The Martlet

When your country is preparing to play in the qualifiers for the World Cup of Soccer, you can get no better warm-up than a game against Brazil.

The Canadian National team did just that on May 31, at Qwest Field in Seattle. The game was a tune-up for their first World Cup Qualifier against St. Vincent and the Grenadines on June 15.

The team was able to spend a week together while they were training at the University of Washington. Brazil, on the other hand, arrived two days before the game and had only one brief training the day before the game.

The Canadian supporters’ club, the Voyageurs, made the trip down from Canada and turned the southwest corner into a small red and white section in an otherwise mass of yellow, green and blue. A solid crowd of 47,052 people filled the 67,500-seat stadium.

The Brazilian fans were not disappointed. Within four minutes of kickoff, Robinho — Robson de Souza, who plays for Real Madrid in Spain — easily slipped by Canadian right-back Paul Stalteri. He then crossed the ball to  Diego Ribas da Cunha who beat Canadian veteran keeper Pat Onstad with a shot to Onstad’s left.

Canada is the 62nd ranked team in the world, and being down an early goal to world number two Brazil meant Canada had a huge mountain to climb.

Amazingly, Canada replied within seven minutes. At the 10-minute mark, Mike Klukowski launched a long cross from the left-hand side just inside the halfway line. Forward Rob Friend beat Brazilian keeper Julio Cesar to the ball, and headed in the equalizer.

Canada was playing with a confidence not present on previous teams. They showed Brazil no respect and were rewarded for their efforts with solid goal-scoring chances. On the 23rd minute, Friend played a through ball to Issey Nakajima-Farran, which beat the offside trap. With only Cesar to beat, Farran tried a chip that just missed Cesar’s  left post. 

Right on the stroke of half-time, Brazilian defender Gilberto Silva crossed to Luis Fabiano, whose header was partially saved by Onstad, but was still able to make it over the line. The score at the half was 2-1 Brazil; but it easily could have been Canada in front.

Canada’s main flaw in the past has been a lack of offensive creativity. Forward Dwayne De Rosario noted that improvement in Canada’s game.

“It used to not only be a lack of scoring, but a lack of creating any chances,” De Rosario said. “But we created chances again... which is encouraging.”

The second half got off to a slow start. That all changed in the 55th minute, when Jonathan de Guzman beat Julio Baptista to a loose ball and blasted a rocket of a shot to the right of Cesar to tie the game.

Two minutes later, de Guzman took a left foot show that missed the left post by inches. He was easily Canada’s man of the match.

As well as Canada played, and as well as de Guzman played, he was ultimately responsible for Brazil’s third goal. In the 63rd minute, he tried a long back pass to Onstad that was intercepted by Robinho who was alone on goal. He then rounded a helpless Onstad and slid the ball into the open goal.

Canada almost tied it again in the 84th minute, when substitute Tam Nsaliwa dribbled through four Brazilian defenders before flashing a shot just inches away from the post to Cesar’s right.

It proved to be Canada’s best and last chance in a thrilling 3-2 loss to one of the most powerful teams in the world.

After the game, Canadian players were encouraged by the result. Midfielder/forward Tomasz Radzinski noted, “most Canadians in the squad play in the highest divisions in Europe and it shows on the pitch. Unfortunately, Brazil is Brazil and they had four chances and scored three goals from them.”

Looking ahead to World Cup Qualifying, Coach Mitchell is not going to let excitement get the better of the team.

“Most people would think that we wouldn’t be that close to Brazil,” said Mitchell, “just like many would think St. Vincent won’t be that close to us.”