World Cup 2014 Qualifiers: Canada Closes Round 2 With 4-0 Win

TORONTO, ON — It ended as it began with a win at BMO Field. Once again Canada scored 4 goals. Once again Canada faced a modest opponent. This time it was St Kitts and Nevi.

Last night Canada overran the world’s 109th ranked nation 4-0 and won the Round 2 World Cup Qualifier group with 4-0-2 record.

After dismal efforts in its last two games, Stephen Hart juggled his lineup. Looking for better things offensively, Hart got it from Toussaint Ricketts and Olivier Occean.

“Ricketts on the right stretched them a lot, gave room to the midfield so we could pass the ball better,” Hart said. “Ricketts deserved a chance to start to see how he responds and he was fantastic.”

The Edmonton speedster was the show-stopper all night long. In the 7th minute, Ricketts flew down the right side and delivered the first scoring chance of the game. But the St Kitts keeper Akil Byrona grabbed the ball just ahead of Olivier Occean.

Twenty minutes into the game, Ricketts blasted a shot wide and he set up a couple of other near misses. Canada opened the scoring in the 27th minute off a Dwayne De Rosario corner kick that found its way to Olivier Occean who chipped it in.

Ricketts continued to dominate the right side of the field. In the 36th minute, he was thumped to the ground in the penalty area. De Rosario took the kick and made it 2-0.

De Rosario’s last 4 goals have come on penalties and he has scored six times from the penalty spot. This was De Rosario’s 19th goal for Canada and tied Dale Mitchell for the all-time goal record.

Josh Simpson’s first-half stoppage time header from Will Johnson’s corner gave Canada a 3 goal advantage.

The second half saw St Kitts come to life some. While St Kitts became more physical and aggressive, Canada stood up defensively and the Canadian attack kept probing with Ricketts on the right side.

Finally De Rosario sent a strike inside the St Kitts penalty area. The St Kitts keeper fumbled it and Ricketts put away the rebound in the 88th minute to close the scoring.

The Canadian Record
Canada All-Time In FIFA World Cup Qualifiers
40 wins, 30 losses, 31 ties

Shutouts Streaks
Canada controlled the game on the defensive side too as goalkeeper Kenny Stamatopoulos recorded the shutout. But there was one scary moment for Stamatopoulos in the 11th minute when St Kitts banked a shot off the Canadian post.

The shut out extended Canada’s shutout streak to 533 minutes, just eight minutes shy of the national record. Canada’s five consecutive shutouts ties the national record.

• 5 straight shutouts / 541 minutes – 1996-97
• 5 straight shutouts / 533 minutes – 2011+

Unbeaten Streaks
Canada extends unbeaten streak to eight games, second longest on record.

• 15 games undefeated – 1999-2000
• 8 games undefeated – 1985
• 8 games undefeated – 2011

Attendance
Official attendance of last night’s game was 10,235. Canada drew more than 10,000 fans for the seventh consecutive FIFA World Cup Qualifiers home match. The streak includes all home qualification homes from 2008 and 2011. Canada’s home average attendance for the last two cycles of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers (2008-2011) is 47% greater than the average attendance recorded for the previous 11 cycles combined (1957-2004).

• Average FIFA World Cup Qualifiers home attendance in 39 games (1957-2004) – 9,125 games
• Average FIFA World Cup Qualifiers home attendance in 7 games (2008-2011) – 13,412 games

Round 3
Canada will play six games against group opponents Honduras, Panama and Cuba from 8 June to 16 October of 2012, with three games to be played at home. Locations for the home games will only be announced in early 2012. Stephen Hart will make that decision.

From CONCACAF Round 3, two teams from each group will make up a final round of six teams that will play 10 matches from 6 February to 15 October 2013 (a home and away match against each opponent). The top three teams from this final group will qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup; the fourth-place team will advance to an intercontinental playoff.

Group C (Home team listed first)
June 2012
08 – Cuba v Canada
12 – Canada v Honduras

September 2012
07 – Canada v Panama
11 – Panama v Canada

October 2012
12 – Canada v Cuba
16 – Honduras v Canada

Round 3 Group A
Antigua and Barbuda, Guatemala, Jamaica, USA

Round 3 Group B
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guyana, Mexico