The Footie Fool

Ahhhh, revenge is tasty. Canada opens the 2009 Gold Cup with a 1-0 win over Jamaica. The CONCACAF goal scoring machine Ali Gerba was the man who inflicted the damage at the 75th minute after being beautifully set up by Mike Klukowski.

Overall, a decent game from the boys, but not a commanding performance. Like many predicted, it was an even affair. I thought we did a good job of staying organized against a physical team and being patient with our buildup. But the crisp passing and long stretches of control just weren’t quite there yet. Stephen Hart has said he wished he could have had one more Friendly and it’s hard to disagree. But this is a team that will get better as the tournament progresses.

The youth played well. This is the first time I have seen Dejan Jakovic play, and he was a physical presence against a tough Jamaica side. I like Hart pairing with veteran Kevin McKenna instead of Hastings at the back. For the first time in a long time it never felt like our back line was scrambling. Hmmm, perhaps we won’t miss Adrian Serioux as much as I thought.I did miss the unpredictability of DeRo, however.

Will Johnson also started, but seemed to spend more time defending than attacking.. Subs Simeon Jackson and Josh Simpson made an impact, something we don’t often find with Canadian subs. Josh Simpson, especially, who came in for (a fairly lackluster) Marcel De Jong at the half and immediately made his presence known with a blistering 40 yard bolt that ended up forcing a decent save from Ricketts who, like in TO last year, made some wonderful saves to keep Jamaica alive.

But can we talk about a veteran Mr. Klukowski for a minute?  Over at The Stretford End they picked Dejan as the MOTM, but my vote goes for Klukowski.  I’ve always had an appreciation for the man and his performance, but the guy is consistently good for the nats. His distribution is excellent. The way he set up Gerba was almost identical to how he set up Rob Friend against Brazil…long ball delivered from the left side floated perfectly into the box.

Jamaica did have their share of chances and Greg Sutton had to make more than a few decent saves. I thought Sutton did well stopping the shots, but did look shaky at times, occasionally dropping the ball and making some atrocious distribution choices, including almost gifting Jamaica a goal throwing the ball directly into the feet of Luton Shelton.

Still, it’s a vital 3 points and a great way to open the tournament.

Lots of coverage from V’s Max Bell, who is on the spot and providing lots of Canadian interviews via the Voyageurs YouTube channel. Nice work, boys! Here is a post game interview with Greg Sutton. Many more are available at the Voyageur’s YouTube channel.

Greg Sutton

Related articles

• Game Notes from Unto the Dogs, who thinks this is what should have been last year in Toronto.
• Gian-Luca (who I am so happy is blogging on the Voyageurs new site) doesn’t break the game down but rather takes a reminiscing stroll down memory lane.
• Steven Sandor declares Sutton, Gerba star for Canada
• Canada off to Golden start (thestar.com)