MikeD Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 Gorgie boys pay for going to sleep as the Canadians creep in at death PAUL KIDDIE IN THE SWANGARD STADIUM HEARTS were denied an opening tour victory against Canada B in Vancouver early this morning when the home side grabbed a controversial injury-time equaliser to leave the final score 1-1. Striker Dennis Wyness had put the Jambos ahead with a well-taken strike in the 59th minute at Swangard Stadium, Dutchman Mark de Vries having done well to set his team-mate up. The Gorgie outfit looked on course for victory but were denied right at the death when Josh Simpson netted with just seconds left to play, Hearts complaining that the goal had been offside. With Craig Gordon sidelined by a thigh injury, Tepi Moilanen took over the goalkeeping duties for Hearts’ first game on their pre-season tour of Vancouver as they kicked off their International Pacific Soccer Series against at the Swangard Stadium in Burnaby. New signing Jamie McAllister was handed his first start in a maroon jersey, the former Livingston and Aberdeen star slotting in at left-back in a 4-4-2 formation with Patrick Kisnorbo sidelined by a groin injury and Alan Maybury rested. Much is expected of Stephen Simmons this season and he was handed a central midfield role alongside Paul Hartley, Phil Stamp and Joe Hamill patrolling the flanks. Up front boss Craig Levein paired De Vries and Wyness as he contemplated his attacking options ahead of the new campaign. Kevin McKenna would have been hoping to start against his home country but he had to be satisfied with a place on the bench, alongside Ramon Pereira, Neil MacFarlane, Neil Janczyk, Graham Weir and promising young winger Andrew Driver. The beginning of the match was delayed for 15 minutes, Hearts kicking off under a blazing Canadian sun with the temperature still in the 80s despite the evening kick-off [local time]. The home side were first to threaten with just two minutes on the clock, Olivier Occean playing a one-two with Simpson before seeing his shot from the edge of the box saved low down by Moilanen to his right. The Jambos responded almost immediately with Wyness setting up Simmons, the midfielder’s shot taking a slight deflection to allow Greg Sutton to save comfortably. Hamill then burst down the left, his progress halted by a well timed tackle by Nevio Pizzolitto. The Canadians should have taken the lead in the eighth minute, Mesu Mert finding space in the Hearts defence to get his head to Mauro Biello’s cross from the right but he couldn’t direct his effort on target. Sixty seconds later and there was another let-off for the visitors. Andy Webster was caught in possession by Occean who strode forward and unleashed a powerful right-foot shot which came thumping back off Moilanen’s left-hand post with the keeper beaten. Perhaps not surprisingly the hosts were enjoying the better of the opening exchanges, Hearts no doubt still coming to terms with the effects of jet lag after arriving in Vancouver. And there was no doubt the emerging Canadians were finding the bumpy surface of the Swangard pitch easier to adapt to. The hosts’ confidence was underlined in the 13th minute, Tony Menezes attempting a shot from fully 40 yards, Moilanen having no difficulty dealing with the strike. Two minutes later and the Finn was again in action, Mert set up by Occean but he failed to catch his shot properly, allowing Moilanen to gather easily. Skipper Steven Pressley complained bitterly about a late challenge by Adrian Serious in the 20th minute but his complaints fell on deaf ears with referee Kevin Stott allowing play to continue. The sun was still beating down and an injury to Occean allowed almost the entire Hearts team to take on water from the bench. And the refreshments almost did the trick with the visitors carving out their best opportunity in the 27th minute. Hamill found De Vries in the box and the Dutchman showed good vision to pick out Wyness 12 yards out but the striker failed to catch his shot cleanly and Sutton gathered easily. With Canada B still in the ascendancy as the interval approached, Mert shot over from the edge of the box and Occean fired wildly over from a dangerous position. On the stroke of half-time Simmons was given a ticking-off for a tackle on Serious, the challenge perhaps evidence of the Jambos’ frustration at the opening 45 minutes. Half-time: Canada B 0, Hearts 0. Paul Hartley tried to spark the Gorgie outfit into life with a characteristic burst from midfield minutes after the restart but he was crowded out by the combined efforts of Serious and Pizzolitto. Hearts won a free-kick wide on the right but Hamill’s delivery was overhit and keeper Sutton was able to claim under no pressure. Good footwork from Wyness on the edge of the box almost presented him with a shooting chance but Gabriel Gervais was alert to the situation