So Has Canada Improved

By Jamie Doyle SportsNet

LEARNING FROM GOLD CUP FAILURE
Four wins, two draws, one round done, two (fingers crossed) remaining. A job well done – or was it?

Canada coming through the first round of World Cup qualifying unbeaten is no monumental triumph, even if they did make it heart-stopping for fans at times.

But merely winning the games and advancing out of the group wasn’t really the point, was it? Call that Job No. 1, sure, but despite the necessarily unnecessary comments from the Canada camp about taking things one game at a time, playing for 90 minutes, games having two halves, you can’t win unless you put more goals in the net than the other guys, we all know there was more on Canada’s to-do list.

The other tasks at hand against St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and Puerto Rico were to give the squad time to gel, get some wins under their collective belt and, most importantly, solve the on-field issues that so fully scuttled Canada’s Gold Cup attempt this summer. So with one round behind them, what does Canada still have to improve on?

Full Story