zurrer, 5-Chelsea Stewart, 6-Kaylyn Kyle, 11-Christina Julien, 16-Jonelle Filigno, 22-Stephanie Labbé

Head Coach
Carolina Morace

Statistical Summary CAN-USA
Shots: 6-19
Shots on Goal: 1-7
Saves: 3-1
Corner Kicks: 3-8
Fouls: 10-6
Offside: 5-1

Misconduct Summary:
CAN – Candace Chapman (caution) – 57th minute