Second Half Blog Canada vs Jamaica

Second Half
The second half is just underway, no changes made by either squad to start the second half in terms of substitutions.

46 minutes DeGuzman scores for Canada… 1-0 Canada, DeRosario with a nice cross across the goal to Radzinski on the far post who heads it back into open space to DeGuzman who slots it into the right post with Ricketts only gets a touch on the ball. *I would like to thanks sportsnet for not covering the play during the live portion of the goal as they were busy looking at the stands at that time… only in Canada, thank goodness for replays*

50 minutes Jamaica scores… 1-1… corner was conceded to Jamaica, and as the Toronto FC fans throw there streamers down at the corner spot on Andrew Williams (born in Toronto) and Pat Onstad knocks the ball in the net as he can’t beat it up and over the goal.

53 minutes Andrew Serious picks up a yellow card quickly after the goal, and Canada is going to have to settle down quickly now and forget about that goal that just went in.

55 minutes Free kick taking by Williams and he puts it right on target on the net and Onstad has to put a good save and gets the bar over the bar for a corner kick, the streamers have come down again.

58 minutes Canada has gotten away with a blatant foul on DeGuzman and the fans let the Guatemalan know how they really feel about that call as he was pulled down from behind on a run forward to goal. *My Alan Partridge reference for the night, don’t worry the video will still show up*

61st minute Canadian corner kick… they could cause trouble from here. DeRosario gets it onto the head of Friend who punches it into the ground and into the arms of Ricketts who plays the ball upfield.

63rd minute Jamaican Substitution is made as goal scorer Williams comes out and Luton Shelton is brought in to add some more defensive presence for Jamaica as they go for the draw.

64th minute Patrice Bernier is substituted out for Canada and Ian Hume is brought in for Canada, hoping to add some energy and pace to the game. I always love some fiery spirit as the sportsnet broadcasters enjoy saying about him.

66th minute Atiba Hutchinson is booked with a yellow card on a badly called foul that wasn’t a foul, which he argues and will get booked for dissent as he bumped into the referee during the argument… it was accidental, clearly a Canadian error.

70th minute Canada had two great chances to add a goal but Ricketts makes two fantastic saves and just keeps both the balls out of the net, the pressure is being put on hugely by Canada right now. DeRosario and DeGuzman are the trouble makers right now.

72nd minute Off the corner Ricketts has just stood on his head again, as Friend uses his head and points the ball at the goal, which Ricketts gets his hand on again, and Jamaican defenders do well at clearing the ball.

74th minute Jamaica is showing pace as well right now as Goodison takes a long crack at goal and just misses, great pace being showing by both teams right now, this has been a really good second half.

75th minute Substitution being made by Canada as Ali Gerba comes in for Rob Friend.

79 minute Canada is pressing right now, but can’t make that final pass at the moment as they try to find the open man in the box.

80th minute Hume almost connects with DeRosario for a goal even though it was his hand that was used on the ball that went over the goal, but it was the thought that counts right?

83rd minute 7 minutes to go, and Ricketts continues to control the balls that are crossed in the box for the most part, as Jamaica continues to remained organized in the back as Canada continues to press forward.

85th minute Ricketts saves a sure goal for Canada when he dives out and stops the DeRosario pass to Gerba streaking towards the front of the net.

86th minute DeGuzman strikes iron with his shot, as he hits the bar on his shot from 25 meters out, and Ricketts was beat cleanly, sadly it’s on the wrong side of the bar.

88th minute Corner kick for Jamaica as Canada lets up just a bit after the DeGuzman shot and Jamaican’s corner kick goes high up into the air that people are wondering if a space ship is invading earth… okay it wasn’t that bad, but I haven’t seen a corner kick that high it quite some time.

89th minute DeRosario has an open net as Ricketts misplaces the ball, and Goodison just gets his body in the way of the ball, and the game remains tie.

90th minute 4 minutes of added time for this second half, both sides have had chances now, this could go anywhere right now.

90th + 1 Another random foul called on Canada, just been noted that the fouls are 27 to 13 against Canada, do you figure that the ref might be slightly biased, just a pointed remark with some of the random calls he has made in this game.

90th + 3 Omar Cummings has a shot on goal for Jamaica as he has just come on for them, and again both teams have chances in this extra time period, as Hume comes streaking in for Canada and puts the shot on the far side of the post.

FULL TIME HAS BEEN BLOWN

Well a 1-1 draw happens, and well the Guatemalan official wins the award for crappy ending of a game with a quick whistle before 4 minutes is played. Now onto the game itself, full credit goes to Jamaica for the way they played tonight, great defensive effort on their part in keeping Canada at bay for most of the night. Canada played well and just needs to work on addressing at getting the ball into the feet of it’s goal scorers, and making that final touch count. We have some time to work on that until our next game which is on Sept. 6th.One goaltending mistake on a set piece cost us the tie, as Onstad got caught going forward when he should have been back and couldn’t get back and put enough on the ball to prevent it from going in. While we didn’t get the 3 points that we had hoped for, atleast we don’t have 0 and will just have to move on to Montreal and welcome Honduras into the stadium there, currently the Mexico vs Honduras game is 0-0 and I can only hope it remains a draw so that no team has gained an advantage yet it this group.

I’ll be posting my thoughts on the game some more tomorrow, once I probably watch the replay and see what I’ve missed, for now have a goodnight all.