Tuff Loss To Peru

Canada falls to Peru in Men’s International Friendly
Canada’s men’s national team fell to Peru on a pair of second-half goals in tonight’s Men’s International Friendly match. The South American visitors won 2:0 on goals by Jose Carlos Fernandez and Jean Tragodara doubled the score in the 72nd.

Canada went 1-0 down when a headed clearance out of the Canadian defence didn’t make it far enough out of danger and the ball landed at the foot of Peru forward Jefferson Farfan at the edge of the penalty box. A slick Peruvian backheel pass and a moment of Canadian miscommunication resulted in a chipped cross from Reimondo Manco that floated to the edge of Canada’s six-yard box. Six-foot-four Fernandez outjumped goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld to head the ball into the open Canadian goal.

Peru’s second goal came from some quick passing through the midfield four minutes later. Tragodara collected the ball just inside the Canadian half and laid it off to Roberto Guizasola. Targodara then streaked behind the Canadian defence and collected a return pass before taking one touch to slot the ball past Hirschfeld.

With this match, veteran defender Stalteri tied Randy Samuel’s national record of 82 appearances. He needs one more appearance to break the record, which could happen as earlier as 7 September when Canada faces Honduras at Montréal’s Stade Saputo.

With 22 years having passed since Canada and Peru last met at this level — a 3:1 victory for Canada – they spent the opening minutes in front of the 10,619 supporters feeling each other out.

A barging run from Dwayne De Rosario led to a Canadian free kick just outside the Peru penalty box in the 16th minute. Showing some confidence, defender Marcel de Jong blazed his left-footed shot over Raul Fernandez’s crossbar.

Unfortunately this would be de Jong’s last contribution as he went down with a shoulder injury in the 28th minute during a challenge with Santiago Acasiete. De Jong was replaced by Jaime Peters.

It wasn’t until after the half-hour mark that things opened up somewhat with both sides trading decent scoring opportunities.

Hirschfeld was the first goalkeeper called into duty when he blocked a hard and low shot from Peru captain Juan Manuel Vargas in the 31st minute.

Two minutes later, Toronto FC midfielder Dwayne De Rosario tested Peru’s Fernandez with a shot from 25 yards. Fernandez fumbled but was able to smother the rebound with Rob Friend standing on his doorstep.

Simeon Jackson showed off his pace playing out in the right wing and created an opportunity for himself to open the scoring just before half but his low shot was saved by Fernandez.

Head coach Stephen Hart felt his squad had a solid first 45 minutes, but struggled after half time. “In the second half, we became careless with the ball and seemed to die physically; the Peruvian team sped up their play.”

Hart’s starting XI featured Lars Hirschfeld in goal, Marcel de Jong at left back, Adam Straith and Kevin McKenna at centre back, Paul Stalteri at right back, Atiba Hutchinson, Julian de Guzman, Dwayne De Rosario, Will Johnson and Simeon Jackson from the midfield up, and Rob Friend at the very top.

After the match, Hart praised the South American visitors for a strong performance. “I liked how they played, how they adjusted in the second half,” he said. “It’s a quality team we played against. We learned some lessons today.”