and rescued his side with a well-timed interception. The leg-weary Jambos had restarted looking all the better for their half-time break and broke the deadlock in the 59th minute through Wyness. De Vries was the provider, laying the ball back to the former Inverness Caley Thistle front man who gave Sutton no chance with a crisply struck left-foot shot, the goal bringing warm applause from boss Craig Levein and No.2 Peter Houston on the sidelines. Moments later Phil Stamp burst into the Canadians’ box, Gervais coming to the rescue with a block tackle. The home side got behind the Hearts rearguard in the 64th minute but a lack of composure let Chris Lemire down as he blazed over the bar. The game had been played in a good spirit but referee Stott felt obliged to produce the first yellow card of the match when he cautioned Hamill after the winger had an altercation with full-back Pizzolitto. Simmons had taken a knock earlier in the half and with 16 minutes remaining he was replaced by Janczyk, who had shaken off an arm injury sustained in training. Moilanen had seen little action in front of his goal in the second period, but the Finnish star had to be alert to deny substitute Kevin de Serpa in the 76th minute, the keeper reacting well to dive to his right to save the striker’s shot after Simpson had unlocked the Hearts backline. With tiredness taking its toll on the visitors, more opportunities started to fall the hosts’ way, although the Jambos had a lucky escape 12 minutes from time when Occean completely missed his kick from 12 yards out with the goal seemingly at his mercy. It had been a tough shift for the visitors in strength-sapping conditions and Levein freshened up his attack with nine minutes remaining. Weir replaced De Vries and the small band of Hearts fans were given their first glimpse of Spaniard Pereira when he came on for goalscorer Wyness. There was a worrying moment for Hearts when McAllister was forced off two minutes from time, the full-back in some pain with a hand injury after falling awkwardly under a challenge from Jamie Peters. McKenna stepped off the bench to replace the defender much to the delight of the home crowd. And with the game having moved into stoppage time, the Canadian fans were on their feet when Simpson snatched a dramatic equaliser. De Serpa was sent scampering down the right-hand side and while he appeared to have a golden chance to score himself as he burst into the box, he squared the ball across to Simpson, who buried a shot behind Moilanen from a tight angle at the Finn’s near post. The Hearts defence though were quick to complain, with the goal having more than a hint of offside about it. Canada B: Sutton, Pizzolitto, Hughes (Peters, 74), Menezes (Reda, 65), Gervais, Serious, Lemire (De Serpa, 69), Mert (Valente, 61), Occean, Biello (Dunfield, 66), Simpson. Hearts: Moilanen, Neilson, Pressley, Webster, McAllister (McKenna, 90), Hartley, Simmons (Janczyk, 74), Stamp, Hamill, Wyness (Weir, 81), De Vries (Pereira, 81). Subs not used: MacFarlane, Driver. Referee: Kevin Stott, California. Attendance: 3000. This article: http://sport.scotsman.com/football.cfm?id=801002004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted July 13, 2004 Author Share Posted July 13, 2004 (from the CSA) Monday, July 12, 2004 Canada Impressive In Draw With Hearts Frank Yallop Canada’s Men’s World Cup Development Team fought to an impressive 1-1 draw with Scottish Premier League club Hearts in an exhibition game at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, BC Monday night. Josh Simpson scored in stoppage time, blasting home a pass from Terry Dunfield into the top of the net to give the Canadians a well-deserved draw. Vancouver’s Alfredo Valente started the play with a great ball through to Dunfield who broke through the Hearts defence and squared the ball to Simpson, who made no mistake. It was the least Canada deserved after taking the play to the Scottish visitors from the opening whistle. Striker Olivier Occean was a handful for the Hearts defence and came close to opening the scoring when he unleashed a 25-yard thunderbolt which hammered the cross bar in the 10th minute. Simpson put him through with a well weighted volley just before half but his right-footed shot went wide. Despite being together for only two days, the Canadians put on an impressive display, often knocking the ball around and creating several chances. Simpson ran at Hearts defenders all night and kept his hometown fans happy with the equalizer in the dying seconds. The Canadian back four of Nevio Pizzolitto, Gabe Gervais, Tony Menezes and Tyler Hughes, along with some diligent defending by midfielder Adrian Serioux, limited Hearts to a handful of free kicks and, other than the goal, did not allow any real chances. The visitors’ goal came in the 60th minute when they worked a quick free kick at the midfield