Canada U-20 vs Belgium U-19 game #1 (R)

[loyola]

Men’s U-20 Team

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Canadian U20s drop heartbreaker in Belgium

Ottawa, Ontario – An injury time penalty sent the Canadian U20 Men’s National Team to a 2-1 defeat tonight at the hands of the U19 Belgian National Team in St. Truiden, Belgium.

The Canadians began the match well, displaying the technical ability to keep possession for long periods in the match’s first 30 minutes. The athleticism of the Canadians also troubled the Belgian defense as they struggled to keep attackers in front of them. This was particularly evident in the 13th minute when the Canadians countered a Belgian attack with Massimo Di Ioia dodging a sliding Belgian defender at midfield and slipping the ball to A.J. Gray in space on the right wing. Gray created space for himself and sent a picture-perfect cross to the far post where Will Johnson met the ball with a brilliant header that beat the Belgian ‘keeper to the bottom corner giving the Canadians a 1-0 lead. Gray appeared dangerous throughout the half, routinely beating his defender off the dribble to get crosses in.

Despite being out-played for large stretches of the opening half, the Belgians were able to create several quality chances of their own. Canadian goalkeeper, Asmir Begovic, was equal to the task on each occasion and received some help from his post in the 33rd minute off Belgian striker, David Pollet’s shot from a sharp angle. This proved to be the best opportunity of the half for Belgium and the Canadians headed to the locker room with a 1-0 lead.

The second half began with the Belgians taking the lion’s share of the possession but rarely threatening the Canadian goal. The Canadians never looked like conceding until the 73rd minute when Pollet raced onto a ball over the top and beat Begovic with a low blast to the near post. The match seemed destined to end in a draw until injury time when substitute Vittorio Villano found himself behind the Canadian defense. Defender, Kennedy Owusu-Ansah was forced to cut the Belgian attacker down, conceding a penalty. Villano stepped up and sent the Belgians to victory slotting home a well-taken penalty just out of Begovic’s reach.

“There were opportunities to add to our lead in the first half when we were on top of them,” explained Canadian Head Coach, Dale Mitchell. “However, some of our player’s lack of match fitness and match experience at this level cost us in the second half. We need many more games like tonight.”

The teams will meet once again on Monday, September 4th at 2000 at the home pitch of Belgian side Patro Maasmechelen.

Match Info

Saturday, September 2, 2006 - International Friendly

St-Truidense – St-Truiden, Belgium

CANADA (1987) - 1 (1)

BELGIUM (1988) – 0(2)

Goals: Canada – Johnson (13); Belgium – Pollet (73); Villano (90)

CANADA: 1-Begovic, Asmir ©; 2-Owusu-Ansah, Kennedy; 3-Gala, Gabe; 5-Lumley, Stephen; 6-Edgar, David; 8-Nunez, Cristian (15-Balde, Ibrahim 73); 9-Di Ioia, Massimo (17-Babineau, Olivier 64); 10-Johnson, Will; 11-Gray, A.J. (7-Lacoste-Lebuis, Olivier); 13-Lammie, Shane (12-Haber, Marcus 45); 14-Attakora-Gyan, Nana

Head Coach: Dale Mitchell

Subs not used: 16-Bonafacio, Brandon; 22-Monsalve, David

BELGIUM: 1-Mignolet, Simon; 2-Kone, Michael (22-De Troetsel 58); 3-De Bock, Jelle; 4-Van Gijseghem, Daan; 5-Huyghebaert, Jeremy; 6-Clappaert, Kwinton (Verdonck, Sven 73); 7-Henkens, Robin; 8-Kums, Sven; 9-Pollet, David; 10-Vossen, Jelle (17-Villano, Vittoiro 58); 11-Cherlet, Jelle

Head Coach: Marc Van Geersom

Subs not used: 12-Bolat, Sinan; 13-Raes, Tom; 15-De Wilde, Stijn; 16-Vanderzijl, Jerome; 18-Buyens, Yoni; 19-Develer, Kane; 20-Capon, Brecht; 21-Vandenbroeck, Davy

[Daniel]

Eww, we lost to the Belgians???

[Richard]

Rather embarrassing I'd say. Bit like our U-17s not making it out of the CFU Cup round robin but Haiti getting all the way to the final and taking the silver medal. Not a good year for Canadian youth teams so far.

[loyola]

quote:Originally posted by Richard

Rather embarrassing I'd say. Bit like our U-17s not making it out of the CFU Cup round robin but Haiti getting all the way to the final and taking the silver medal. Not a good year for Canadian youth teams so far.

About the CFU cup, Haiti was put in a group with T&T, Surinam and Barbados I think, while Canada was in a group with U-17 World Cup Champion Mexico, Jamaica and Panama......

All those games are preparations so I pretty much don't care about the results, the only thing that matter is our first 3 games in July 2007.

And let's not forget our U-20 win over Brazil in may.

[bettermirror]

why is a loss to Belgium such a poor result? Do their u19's not all play at top professional youth clubs if not in reserve and first teams? Is Belgium not a footballing nation with a history in top competition? A 2-1 loss to Belgium in a match we dominated is not so disheartening.

Also, relax. Results are not all that important at this stage. Performance and preparation are what is important. Look at how Germany did prior to the World Cup. The results were poor, but the prep was fantastic.

[The Beaver]

Keep in mind, too, we were missing a few of our more experienced players. All in all, not a bad result, they key being that they got this game and need more--as Mitchell pointed out.

[matthew]

quote:Originally posted by bettermirror

why is a loss to Belgium such a poor result? Do their u19's not all play at top professional youth clubs if not in reserve and first teams? Is Belgium not a footballing nation with a history in top competition? A 2-1 loss to Belgium in a match we dominated is not so disheartening.

It's also more heartening to know that Pollet, the guy giving us trouble is with Lens in France and their CB DeBock is with PSV. Kone and Kums are both with Anderlecht and almost all the rest are with bigger Belgian clubs.

I thought this was a game we could win, but without our left side and without Peters it was tough. And I'm glad we're getting these good prep games in as well.

cheers,

matthew