Canada Flattened by Guatemala

In front of 6,725 fans at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, B.C., Canada came out flat and was defeated 2-0 in World Cup qualifying. The crowd was littered with Guatemalan fans (note: if my buddy Puffy and I were there we'd be heckling them and throwing guacamole at them). Canada was missing two of its key players, striker Tomasz Radzinski and its captain and central defender Jason DeVos.

Canada was outplayed for much of the match, with its defense looking in disarray, but turned it on late in the 2nd half, with its new uptempo game (vs. slower paced game of the previous coach Holger Osieck). An impressive debut was made by Jamie Peters, only 17 years old and currently with no club attachment (although this should change after his performance here). Peters had great pace down the right wing and was able to steer some great crosses into the box. Peschisolido started up front with Olivier Occean (in place of Radz) but in my opinion the older Peschi might be better coming off the bench to add a spark late in the game.

Canada's next game is against Honduras on Sept. 4 at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. The team will desperately need a victory or risk being behind the 8 ball with an 0-2 record before heading down to the hostile environments of South America (including foreign objects being thrown at them). Looks like Canada will miss DeVos (stress fracture on fibula) but hopefully will have Radzinski back in the lineup.

Crash or burn, Canada?