Canada Has Its Golden Moment
The unimaginable happened at the Coliseum on Sunday afternoon.
Unimaginable, at least, to organizers of the Gold Cup, who before the 12-nation international soccer tournament began, had expected a sellout crowd of 91,000 to be watching the United States play Mexico in the final, just as in 1998.
Instead, they got Canada against Colombia in front of 6,197.
And unimaginable, certainly, to Carlo Corazzin, the Canadian striker who after scoring the second goal in a surprise 2-0 championship victory, suddenly found himself at midfield being presented with a trophy by Sir Bobby Charlton.
Corazzin, the tournament scoring leader with four goals, had not even been born when Charlton led England to its 1966 World Cup victory, a feat for which he later was knighted.
“For me to come here and be top goal scorer is a tribute to the way the team has played,” Corazzin said. “If they don’t create the chances for me, I don’t have the chance to put the ball in the net.”
The victory capped an improbable run for the Canadians, whose previous best performances in international competition came in reaching the quarterfinals of the 1984 Olympic Games and later in qualifying for the 1986 World Cup.
“Maybe now we will be taken a little more seriously,” said Holger Osiek, the German-born coach hired by the Canadian soccer federation only last October.
Canada’s triumph had as much to do with goalkeeper Craig Forrest, the tournament most valuable player, as it did with the goals by Jason Devos and Corazzin. Forrest recorded his second consecutive shutout, following one against Trinidad and Tobago in the semifinals Thursday, and for the second game in a row, he saved a penalty kick.
“It’s just one of those things, you get lucky sometimes,” said Forrest, who plays for West Ham United in the English Premier League.
At the final whistle on a gray and wet afternoon, the Canadians began celebrating as if they had won the World Cup itself.
“It’s a great day for us,” said defender Mark Watson. “Maybe the best day in the history of soccer for Canada. It’s unbelievable. I’m lost for words right now.”
In earning their first Gold Cup title, the Canadians tied Costa Rica and South Korea in the first round and only advanced to the quarterfinals after winning a coin-flip tiebreaker with the Koreans.
They upset defending champion Mexico in the quarterfinals, shut out Trinidad and Tobago and, finally, blanked Colombia.
“This is beyond our expectations,” Watson said. “We came into the tournament and hoped to get a few wins and maybe get to the quarterfinals or the semifinals. To go all the way is unimaginable.”
The overcast sky and rain-soaked field helped the Canadian players, most of whom play professionally for lower-division clubs in England and Scotland.
Osiek’s influence on the squad is obvious. Canada plays an organized and tactically disciplined game. Its soundness on defense time and again frustrated the Colombians.
“The conditions did play into our hands,” Watson said. “It was cool and we could work harder and close them down a lot better. In the hot weather, you can’t do that, no matter how fit you are.”
Canada took the lead in the last minute of the first half when Devos leaped high to sharply head down a corner kick by Martin Nash toward the Colombian net.
Goalkeeper Diego Gomez got a hand on the ball, deflected it onto his knee and watched helplessly as it rebounded off the left post and into the net.
“We’ve always been a very strong team in the air,” Devos said. “Set plays are always going to be a benefit to us in terms of attacking options.
“The ball was up in the air, I had a good run at it, got a good jump and just powered it down. Their keeper bobbled it a little bit and just pushed it over the line.
“It gave us the lead just before halftime and set us up for the second half.”
Colombia, spear-headed by striker Faustino Asprilla, attacked with renewed vigor in the second 45 minutes, urged on by a poncho-draped crowd that was largely in its favor.
But the Canadian defense held firm and two late sequences cemented Canada’s victory.
In the 68th minute, Gomez, the goalkeeper, knocked Canada’s Jeff Clarke down in the penalty area and Jamaican referee Peter Pendergast pointed to the penalty spot.
Corazzin made no mistake with the resulting kick to give Canada a two-goal edge.
In the 84th minute, Clarke pulled down Colombia’s Edwin Congo in the box. Pendergast again awarded a penalty kick, but Forrest saved Asprilla’s timid effort.
That was it for the South Americans.
“I think with a couple of minutes to go, their heads went down,” Watson said. “We knew we had it then.
“It’s been a bit of a dream, this tournament.”
Unimaginable, in fact.
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SILVER LINING
Chuck Blazer did his best to put a positive spin on the unattractive matchups the Gold Cup offered. Page 9
