CSA & Whitecaps FC
Canada's U-20 men's national team lost 1-0 to USA U-20's in an international friendly match on Monday morning.
On the final day of the team's week-long December training camp in Sunrise, Florida, former Vancouver Whitecaps men's team head coach Tony Fonseca included Whitecaps Residency centre back Adam Straith and midfielder Philippe Davies in his starting XI.
Yet, it was Thomas Rongen's young Americans that made the most of a bright first-half display, with the game's winning goal coming on 21 minutes after they out-shot Canada 7-0 during the opening 45 minutes. "USA provided us with a very good challenge," Fonseca told CanadaSoccer.com. "They are a strong, physical group and they created a few problems for us in the first half."
A goal down, Fonseca made four changes to his line-up after the break, with Residency defender Ethan Gage making another late appearance for the U-20 squad. Canada's performance improved after the restart, and although they created several chances and had strong appeals for a late penalty, the Americans held on for the win.
Despite the result, Fonseca was encouraged by Canada's second-half display. "We were outplayed in the first half, so we made some adjustments and we re-entered the game well," he said. "It was good to see that we can play as well as we did and that we can react. I was very happy with the second half."
Having included four Residency players in his squad during this latest training camp, Fonseca will continue to evaluate talent, as he looks to shape his squad for an important year in 2009. "The most important thing is qualifying for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, as that is our principle objective," he said. "Working with this group, it is very important to find those players."
CANADA U-20 (Whitecaps players in bold)
22.Roberto Stillo; 2.Fabrice Lassonde (20.Kennedy Owusu-Ansah 45'),
4.Adam Straith
, 5.Nana Attakora-Gyan, 12.Paris Nakajima-Farran;
3.Philippe Davies
, 7.Sean Rosa (13.Mackenzie Pridham 64'), 8.Brandon Bonifacio, 11.Michael Pereira
(16.Ethan Gage 75')
; 9.Marcus Haber, 19.Teal Bunbury (10.Gabriel Gala 45')
Subs not used: 1.Julien Latendresse-Levesque
, 4.Alex Suprenant, 6.Derek Gaudet, 15.Octavio Maginnis Castro, 17.Matthew Lam
