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Canada’s men’s national team finished the year with the official hiring of new head coach Stephen Hart, but it in fact returned to form with a promising run at the CONCACAF Gold Cup when Hart served as interim head coach throughout the 2009 season. After a disappointing FIFA World Cup Qualifiers campaign in 2008, the Canadian team finished first in its group and reached the quarter-final stage before falling 0:1 to Honduras on a penalty-kick goal.
Overall, Canada posted a record of four wins, one draw and three losses in 2009. It posted four-straight wins from 30 May through 7 July, including back-to-back victories against Jamaica and El Salvador at the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Canada scored eight goals and allowed seven goals against.
Canada’s women’s national team began a new era in 2009 under newly-hired head coach Carolina Morace. The new coach made an immediate impact, helping Canada finish second at the Cyprus Women’s Cup in February. The team displayed an exciting new brand of football as it began a new cycle towards the FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011 and the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament London 2012.
Overall, Canada posted a record of two wins, one draw and four losses in 2009. Three of its four losses came against the world’s number-one ranked USA; its one other defeat was a 1:3 loss to England in the Cyprus Women’s Cup final. Canada scored six goals and allowed 11 goals against.
L’équipe nationale féminine du Canada a commencé un nouveau chapitre en 2009 avec l’embauche d’une nouvelle entraîneur-chef, dont Carolina Morace. Sa présence a eu un effet immédiat sur l’équipe qui a terminé deuxième à la Coupe Chypre féminine peu de temps après que Morace prenne la direction de l’effectif au mois de février dernier. L’équipe a aussitôt adopté un nouveau style de jeu de soccer en préparation pour la Coupe du Monde Féminine de la FIFA 2011 en Allemagne ainsi que le Tournoi olympique de football féminin 2012 à Londres.
Canada’s fourth-place finish at the Francophone Games Soccer Tournament was the highlight of Canada’s 2009 youth teams’ season. It was Canada’s men’s U-20 team that finished fourth at the nine team tournament in October. The team held eventual champion Congo to a 2:2 draw in the semi-final stage, but was then relegated to the match for third place after losing 1-2 on kicks from the penalty mark.
Canadian goalkeeper Michal Misiewicz was the player of note in Canada’s last three games of the tournament. He posted a clean sheet in a 2:0 victory over Cameroon to help clinch first place in Canada’s three-team group. In the semi-final against Congo, he was again spectacular, especially on kicks from penalty mark when he made three successive saves against Congo.
The Impact de Montréal’s 2:0 victory in front of 55,571 fans at Stade Olympique was the highlight of the 2009 club season in Canada. The big win over Mexico’s Club Santos Laguna came on 26 February in the first leg of the quarter-final stage of the 2008-09 CONCACAF Champions League season.
The Impact more than tripled the previous attendance record for a CONCACAF Champions League match that evening in Montréal. The crowd and atmosphere made “an incredible statement” for soccer in Canada.
The Canadian Soccer Association has confirmed its men’s national team will open its 2010 season with an international friendly match against CONCACAF opponent Jamaica. Canadian head coach Stephen Hart will take the national team to Kingston, Jamaica for the friendly date on 31 January at the National Soccer Stadium.
“This camp provides me with the ideal opportunity to see some of our players that are on the winter break from their club season,” Canadian said head coach Stephen Hart. “We will also be provided with a good international test as Jamaica has proved to be a formidable opponent within CONCACAF in recent years.”
Canada’s women’s national team is the 12th ranked country on the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking. Canada, whose title partner is Winners and whose presenting partner is Teck, remains the second-ranked team within CONCACAF behind the world’s number-one ranked nation, USA.
The FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Rankings looks at each country’s international results from the last four years. The ranking takes into account the result, the importance of the match, the strength of the opponent, the regional strength, the time period, and the number of matches per year.
L’équipe nationale féminine du Canada se situe de nouveau parmi les douze meilleurs pays du classement mondial féminin FIFA/Coca-Cola. L’équipe nationale féminine du Canada, dont le commanditaire en titre est Winners et dont le commanditaire-présentateur est Teck, est toujours la deuxième meilleure équipe parmi les nations de la CONCACAF dépassée seulement par les États-Unis au sommet du classement.
The Canadian Soccer Association announced today that Simeon Jackson is the male selection for the 2009 Canadian Players of the Year award. Jackson was honoured in a vote shared by Canadian media (50%) and Canadian coaches who have taken the Canadian Soccer Association’s national course at the B and A levels (50%).
