Can't Beat the Canadian Kids

That was surreal.

Imagine if you will Canada trailing by a goal in 2nd half injury time against a South American opponent on their home turf, not having scored in nearly a year, and who do we have out there to end the drought and get an equalizer? The (comparatively speaking) grizzled veteran at age 25, Issey Nakajima-Farran - by far the most experienced international who was not in the back four - takes charge of a last-minute free kick, places a perfect ball on the head of Gavin McCallum (nephew of former Canada and Toronto Blizzard bruising defender Trevor McCallum) who equalizes. McCallum, in his first cap for Canada, races down the field in celebration and he is joined in the celebration by the likes of those house-hold Canadian soccer names such as Simeon Jackson, Adam Straith, Eddy Sidra, Gian-Luca Zavarise, Jonathan Borgeault and Stephen Ademolu, while no doubt another house-hold name in Haidar Al-Shabani was pumping his fist in celebration while tending the Canadian goal and Pedro Pacheco had a big Portugese smile while sitting on the bench after having played the first 81 minutes, along with fellow starter Massih Wassey and his half-German/half-Afghan smile. If you look closely at the video of the tying goal on this link:




you might just make out a brief glimpse of Paul Stalteri and Richard Hastings as the only two recognizable Canadian players, on the field probably by default to provide at least some experience at the back. Otherwise even a fairly knowledgeable fan of the Canadian national team - one who doesn't spend hours on the internet following the exploits of young Canadians in the German and English lower divisions - could be forgiven for asking "Who the hell are these guys?" if they managed to stumble by accident on last night's telecast (I say "by accident" as I believe that fact that the game was being shown on one of Sportsnet's digital channels had been deemed classified information by CSIS, hence the lack of publicity and word getting out).

In the past Canadian supporters have enjoyed their favourite pasttime of complaining that the current manager of the team doesn't give so-and-so young/new player a look. How dare Stephen Hart spoil this great Canadian past-time, by throwing out a ton of players with little or no experience, and then seeing them get a result on the road against a decent team! Okay, Venezuela isn't a great team, not the level of a World Cup entrant and they were playing a lot of younger players as well, but getting a result with our own inexperienced (internationally, and in terms of playing together) group of players is something to find encouraging, particularly the way they did it. 6 players got their first caps for Canada on this two-game trip to South America, four of them in this game (Pacheco and Straith came on late against Argentina for their first) while Sidra, Bourgeault, Wassey and Ademolu each barely have more than one

So for all you people who didn't uncover the near-secret broadcast of the match, here's a quick guide to the new Canadian players:

Pedro Pacheco - looked like the offensive creative midfielder that Canada is often in short-supply of. His fitness at high altitude seemed to desert him in the 2nd half, but was most impressive as being the go-to guy in the first half. Should definitely be kept in the squad as he will probably only improve once he gets to know his teammates better as well as (hopefully) learning more of the English language to be able to better communicate with them.

Terry Dunfield - weird to think of him as a "new" player since he played for the U20 and U23 teams many moons ago, but this was his first cap. Did nothing special, but was fine as the holding mid.

Massih Wassey - willing to shoot from distance and can hit them. A left-footer to boot. Qualities that Canada also doesn't have an abundance of, given his age and his club team definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Adam Straith - not very noticeable - which is what you want from a 19 year old defender getting his first start in front of 20,000 South Americans (and what appeared to be 60,000 South American moths flying about the stadium - what was up with that?) Very promising.

Eddy Sidra - very impressive going forward, as the youtube link demonstrates. Again, not the type of player we have an abundance of.

Haidar Al-Shabani - didn't have much time to make an impression but any keeper getting his first cap in a meaningless friendly who screams at his teammates to get the hell up the field and thereby showing it was meaningful for him is okay in my books. He just *looks* like a keeper, and with Canada's woeful depth there after the stunt Begovic pulled, we may be seeing him again soon.

Jonathan Bourgeault- also didn't have much playing time, but I'm glad that he wasn't forced to play goal after the previous stunt Begovic pulled.

Gian-Luca Zavarise - gets credit for achieving what I failed to do - becoming the first Gian-Luca to play for Canada.

Gavin McCallum - the guy scored, what more do you want?