ok...so i thought i would put some "pre-game" thoughts here... first off...will coach pellerud rest some of his players? (like how the US did yesterday). i don't think he will, being that costa rica is the best team in our group, and we need the win (or a tie) to avoid playing the US in the semis. with that being said, i wouldn't be surprised if he rested some of his key players if the team goes up early... also, as injuries goes, today's TO Star article by norman decosta says that carmelina moscato will not be playing, cause she strained her knee ligament(s). so that sucks. the article also mentioned that maybe why amy hasn't been starting is due to a hamstring injury, and that she has now fully "recovered", therefore i would not be surprised if she started today... i'm looking forward to this game...i really want to see how the team plays against the ticas, and i'm sure it'll be a battle...physical game for sure, i just hope no more injuries! GO CANADA!!! elaine
I hope he doesn't rest any players, because (as you said) Costa Rica is a better team then Haiti and Jamaica.
Given the injury situation (which is getting pretty bad in midfield with Neil, Moscato & Morneau out) & that Costa Rica should be the toughest test so far I wouldn't rest any usual starters. But if we are comfortably ahead by half-time we might want to think of taking Hooper off early & perhaps Burtini, to rest them for the important matches coming up this week. And it would give us a chance to see more of Kristina Kiss.
She deserves a little more time after her play on Friday night. Hmmm, it is probably just my Ottawa bias speaking
i would have to agree with that! i thought kiss did an excellent job last game, and i hope she gets some more time today!!! i'm gonna say our starting 11 will be: mcleod boyd - nonen - andrews chapman - walsh - timko - burtini sinclair lang - hooper i think coach will go back to andrews and mcleod instead of karina and randee...pretty much the same starting 11 vs. haiti with the exception of walsh playing instead of moscato. here's my question...if and when neil is ready, do you think she'll be able to contribute 100% and have the same impact as a player like timko/walsh?? i doubt she'll play today, but maybe she might come in to get some minutes under her belt? i doubt that too....maybe in the semis??? can't wait!!! elaine
What time does the game start? Please don't say noon or 11 PST............ I don't think McLeod will start. I thought LeBlanc looked more confident between the posts on Friday. She played well. Sure the goal that Haiti scored wasn't all McLeod, but she did look shaky and that's not really what you want unless you want to risk the US as your semi-final partner
Re: Re: Canada vs. Costa Rica Pre/During/Post [R] The game is supposed to start at 2pm PST I believe...
pre game article... here's terry jones' pre-game article (i love the fact that he's covering the GC...) so it seems like andie will be playing today. i'm glad to see her back out there, and hopefully she'll be able to contribute! elaine
Go Canada! Costa Rica is definitely the best team Canada's played yet. The defense looks a bit more solid for Canada today.......
Costa Rica can't do anything with the ball the few times they get over the halfway line. They look exhausted from constantly defending. Still 3-0 87th min.
Sandra Hunt is a card-happy twit of a referee. She doesn't seem to know how to call obstruction and wouldn't know a foul it if happened right in front of her.
Game over. Canada 3 (Hooper 2, Sinclair 1) CR 0. So the line up for WEdnesday is Canada vs Mexico and US vs CR. Watch your shins, it'll be a rough one. Canada dominated the second half. Costa Rica played smart defense with lots of players behind the ball. Burtini almost got one but for the cross bar (first shot) and the keeper (re-bound)
Not a bad game for Canada. It would have been better to score more but Costa Rica did a very good job of defending. I am glad that the defence looked alot more confident today because its going to be a tough match against Mexico. I am glad though that Canada had a tougher match today because it should wake them up for Mexico. Its going to be tough but I think Canada will win. By the way, that ref sucked! WAR CANADA!!!!!!!!!!
Not finding a match report, I have to ask, what's the bitchin' about? Did Sandra Hunt expect the Canadian team to play soccer? Folks should go to the poll on the front page of CSA to vote for the winner of the Gold Cup. They need a reality check.
She just didn't call the right calls. She gave a yellow to Lang when she should just have been called for a foul. This is kind of off topic but I just have to say that I really like seing all of Canada cheering the Canadian women soccer team. It seems that more people are cheering for the women instead of the men. They definitaly deserve a birth to the World Cup.
Hey to the 90th minute of the Charge-Freedom WUSA semifinal when Wambach laideth the smacketh down on Clemens in the Freedom 12-yard box and never got a yellow, let alone a foul. If she never refs another game of ours again, it won't be too soon. Paul
Clemens completely ran over Carrie Moore from behind to even get into the box - the non-calls evened out there. Get OVER it already!
Why the hell do they assign an American referee to a Canadian game in this tournament? Do you not think there was a slight conflict of interest, quite apart from her obvious incompetence? Who benefits from the cheap yellow cards she hands out to Kara Lang and Charmaine Hooper? You guessed it - team USA.
