Canada’s Gold Cup outing impresses Eddies coach
Like many Canadian soccer fans, FC Edmonton head coach Colin Miller was impressed with the performance of the men’s national team at the Gold Cup.
Canada was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the continental tournament on Thursday, losing 2-1 to Jamaica in a game they dominated.
Canada had 64 per cent of the possession, took 19 shots to Jamaica’s eight, and forced a number of excellent saves out of Reggae Boyz goalkeeper Andre Blake.
“I thought the best team lost (Thursday) night,” said Miller, a former player and coach of the Canadian men’s national team. “The team, I thought overall, had a strong Gold Cup. There are definitely some weaknesses there, that like every team in the world, they need to work on, for sure.
“But I thought Canada deserve a lot of credit for how they’ve played in this Gold Cup and it’s great to see some younger players getting a chance. They can’t go crazy and throw every young player into the team, but I think that they took some real positive strides in this Gold Cup and there’s lots to be happy about.”
Canada advanced beyond the group stage in the biannual tournament for the first time since 2009. They defeated French Guiana 4-2 in their opening game, then drew 1-1 with Costa Rica and held Honduras to a scoreless tie.
More significant than the results, however, was the style Canada played, which has soccer fans in the country optimistic about the team’s future.
Under new Ecuadorian head coach Octavio Zambrano, Canada attempted to play a quality ball-possession game, building out of the back.
At times the team looked unrecognizable from the kickand-chase, long-ball style Canadian soccer fans had been accustomed to seeing for years.
“They did well,” Miller said. “The manager for his first tournament showing, he must be very pleased.”
Another reason for optimism was the performance of a number of young players, particularly 16-year-old Edmonton product Alphonso Davies, who scored three goals in the tournament.
Born in a Ghanaian refugee camp before immigrating with his family to Canada at the age of five, Davies is on the cusp of becoming a bright star.
Davies currently plays with the Vancouver Whitecaps in the MLS, but is starting to attract the attention of major European clubs.
Miller also believes the addition of former Scottish Under-21 international Scott Arfield is a huge boost to the Canadian national team.
“His leadership, you can see a guy that is at a different level, who understands the game at a different level,” Miller said. “You can see that influence that he has in the group. I think it’s a very exciting time for the national team program.”
Arfield, 28, was born and raised in Scotland and plays for Burnley in the English Premier League, but his father was born in Toronto, making him eligible to play for Canada.
Arfield made his Canadian debut in a World Cup qualifier against Mexico in March, 2016 and is now expected to be a key member of the team.
“There are still one or two areas that we need to improve, but I think when you have players like Scott Arfield, who is such an established senior player right now, and you have Alphonso who is just starting out in his career, it’s exciting,” Miller said. “In between you have players at different ages and experience levels.”
The rise in the level of play of the national team can also be attributed to the work of professional teams in the country. With three MLS teams, Toronto FC, the Montreal Impact and Whitecaps, along with FC Edmonton of the North American Soccer League team and the Ottawa Fury in the United Soccer League, Canadian players have homegrown professional destinations, which weren’t options in the past.
“That’s a big thing,” Miller said. “The squad that I had, for example, in the (2013) Gold Cup, which I lost five players during the Gold Cup, seven or eight players were unattached. That’s at the national team level. When I had the team, the only time some of those players were playing 90-minute games is with the national team and you’re never, ever going to succeed if that’s the case.”
The current generation of Canadian internationals, in large part, are products of having established professional clubs in the country.
“The great thing is now that FC Edmonton, Ottawa and the three MLS clubs deserve and enormous about of credit, because they have professional academies, they have young Canadian players playing,” Miller said.
“We’d love to see more in the MLS playing regularly, but most of these guys are in full-time environments and making a good impact. I think that Canadian professional clubs deserve a great deal of credit for making that, arguably, the strongest squad for a number of years at a Gold Cup.”