before the ball fell to Dennis Wyness who buried his shot past Greg Sutton. Sutton turned in a confident display and distributed well throughout the game. Canadian head coach Frank Yallop used his entire bench and was very impressed with the performance. “I thought tonight was a great exercise and I was very pleased with our play,” said Yallop. “A number of players showed they are more than capable of playing at the World Cup level and have put themselves in a position to be considered for our upcoming World Cup Qualifying games.” Canada will face FA Cup Finalists Millwall on Wednesday at Swangard before returning to their clubs. Canada will return to Vancouver to take on Guatemala at Swangard on August 18 in their first game of the semi-final round of qualifying. Canada: Greg Sutton, Nevio Pizzolitto, Gabriel Gervais, Tony Menezes (Marco Reda, 70), Tyler Hughes (Jamie Peters, 75), Josh Simpson, Adrian Serioux, Mesut Mert (Terry Dunfield, 60), Mauro Biello (Kevin de Serpa, 65), Chris Lemire (Alfredo Valente, 65), Olivier Occean. Head Coach: Frank Yallop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 So McKenna came on for Hearts and Canada tied it up shortly thereafter. Can you say "collusion"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanDouglas Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 The Scottish report sure goes on about the weather. If they think those conditions were difficult (I thought it was a rather pleasant day), they should try the game the Whitecaps Women just played in Arizona: fourth road game in six days, covering the same distance as Edinburgh to Libya, kicking off in 39C/103F temperature, facing the strongest team of the trip, and winning 7-1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loud Mouth Soup Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 Ashamed that Sportsnet STILL has no mention of the match on their website. But hey-why let the Canadian Men's National Team get in the way of reporting on the transfer activities of Shakhtar Donetsk, right? Am I right folks? *taps mic* Is this thing on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarnCherry Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 This game was buried at the tail end of last nights sportsn news in Vancouver, even then they only showed 2 goals and a Hearts save. Much better that they lead off with MLB's home run hitting derby. Swangards pitch was "bumpy"? Probably in a lot better condition than their pitch is come December onwards. By the way, on the story about this game on the front page of this site, Swangard is spelled wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Concacaf Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Loud Mouth Soup Ashamed that Sportsnet STILL has no mention of the match on their website. But hey-why let the Canadian Men's National Team get in the way of reporting on the transfer activities of Shakhtar Donetsk, right? Am I right folks? *taps mic* Is this thing on? Maybe next year our B side can play Shakhtar Donetsk? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varsity Tyler Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Krammerhead This game was buried at the tail end of last nights sportsn news in Vancouver, even then they only showed 2 goals and a Hearts save. Much better that they lead off with MLB's home run hitting derby. Swangards pitch was "bumpy"? Probably in a lot better condition than their pitch is come December onwards. By the way, on the story about this game on the front page of this site, Swangard is spelled wrong. D'Oh ... fixed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 Good article on the front page. Just to be picky, think Simpson is from Victoria so this was not his home crowd. Unless folks think BC is just one large metropolitan area from Surrey to Watson Lake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S. Good article on the front page. Just to be picky, think Simpson is from Victoria so this was not his home crowd. Unless folks think BC is just one large metropolitan area from Surrey to Watson Lake. Two can play at the picky game - I say it is his, along with every Canadian player's "home crowd" because it was held in Canada - I would agree it wasn't his "hometown" crowd though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winnipeg Fury Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 He's still a BC boy, and former BC provincial player. Close enough to call him a home-town boy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 I think that a home town is just that. And Simpson is not from Greater Vancouver. But I wouldn't expect anyone east of the Rockies to understand what it means to get from Vancouver to Victoria or that they are, in fact, different cities. Sheesh, you sound like Americans with that subtle geographical knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanDouglas Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 