Canadian men look to finish Belize, move on

TORONTO — Belize becomes at least the 14th CONCACAF country stamp in Canadian captain Julian de Guzman’s passport.

Chances are his short stay there will be pretty benign, given Canada’s 3-0 win in the first leg of its World Cup qualifier last Friday at BMO Field. The Canadian men, ranked No. 102 in the world, look to finish the job Tuesday when they face No. 128 Belize at FFB Field in the Belize capital of Belmopan.

de Guzman says Friday’s win was a good confidence boost after a poor performance in July at the Gold Cup where Canada went 0-1-2 and failed to score.

Canadian coach Benito Floro, while happy with the overall performance against Belize, acknowledged Canada could have scored eight on the night.

The Canadians will have to deal with steamy conditions in Belize where Tuesday’s forecast calls for 32 C — said to feel like 43 C.

de Guzman, who has 83 caps, left Friday’s game in the 14th minute but says a calf injury has responded well to treatment.

Having already played for the senior side in such CONCACAF holiday destinations as Cuba, Dominica, Puerto Rica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the 34-year-old Ottawa Fury FC player knows more hostile countries await in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

“In the early stages (of qualification), such as of now, it seems all nice and easy but once you go into the next group stage against teams like Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras, that’s when the pressure kicks in and the intensity hits another level,” de Guzman said.

“But at this point now, where we’re at, we’ve been through it many times and we know all the islands are nice and pretty but we definitely need the result more than anything else now.”

The Canada-Belize winner will become part of Group A in the fourth round, the penultimate stage of qualifying in the region. That pool will feature No. 26 Mexico, No. 81 Honduras and either No. 107 El Salvador or No. 148 Curaçao with only the top two advancing after round robin play to the final hexagon round.

El Salvador beat Curaçao 1-0 Friday.