Convey Leads U.S. Past Canada
Bruce Twamley stole the show from Bobby Convey on Thursday night. Or was it the other way around?
Convey scored both goals, taking his tournament-leading total to four, and the United States defeated Canada, 2-0, to clinch a place in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Olympic soccer qualifying tournament.
Honduras also advanced to the final four, upending Panama, 3-1, in the first game of the doubleheader at Estadio Tres de Marzo.
But it was Twamley, Canada’s coach, who caught the attention after the second game. To say that he was angry would be a serious understatement. Twamley was livid, and not simply because Canada had lost.
The target of his fury was referee Neal Brizan of Trinidad, who called 42 fouls in the match, yellow-carded eight players (four from each team) and threw Canadian defender Adam Braz out of the game with 19 minutes to play.
Twamley could hardly contain his feelings.
“We’re always being asked the questions, the players and the coaches,” he said. “I’d like to ask the media what they thought of the officiating. Do players deserve that kind of officiating?
“The result of the game is immaterial. I feel really bad for the players. And not just our players. The players on the other team as well. They don’t deserve that.
“This is a man’s game. I’ve played and coached at a high level for 35 years, and the amount of cards he gave out ... he must have given out 12 cards. It’s ridiculous.”
It was not a particularly ugly game and the physical challenges were nothing out of the ordinary, but the constant whistles by Brizan broke up the flow.
Glenn “Mooch” Myernick, the U.S. coach, declined to add to Twamley’s criticism.
“I can’t control the officiating,” he said. “I can only control my team. I felt that in the early part of the game the referee was treating the game just a little bit, uh, delicately. He seemed to be calling a lot of fouls.”
Convey, a D.C. United midfielder who scored twice Tuesday night when the U.S. edged Panama, 4-3, said it was simply something the players had to overcome.
“There are two teams on the field,” he said. “It goes both ways. We were complaining as well. But when a game comes to something like that, you’ve just got to play through it.
“A ref’s not going change during the game. You’ve just got to come out and keep playing through the whistles.”
After some early jitters, during which Canada had a couple of chances to take the lead, the U.S. opened the scoring when a five-player move involving Chris Wingert, Logan Pause, DaMarcus Beasley, Landon Donovan and Convey ended with Convey’s beating Canadian goalkeeper Andrew Olivieri in the 30th minute.
The Donovan-to-Convey combination worked again in the 71st minute.
“He’s shown at both the under-20 level and now at the under-23 level that he’s an impact player,” Myernick said of Convey, 21. “I think that if Bobby continues to progress the way he is, we’ll see him in our full [national] team for a long time.
“Canada is always a very, very hard team to play against, very physical, they work very hard, and one of their main objectives in the game is to stop you from playing.
“I thought our team did a good job of battling them in terms of all the air balls, and then I think the difference in the game was our quickness on the counterattack, our ability to run at people and create goal-scoring chances.
“We’re delighted to be in the semifinals. This is what it’s all about. We’re 90 minutes away from going to the Olympics, and that’s the only thing my players have come here for.”
New York/New Jersey MetroStar midfielder Eddie Gaven, at 17 years 3 months, became the youngest player ever to take part in CONCACAF Olympic qualifying when he came on as a second-half substitute.
Honduras joined Costa Rica and Mexico for Tuesday’s semifinals by rolling past Panama. Emil Martinez scored twice, in the 12th and 27th minutes, and Jerry Palacios sealed the victory in the 77th.
The U.S. and Honduras, which play each other on Saturday, are tied with six points apiece. Costa Rica plays Mexico tonight.