Well, either a ton of people came over from Victoria, or Simpson has friends/family in Vancouver, cause he had a very loud cheering section when he was introduced. Only Valente got a bigger cheer. Here's what I thought of our guys: STARTERS Greg Sutton - very strong on crosses, not too busy, probably should have done better on the goal. Nevio Pizzolitto - did well playing at right back Tyler Hughes - defended well, play was a bit uneven when going forward Tony Menezes - defended ok, sent some superb long passes forward Gabriel Gervais - awesome, one of the best players on the pitch Adrian Serioux - very lively, challenged well, nifty skills on the ball, distribution could have been better Chris Lemire - had a shocker, touch kept letting him down, looked lost Mesut Mert - did pretty well, covered a lot of ground Olivier Occean - caused plenty of problems for Hearts defence, OK as a target man, but for a big guy is very good running at the defence, a bit awkward at times though Mauro Biello - capable but not spectacular. He's lost a step. Josh Simpson - Hearts couldn't deal with his speed, as he blew past defenders time after time, tracked back well too. SUBS Terry Dunfield - not on for long, but good burst of speed to get goalside of his defender on the goal, and some nice unselfish play to set up Simpson. Kevin de Serpa - did very well, turns on a dime, ran circles around his marker on two occasions Marco Reda - didnt notice him much except to wonder why he didn't go forward when we had a corner late and were trailing 1-0. Jamie Peters - quick as a whippet, didnt accomplish much but didnt waste any time doing it Alfredo Valente - good purposeful play, excellent pass to release Dunfield on the goal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winnipeg Fury Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S. Sheesh, you sound like Americans with that subtle geographical knowledge. Yeah, and you sound like condescending Euro trash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolando Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 Good summary, Alan, and I nominate you for Voyageurs Quote of the Year for this blinder: "didnt accomplish much but didnt waste any time doing it." Love it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winnipeg Fury Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 Heart of Midlothian vs PCSL All Stars Wednesday, July 14, 2004 Kick Off: 7:30pm Royal Athletic Park, Victoria, BC Tickets can be purchased through BC Soccer at 604-299-6401 or through the Lower Island Soccer Association, call 250-382-7489 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Winnipeg Fury Yeah, and you sound like condescending Euro trash. Usually its the condescening Euro trash who don't know or care about Canadian geography Dwayne. So I guess the Euro trash is getting better, this particular one has spent time in more Canadian provinces (all of them, plus the Yukon) than European countries. Seriously, if the kid was from Brandon and went to school out of province, and the game was played in the Peg, and the report had said he was a home-town boy, the first person to have pointed out the error would have been you. Same with Gian-luca if he'd been from Ottawa and the game had been played in TO (probably the most precise person on the board after all). Just asking you to not get your backs up so quickly about a little remark made about an error in an article -even admitting it was picky, in good humour- just like dozens of other posters do all the time here without getting this type of Canada-ignorant reaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winnipeg Fury Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S. Seriously, if the kid was from Brandon and went to school out of province, and the game was played in the Peg, and the report had said he was a home-town boy, the first person to have pointed out the error would have been you. Same with Gian-luca if he'd been from Ottawa and the game had been played in TO (probably the most precise person on the board after all). Actually that is complete rubbish and clearly illustrates that you have no idea what you are talking about. If the kid was from Manitoba, he most certainly would have been called a home-town boy and there wouldn't have been a Manitoban that would have disputed that. For example, any player from rural Mantioba playing with the Winnipeg Jets was considered a home-town product. To say that I would be the first to state otherwise is complete nonsense. You initiated this by insinuating we were ignorant Americans. I give you a taste of your own medicine, and then you start whining that we have our "back's-up." Eh, if you don't like abuse, then don't initiate it ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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