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France
Women's U-20
With still two games to go, one statistic has already emerged from the 2009 Nutrilite Canadian Championship – goals scored by Canadians. Last year, only one of 12 cup competition goals was scored by a Canadian. Martin Nash turned in the honour on Canada Day – his goal from the penalty spot was the difference in a 1:0 victory over Toronto FC on 1 July.
This year, four of the five goals in the competition have been scored by Canadians. Toronto FC’s Kevin Harmse scored in the opening 1:0 victory over the Impact de Montréal; Vancouver’s Marcus Haber and Charles Gbeke both scored in a 2:0 victory over the Impact in Montréal; Ethan Gage scored the latest goal in a 1:0 victory over the Impact in Vancouver.
Canada’s current camp in Cyprus features several young players, four of whom are still 22 years or younger. Defender Eddy Sidra (20) and forward Tosaint Ricketts (21), both from Edmonton, are taking part in their first national camp. They are the two youngest players on the team. Mississauga forward Simeon Jackson and Pickering midfielder Jaime Peters have been up with the national team before, but they are not much older at 22 years of age.
Sidra, of course, is just 10 weeks removed from playing on Canada’s youth team at the recent 2009 CONCACAF Men’s Under-20 Championship in March. He was a late call-in to camp, leaving his club FC Energie Cottbus who is currently in relegation zone in Germany. Sidra will rejoin his club after this week in Cyprus.
Canada’s men’s national team enjoyed another day of training today in Larnaka, Cyprus. The team is three days into its preparations for this coming Saturday’s international friendly match against Cyprus. The match will be Canada’s first of the 2009 season.
“We took the intensity down a little because we have been going pretty hard,” said head coach Stephen Hart. “It was more, for lack of a better word, more tactical. It was positional specific as to what will be required of them.”
The Impact de Montréal and the French Football League announced Thursday that the Champions Trophy (Trophée des Champions), a competition between the French Cup winner and the Ligue 1 season champion, will be held in Montréal at Stade Olympique this 25 July (15.00 kickoff).
It is the first time in the competition’s history that the match will be played outside of France.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC has officially eliminated the Impact de Montréal in the 2009 Nutrilite Canadian Championship. With a 1:0 victory on Wednesday night, Vancouver picked up another three points to keep pace with the championship leaders, Toronto FC. Vancouver’s teenage midfielder Ethan Gage scored the lone goal in the victory.
The Whitecaps win sets up what could be a title match next Tuesday 2 June at Swangard Stadium in Vancouver. Toronto FC needs a win or a draw to eliminate the Whitecaps and win the 2009 Nutrilite Canadian Championship; Vancouver needs a win over Toronto FC as well as help from the Impact on 18 June.
Canada’s men’s national team has started a one-week in camp in Larnaka, Cyprus in preparation for this Saturday’s international friendly match against Cyprus. The 18-player roster has gathered under the direction of interim head coach Stephen Hart and his staff.
Coach Hart says the first two sessions in camp went well as the coaching staff worked on “getting the relationships working” amongst the new players and the veterans. Of note, Dominic Imhof, Tosaint Ricketts and Eddy Sidra are all first-time call ups to the national squad.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC host the Impact de Montréal at Swangard Stadium on Wednesday night in a key Nutrilite Canadian Championship match up. Second-place Vancouver (1-0-1, 3 points), will be looking to build on its 2:0 victory last week over Montréal, the first every victory for the club at Montréal’s Stade Saputo. Montréal meanwhile will be eager to rebound from the loss to Vancouver, a match in which they missed a number of scoring chances, including three chances that hit the crossbar.
With a victory Vancouver would set up a massive clash with first-place Toronto FC (2-0-0, 6 points), next Tuesday, 2 June at Swangard. Last-place Montréal (0-0-2, 0 points), the 2008 champions, desperately need all three points Wednesday night in Vancouver to maintain their hopes of repeating in 2009.
Toronto, ON under head coach Carolina Morace. The 21 players were all in uniform last night at BMO Field for the international friendly match against USA. The Canadian team fell 0:4 to the world’s number-one ranked and defending-Olympic champion USA.
“I’d rather lose 4-0 against a team of this calibre than to win 3-0 against an easy opponent,” said Morace after the match. “I don’t think there was a four-goal difference [between the teams].Â… I don’t think the score was indicative of the play.”
Les joueuses de l’équipe nationale sont maintenant revenues à leurs clubs respectifs suite après avoir passer une semaine d’entraînement à Toronto sous la direction de Carolina Morace, l’entraîneuse-chef de l’équipe. Les 21 joueuses de l’équipe étaient toutes à l’appel hier soir lors du match amical international contre les États-Unis qui a lieu au BMO Field. L’équipe canadienne a perdu avec un score de 0-4 contre les États-Unis, dont la meilleure équipe du monde et championnes olympiques en titre.
« Je préfère perdre 4-0 contre une équipe de calibre plutôt que de gagner 3-0 contre une adversaire facile, » disait Morace à la fin du match. « Je ne crois pas qu’il avait réellement une différence de quatre buts [entre les équipes].Â… Je ne crois pas que le résultat final représentait le niveau de jeu des joueuses. »
