.svg){kind=icon}
Canada’s men’s national team arrived in Columbus, OH today, one day after winning the opening match of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. The team flew from Los Angeles to Columbus where it will spend the next few days before its Tuesday 7 July match against El Salvador.
Both Canada and El Salvador have three points after the opening night of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup (Group A). Canada won its opening match 1:0 over Jamaica while El Salvador won its opening match 2:1 over Costa Rica. On Tuesday 7 July, Canada faces El Salvador and Costa Rica faces Jamaica.
Canada and El Salvador have each opened the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup with three points after the opening night of the tournament. Canada won its opening match 1:0 over Jamaica while El Salvador won 2:1 over Costa Rica at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, CA.
For Canada, it was the team’s third-straight win under head coach Stephen Hart. Coach Hart improved his all-time record to eight wins, one draw and four losses. It was also Canada’s third-straight match without conceding a goal.
Listen to captain Paul Stalteri
Paul Stalteri has been named captain for Canada’s men’s national team for the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. The Canadian defender will help lead the Canadian side that will participate in the biennial confederation championship this 3-26 July in the United States.
All of Canada’s matches will be broadcast live on Rogers Sportsnet, starting with the opening match this 3 July against Jamaica (20.00 ET / 17.00 PT on Sportsnet Ontario and Sportsnet West). The 12-team competition features three groups of four; Canada faces Jamaica, El Salvador (7 July) and Costa Rica (10 July) in its group competition.
Listen to coach Stephen Hart
Canada’s men’s national team will face Jamaica in the opening match of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. The two sides will kick off at 17.00 PT (20.00 ET) at The Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, CA.
The Canada-Jamaica match will officially kick off the 12-team competition. The match will be broadcast live on Rogers Sportsnet (Sportsnet West and Sportsnet Ontario). The Canada-Jamaica match will be followed by the El Salvador-Costa Rica match (also at The Home Depot Center; live on GolTV).
Canada’s men’s national team is ranked 11th amongst CONCACAF nations in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. The ranking, released on 1 July, includes matches up through 25 June, so it does not include Canada’s 3:0 defeat over Guatemala in Oxnard, CA on 30 June. That result, as well as Canada’s results at the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup, will be included in the next ranking on 5 August 2009.
Canada lost 70 points in the ranking, in particular due to the devaluation of last year’s two wins in FIFA World Cup™ Qualifiers against St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Canada had no new matches in the period between the two most recent world rankings.
Canada’s men’s national team held its final training session in Oxnard, CA this morning before traveling to Los Angeles to officially begin its 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup trip. The team was greeted by its CONCACAF team liaison in Oxnard for the bus drive to Torrance, CA. Canada opens the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup in two days against Jamaica in the opening match on 3 July.
Canada will train one last time on 2 July, this time at The Home Depot Center where it will have a brief 45 minutes in the competition stadium. Canada returns to The Home Depot Center on Friday night to kick off the 2009 confederation championship.
Canada’s men’s national team played its final preparatory match today before the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Near the culmination of a six-day mini camp in Oxnard, CA, Canada won 3:0 over Guatemala at Oxnard College. It was Canada’s second win of the 2009 season.
“We created a fair number of chances and should have been a little more ruthless,” said coach Stephen Hart. “Ali (Gerba) took his first goal very well – a diving header. His second goal was a penalty. As for the build up to the goal that Patrice (Bernier) scored, it (was something that) got you off your seat.”
The Canadian Soccer Association announced today that Rogers Sportsnet will broadcast all of Canada’s matches from the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Sportsnet’s coverage will open this Friday, 3 July as Canada faces Jamaica in the opening match of the 2009 tournament. The match kicks off at 17.00 local (20.00 ET) from the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles and can be seen live on Sportsnet Ontario and West. Canada has been drawn into Group A at the 12-team competition along with Costa Rica, El Salvador and the aforementioned Jamaica. Please find the full broadcast schedule below.
Brazil won the FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009 after a 3:2 victory over USA in the final. Brazil overcame a 2-0 deficit at the half by scoring three times in the final 45 minutes for the title. It marked Brazil’s third FIFA Confederations Cup title.
USA won silver after upsetting Spain in the Wednesday semi-final with a 2-0 victory. Brazil, meanwhile, reached the final after a 1:0 win over host South Africa in the Thursday semi-final. In the bronze-medal match on Sunday, Spain won 3:2 after extra time over South Africa.