Its kind of weird because the ref we had against Jamaica was from Costa Rica too. I don't think that I would suspect Hunt of trying to benefit the USWNT with her yellow cards. Hoop has a rep that she can't dodge, especially with those WUSA refs and Lang may have gotten one due to accumulation. She is very physical and had laid a few fouls on prior. Both were poor calls, bu I dont think their was anything nefarious in them.
elo's thoughts Please Note: I write this stuff out "offline", and didn't read all the comments before putting it together... my post game thoughts: the game was actually what i thought it would be, as costa rica played a really defensive game and tried their best to keep the score as close as possible. i must give props to the ticas for their efforts as i thought they played very well, and accomplished their goals. they have some very talented players, and i hope the team as a whole continues to improve and get better. major props goes to their keeper herra, as she came up with some big saves...most noteably the one she got her hand on a burtini's shot and was able to tip the ball wide while she was going backwards and off balance...good stuff. in terms of canada, i thought they had a good outing. there were times, like the past afew games, that the defence seemed a bit suspect and making small errors, but overall i think the team played well. they werent' able to stack the goals against CR, but their chances at goals were numerous, and hopefully they can finish more of these chances... the starting lineup was a 3-5-2: - - - - - - LeBlanc - - - - - - - - - Boyd - - Nonen - - Hermus - - - Chapman - Neil - Timko - Burtini - - - - - - - Sinclair - - - - - - - - - Lang - - - - Hooper - - - i was happy to see hermus in the lineup again, as i felt she played well against jamaica, and deserved the start. i was half-surprised to see leblanc starting in the net, as coach pellerud usually alternates b/t his keepers. but the more i think about it, b/c leblanc played today, i have a feeling that mcleod will play against mexico, and that sets up leblanc to play in the USA game in the finals (if all goes well). BUT, i wouldn't be surprised if i'm all wrong, and i'm putting to much thought in this...lol anywho, as usual, my individual player comments: Karina LeBlanc: didn't have to do much, like her last game. she did better with her clearences, and was playing good off her line and being a "sweeper" type player when the ball was not near her...i saw somebody hold a sign during halftime that was classic. it said: Karina LeWall...heehee, very thoughtful!!! Breanna Boyd: again, bre did her job and played very well in that right back position. she made some good runs and did a good job distributing the ball etc. she's had a very consistent tourney sofar... Sharolta Nonen: i think this game was her best game yet, as she seemed more like herself than the last two games...did a good job organizing. my one "urk" against shar in this game (and also in the two previous ones) is that she sometimes played the ball a bit too slow back to the keeper or a fellow defender when under pressure, and makes it a bit "eek" when the ball is moving at such a slow pace with a defender applying pressure... Randee Hermus: glad she got the start, and she did very nicely. she does a good job in the box during set pieces and getting her head on the ball. she almost had a goal in the first half off a header, but the keeper came up big. Candace Chapman: didn't seem to have a as "big" of a game like she has had in the last two previous games, but still contributed well by running up and down the right flank ad trying to get some crosses off. she also did well in and around the box too. Andrea Neil: glad to see andie back on the field!!! and she did exactly what she does every game-- win all those 50-50 balls in the midfield and organzing and changing the point of attack. she's also a vocal leader, as many times on mics on the field could pick up what she was saying and telling her teammates etc...missed her the last few games!!! glad to have her back. Brittany Timko: don't have much to say about timko this game...did her job in the midfield and came out at halftime... Silvana Burtini: as i commented last game, i think silvana has been been playing better and better with each game. she's doing an awesome job on the left flank and she does a really good job on her corner kicks/free kicks... Christine Sinclair: scored a nice goal right out of halftime off a flick from a corner kick. she also did a great jobn laying off some nice passes to her teammates...go sincy! Kara Lang: had a very active first half but got hampered by some time of injury to her left leg, but continued to play, and was still effective. CR's #4 was man-marking her the whole game, and did her best to "shut down" kara. Charmaine Hooper: got two goals...one off a PK, and her second one was quite nice, knowing to chip the ball over the keeper and getting her second goal of the game. had a good game, and applied nice pressure on the CR defenders... Subs: Kristina Kiss: came on in the second half for brittany timko and played in the midfield. played some nice thru balls and had an almost goal when hooper found her in the box and the CRian defender came in to clear it (she threw her body infront of kiss, lol) glad to see her get more time than last game, and i thought she contributed well. Melanie Booth: came in for silvana burtini. she played on the left flank until walsh came in for lang, and then she moved back into left back as the team played a 4-4-2. Amy Walsh: came in for kara lang late in the game. not much to say about her play as she didn't get too much time in... i also want to comment that i'm not a big sandra hunt fan (the ref)...she gave canada three yellow cards. the first one to silvana for having a small scruffle with the CRian keeper, which i understand, as you have to protect the keeper. HOWEVER, the other two cards were stupid, in my mind. lang got a yellow for a standard tackle, on a 50-50 ball, and hooper got a card for something off the ball that they never showed on tv....so i can't even say what it was for. they showed her saying 'what a joke' when hunt gave her the card...not cool! all in all canada got the job done, and now have a date against mexico. i'm looking forward to it!! i also want to say that i soooo want a copy of that "poster" that the fans seemed to have w/the team on it. with a big pic with a few of the players celebrating and the individual "head shots" of each of the players...and izzy's picture was on it too! and i think they had "new" shots of amy and kristina, since they were not at the norge game when the new head shots were taken. i want a copy!!!! grrrr....must find a way to get a copy...... and another question... from the GC schedule, it says that the winner of group 2 plays the runner up of group 1 first, which is at 10pmET, and the second game starts at 12:30pmET...HOWEVER, on the broadcast today on sportsnet today said that they will air the canada game at the 12:30 slot...so is it not live? or did they flip-flop the two games??? elaine