Epic Stunner in CONCACAF!

sdifox

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Sep 30, 2005
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Canada's Men's soccer team won against USA 2-0 :eek:


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...ens-olympic-soccer-qualifying/article2380508/

Canada stuns U.S. in men’s Olympic soccer qualifying

NASHVILLE, Tenn.— The Canadian Press

Published Saturday, Mar. 24, 2012 9:07PM EDT

Last updated Sunday, Mar. 25, 2012 12:36AM EDT


The final results of Canada's match against the United States on Saturday will turn some heads.
Doneil Henry and Lucas Cavallini each scored as Canada stunned the Americans 2-0 at the CONCACAF men's Olympic qualifying tournament.
It was an upset win for Canada, as many had predicted the United States would roll through the tournament, easily qualify for the Olympics and potentially challenge for a medal.
Canada's joy was diminished at the end of the match when forward Randy Edwini-Bonsu, who was one of Canada's most dangerous players all night, was issued a straight red card by referee Jafeth Perea just after he was substituted.
“I didn't know as well so I only saw the fourth official calling the referee and giving him instructions to give the red card to (Edwini-Bonsu),” said Canadian head coach Tony Fonseca in his post-game press conference. “But I didn't see anything, I didn't hear anything. Honestly I don't know what happened.”
Before leaving the field, a clearly upset Edwini-Bonsu had to be restrained by members of the Canadian staff. Fonseca was also visibly upset as he made his way to the locker-room after the game.
Canada (2-0) took the lead in the 57th minute when Henry leapt in front of American goalkeeper Bilal Hamid to head in a goal off a corner kick.
“(Henry) was a big talker and he told me to give it to him on his head and I finally found him,” said midfield Phillipe Davies, who took the corner kick that Henry converted. “I tried the two previous (corners) and the third one was the good one.”
Davies also put the low cross in that Cavallini headed in for the insurance goal.
The 10,578 predominantly American fans, who were quite vocal up to that point, were silenced as Canada took a deserved lead.
“It was great. There's no better feeling than that,” said Phillipe Davies. “We're playing in America and we beat them 2-0 — great.”
Cavallini added the insurance goal in the 64th minute after diving in to head a low pass into the American net.
“It makes it special that everyone wrote this team off from the beginning,” said team captain Nana Attakora. “We all believed in each other and (coach Tony Fonseca's) tactics and it worked.
The U.S. (1-1) quickly regained momentum but Canadian keeper Michal Misiewicz made a pair of big saves two minutes later to maintain the clean sheet.
The Americans thought they had gone ahead in the 48th minute when Ike Opara headed a Freddy Adu free kick into the goal, but Opara was called offside.
The U.S. had another chance in the 66th minute after the referee gave a yellow card to Canadian Andres Fresenga for wasting time on the ground, but Brek Shea's kick banged off the side of the net.
Teal Bunbury, the son of Canadian Hall of Famer Alex Bunbury, made the start for the U.S. and was substituted out in the 56th minute.
Canada now sits tied with El Salvador atop Group A in the tournament. Canada still has to play Cuba on Monday while the Americans take on El Salvador.
“The coaches told us we can't get overconfident. We still have a game on Monday and if we lose that game, this game is meaningless,” said Attakora. “We can enjoy it for tonight but tomorrow we need to get ourselves level-headed and ready to put in work on Monday.”
The top two teams in this group advance to the tournament semi-finals. Eight teams are playing for one of two spots available to the CONCACAF region for the upcoming London Olympics.
Canada has not qualified for the Olympics in men's soccer since 1984 and came into the game 1-4-2 all-time against the U.S. in the qualifying tournament.
 

dud

Diamond Member
Feb 18, 2001
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Most Americans have only a limited interest in soccer (aka football). I doubt that many even care ...
 

sdifox

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Sep 30, 2005
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Most Americans have only a limited interest in soccer (aka football). I doubt that many even care ...

It is changing as the population ages. US has been pushing soccer for some time now and it is paying off nicely.
 

GagHalfrunt

Lifer
Apr 19, 2001
25,284
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It is changing as the population ages. US has been pushing soccer for some time now and it is paying off nicely.

It's not doing jack shit. The only interest in soccer in the USA is through immigrants, not aging.
 

zinfamous

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Jul 12, 2006
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It is changing as the population ages. US has been pushing soccer for some time now and it is paying off nicely.

I don't think so. The common argument is that all the kids today play soccer, so it will be very popular when they get older and demand more soccer leagues and competition.

Thing is, American kids have been playing soccer since the 70s, but it still hasn't gained much traction. An aging and useless Pele was brought over in the 70s to try and boost interest, but that failed.

The fact is that most of those kids that play soccer generally move on to other sports as they age. Women's soccer has always been relatively popular, and the US is certainly more than competitive in that--but it is unfortunately relegated to the realm of "women's sports."
 

Cuda1447

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Jul 26, 2002
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Soccer is growing, albeit very slowly. Just look at MLS, it is more popular than it was 10 years ago. We have more international stars then we ever did playing here and certain cities have an excellent fan base, like Seattle. It isn't NFL/NBA/MLB big, but its slowly making progress.
 

IndyColtsFan

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Sep 22, 2007
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It is changing as the population ages. US has been pushing soccer for some time now and it is paying off nicely.

They said the same thing when I was a kid. And again when I was in college (friends guaranteed me it would be big in 10 years, and that was nearly 20 years ago). It isn't gaining much, if any, traction.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
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I don't think so. The common argument is that all the kids today play soccer, so it will be very popular when they get older and demand more soccer leagues and competition.

Thing is, American kids have been playing soccer since the 70s, but it still hasn't gained much traction. An aging and useless Pele was brought over in the 70s to try and boost interest, but that failed.

The fact is that most of those kids that play soccer generally move on to other sports as they age. Women's soccer has always been relatively popular, and the US is certainly more than competitive in that--but it is unfortunately relegated to the realm of "women's sports."

well, most of the sport money is devoured by american football and basketball. But it is improving.
 

velillen

Platinum Member
Jul 12, 2006
2,120
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Soccer is growing, albeit very slowly. Just look at MLS, it is more popular than it was 10 years ago. We have more international stars then we ever did playing here and certain cities have an excellent fan base, like Seattle. It isn't NFL/NBA/MLB big, but its slowly making progress.

Seattle is a great example. Football is still the biggest selling out CenteryLink, but the Sounders are in spot number 2 with 50+ consecutive sellouts with 30k+ in attendance for MLS matches (and some matches with 60k+ in attendance as well). The MLB Mariners have only had season averages of ~28k the last 4 or 5 years.


As for this "upset" who cares. its the Olympics. To many rules to make it a fun and exciting competition. Canada beat our under-23's, o well. Anyone who is big named will be playing in other tournaments anyways. Spain is in Euro 2012 so if your first team youll be there, not the Olympics. All you have to do is look at some of the area's qualifications for the tourny to see they dont overly care about it.
 

JD50

Lifer
Sep 4, 2005
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It is changing as the population ages. US has been pushing soccer for some time now and it is paying off nicely.

Nope. Everyone played soccer when I was a kid too. We're all grown up now and no one cares about soccer any more.
 

Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
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Soccer is bigger in the US now, than it ever has been.
That being said, it is still not popular and not even close to relevant.
 

SlitheryDee

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Feb 2, 2005
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This thread made my sense of patriotism stir a bit, but ultimately I'm not overly perturbed by this news.