Canadian Men’s World Cup Soccer – In the Hunt
Last night, CONCACAF play featured league leading Canada vs the last place team in the league, Honduras. While at first glance it might seem a mismatch, Canada was playing without their 2 best players and the Hondurans were defending an undefeated record against Canada that went back to 1985.
Off of the whistle the Canadian men flexed their collective muscle and forced Denil Maldonado into an own goal in the 10th minute. The play began with a little give and go between David and Tajon Buchanan and then Buchanan wiggled around the Honduran defense and let go a strong centering pass that Maldanado tried to stop but instead redirected into the net.
The Canadians sat back a bit for the balance of the half and defended their early lead allowing Honduras to rack up possession and shots. But the Canadians did not break and went into the 2nd half still holding a 1 goal lead.
In the 2nd half, Honduras continued to push the play with Canada for the most part content to play defense and look for counter attack opportunities. In the 70th minute, it looked like Honduras would tie it up off a beautiful header from a corner kick, but Canadian goalkeeper Milan Borjan somehow pulled off a superhuman effort to knock the ball away. It would not be the last time in the game that he would be called on to keep a clean sheet.
Only minutes later, however, Honduras lost possession on the edge of the Canadian box and Liam Fraser put an exquisite pass 40 yards up the field to a streaking David who pushed hard behind the Honduran defense, settled the ball with a header and flipped a half volley up and over the flailing keeper and into the back of the net to make it 2-0 Canada.
Honduras continued a relentless assault and must be given full marks for the effort they put in, perhaps even too much effort as their aggressive play sometimes slid into the realm of dangerous play. Fortunately, no one was hurt and in the 90th minute, Borjan made probably his best save of the game to keep his clean sheet and send the Canadian boys home with a 2-0 win.
So Canada remains at the top of the league for now but it’s up for grabs on Sunday when the Canadians are challenged by the 2nd place US. Should be a heck of a game!
Until then, go Canada go!
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