Canada's men's national team played to a 2:2 draw with Costa Rica tonight. The draw helped Canada finish first in Group A at the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Canada is now off to Philadelphia to play in next week's quarter-final phase.

Patrice Bernier and Marcel de Jong scored for Canada within six minutes of Costa Rica taking a 1-0 lead midway through the first half. Costa Rica then tied the match off a free kick in the 35th minute.

The match opened with both sides finding their pace, but few chances on goal. Costa Rica did get what could have been a dangerous free kick just outside the box in the 8th minute, but Sutton made the save.

In the 23rd minute, Costa Rica got on the board shortly after a Canadian caution and Costa Rica free kick. Off an ensuing Canadian goal kick, Costa Rica's Armando Alonso headed the ball from the centre up to Andy Herron. With Sutton off his line, Herron quickly lobbed a shot over the Canadian goalkeeper and into the net.

Two minutes later, Canada countered with its own goal on a quick play. Pushing up the midfield, Canada moved the ball to Josh Simpson on the wing who centered the ball into the box. Bernier volleyed the ball into the back of the net.

Then in the 28^th minute, Canada took the lead on de Jong’s goal. De Jong had the initial free kick that Costa Rica cleared from the box. The ball, however, came right back to de Jong who fired his second shot right into the back of the net.

Costa Rica’s second goal of the half came in the 35^th minute. This time, Walter Centeno stepped up and made no mistake on a free kick from 25 yards out.  From dead centre, he curled the ball over the Canadian wall and into the back of the net.

Before the start of the second half, Canada made but one change to the lineup, switching Johnson for Issey Nakajima-Farran on the left side. In the opening 10 minutes, both sides made their runs in an effort to score the go-ahead goal. Peters played with the ball down the left side on one rush while Costa Rica forced a corner kick off a nice volley from its own left side. On the Costa Rica play, Sutton left the ground to punch the ball over and out.

A few minutes after the Costa Rica corner kick, Canada played a pair of corner kicks of its own to no avail.

In the 66th minute, Canada created a nice combination that pushed the team into the Costa Rica box. Simeon Jackson carried it in and crossed the ball from the right to Bernier; backing up, Bernier headed the ball on target, but was stopped by the goalkeeper Ricardo Gonzalez.

In the 78th minute, Costa Rica came close on a dangerous corner kick that Peters cleared off the line at the back post. The ensuing corner was more easily handled with McKenna heading the ball out of danger. A few moments later, however, Costa Rica pushed back and forced another corner kick, this time after McKenna cleared the ball. On the corner kick, Sutton jumped up and grabbed the ball.

Costa Rica had a few more chances in the final ten minutes, but Canada held its own to come away with the 2:2 draw. Coach Hart made two more substitutions during the second half. Ali Gerba came in for Will Johnson in the 70th minute and Adrian Cann came in for Simeon Jackson in the 81st minute. Of note, all 17 Canadian outfield players have now participated in this year's edition of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. With Canada already qualified out of the group stage, coach Hart decided to sit Julian de Guzman, Mike Klukowski and Paul Stalteri who each had a yellow card earlier in the tournament. Had any of those three players received a second yellow card in the group phase, they would have been forced to miss the quarter-final stage. Also of note, Richard Hastings made his 56th career appearance to tie Craig Forrest and Pat Onstad for 10th place on the all-time Canadian list. Bernier scored his second career goal while de Jong scored his first international goal. Costa Rica goal scorer Centeno was named Miller Lite Man of the Match. Canada's Kevin McKenna, meanwhile, was selected Canada's top player.