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 News from Around the Americas | March 2008 
Soccer: Canada Ties Mexico in Quest for Olympic Berth
 Colin Smith - National Post
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| | Canada's Will Johnson, left, celebrates after scoring past Mexico's goalie Guillermo Ochoa during the first round of the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying soccer tournament in Carson, California March 12, 2008. (Reuters/Lucy Nicholson) | | |
Canada's surprising 1-1 tie with Mexico on Wednesday night in its opener at the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament should smooth the way for it make the semi-finals next week and get a one-game shot at earning its first Olympic berth since the sport became a full medal event.
Canada grabbed the lead three minutes into the second half when Will Johnson broke between two Mexican defenders to latch onto a ball from Andrazes Ornoch. Johnson blasted it into the roof of the Mexican net from 10 yards out.
The lead would last 21 minutes before Mexico levelled on a penalty shot from Luis Angel Landin. Canadian defender Andrew Hainault was whistled for bringing down Cesar Villaluz in the box.
Neither of Wednesday's goal scorers finished the match, however. Both received red cards in the second half. Landin was sent off in the 67th minute; Johnson exited 10 minutes later. Johnson will be suspended for Friday's match against Haiti. Canada's final round-robin match is on Sunday against Guatemala.
Canadian under-23 head coach Nick Dasovic had nothing but praise for Mexico, which is ranked 16th in the world. "They're a fantastic team," Dasovic said. "It's all about attacking patterns. As much as you want to stop them, it's very hard. I have the utmost respect for Mexico." Canada is ranked 62nd.
While Johnson's suspension will likely give coach Dasovic a bit of a headache against Haiti, he has much less to worry about than his Cuban counterpart Raul Gonzalez. Seven members of Gonzalez' side — including standout goalkeeper Jose Manuel Miranda — have gone missing since Cuba earned a surprising 1-1 draw with the U.S. on Tuesday. None of the players have yet to report to the authorities, but it is believed they are trying to defect.
Should the seven players fail to show up for Cuba's game on Thursday against Honduras, Gonzalez would be left with only 11 players, but one of them — Roberto Linares, the goal scorer against the U.S. — would not be eligible after being red carded in the first game.
Canada and Mexico are in second place in Group B with a point each. Guatemala, which is ranked 95th in the world, leads with three points after beating Haiti 1-0 earlier on Wednesday. Haiti is ranked 97th.
The top two finishers in each four-team group will advance to the semi-finals March 20 in Nashville, and the finalists will book a spot in this summer's Beijing Olympics.
The last time Canada fielded a men's soccer team in the Olympics was at the 1984 games in Los Angeles when it was a demonstration sport. Soccer was added to the medal roster in 1996. |
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