Lights out: Canada falls 2- 0 to Panama in key World Cup qualifier
PANAMA CITY — It took less than a week for the lights to go out on Canada’s dream of an easy road to the World Cup.
The men’s soccer team went to Panama looking to extend its lead atop the CONCACAF qualifying group, but a lacklustre effort on hostile ground resulted in a 2- 0 loss to a far more energetic opponent.
Rolando Blackburn and Blas Perez each scored for Panama ( 3- 0- 1), which regained the top spot in Group C on Tuesday and left Canadian coach Stephen Hart lamenting his team’s effort.
“We were second best in everything,” said Hart.
“We were second best to close the ball down, second best in the tackle. We didn’t pass the ball well or keep possession well and they scored the goal and put us under pressure and I thought our heads dropped way too easily because one goal was scored on us.”
Canada ( 2- 1- 1) entered the match on a high after beating Panama 1- 0 at BMO Field in Toronto on Friday.
But the team looked out of sorts in the first few minutes of the rematch while Panama appeared buoyed by the incredible noise made by the home supporters at the Estadio Rommel Fernandez.
Then, six minutes in, the lights went out. A bank of lights in the stadium’s north end went dark and remained that way for about 14 minutes. When play resumed, Canada had taken out star striker Dwayne De Rosario due to a knee injury that he suffered on an earlier tackle.
The delay provided an opportunity for the Canadian medical staff to work on De Rosario, but in the end they had to replace him with Tosaint Ricketts.
“It might be an ( medial collateral ligament injury),” said Hart. “We don’t know. We have to do an MRI.”
With Canada’s best striker out of the game, Panama smelled blood. Blackburn struck in the 23rd minute heading in the ball just inside the post.
“No excuse,” said Hart. “You’re going to come down here. You’re going to have to try and get points on the road and the way we started and the lights going out and losing Dwayne we were really lethargic overall and we played the price for it.”