CONCACAF U17 Championship: Canada Eliminated

Canada was officially eliminated from the CONCACAF Men’s Under-17 Championship today after an unexpected turn of events in the final five minutes of its match against Cuba. Up a goal (Justin Maheu) and a man (Cuban ejection) but in need of more goals to advance, Canada pushed forward with its back end left open and gave up two goals to Cuba’s striker Yaudel Lahera Garcia.

As unbelievable as it should finish, Lahera scored once on a penalty and then again on a breakaway after an apparent penalty was missed at the other end of the pitch.

“I think we created more than enough opportunities,” said coach Sean Fleming. “Unfortunately, we had a couple of mental lapses on the defensive side and I guess we just didn’t have the fortune of luck today.”

After barely missing the net on what would have been a glorious header, Kevin Cobby was called for a foul near the centre line. The resulting sequence pushed the Canadian defence back before Feras Samain missed a clearing opportunity just above the box. The referee blew the whistle after the Canadian defender knocked Osvaldo Lemus Gonzalez to the ground.

Lahera’s goal made it 1-1, but Canada returned immediately on the attack. Abdoulaye Sylla fanned on a shot and then Cobby missed the net just a few minutes later. In the 92nd minute, however, Hoilett was clearly tripped in the box with the whistle nestled in the referee’s pocket for the play. Not hearing the whistle, Cuba sent a long pass to Lahera who walked in alone for his second goal of the match.

This time, Lahera did not bother lifting his shirt to reveal the undershirt message in celebration. The referee did, though, take notice of Canadian coach Sean Fleming’s comments and quickly removed him from the game.

“I think there may have been 10 or 12 pretty clear-cut chances on goal,” said Fleming. “You score half of those and you put a lot of pressure on Honduras to tie USA or to lose by just one or two. I appreciate how the players just kept going right to the end.”

A few minutes later, it was all over as Canada lost its second-straight match of the competition. Despite creating plenty of chances and even taking a late lead, Canada ultimately lost 1:2 to Cuba.

In the first 45 minutes, Canada carried most of the play without breaking the score. Right from the opening whistle, Canada was creating chances, the first coming on a Russell Teibert free kick to the right of the Cuban goal. Moments later, Canada forced its first of three first-half corner kicks down the left side. Shortly thereafter, it was striker Justin Maheu with a header in the right direction, but not enough power to break the goal line.

In the 25th minute, Francesco Augustin volleyed a pass to Hoilett who accepted the pass and squared himself on target. His shot, however, was stopped by the diving Cuban goalkeeper. Almost seven minutes later, Sylla had a bit of a run down the right side, but his low shot missed the opposite post by a few yards.

In the second half, Canada was back on the attack with more chances within the first 10 minutes. Sylla fired a shot in the 51st minute which translated into three ensuing corner kicks in less than a minute. In the 61st minute, coach Fleming replaced defender Karl Ouimette with forward Jordan Ongaro. Within two minutes of his entry, Ongaro nearly opened the score with a header. He was stopped by the Cuban goalkeeper Odisnel Cooper Despaigne. Within the same minute, Cooper made another save, this time on Maheu.

The chances kept coming. In the 62nd minute, Maheu fired a shot high over the net. Three minutes later, Canada had a few more bounces in front of the net without capitalizing on goal. In the 71st minute, Hoilett fired a shot from distance to which the goalkeeper dove and stopped.

Finally in the 76th minute, Maheu climbed the defence and headed home a goal for a 1-0 Canadian lead.

As fate would have it, today was not Canada’s day, even after going a man up just a few moments later. Cuba’s Yordan Exposito Perez was removed after drawing his second yellow card of the game. In the last five minutes, Garcia gave Cuba its redemption with a pair of goals to the back of the Canadian net.

Canada Lineup
Richard Causton, Feras Samain, Derrick Bassi, Karl Ouimette, Francesco Augustin, Russell Teibert, Jonathan Lao, Kevin Cobby, Abdoulaye Sylla, Jaineil Hoilett, Justin Maheu

Audio
Sean Fleming Reaction Part 1
Sean Fleming Reaction Part 2

1st Half

2nd Half