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Canadian goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau saves a penalty against Mexico. Photo Credit: Canada Soccer The Canucks' Gold Cup adventure ended at the 99th minute of the semifinal, but Canada takes away a lot of positives ahead of the ultimate prize: 2022 World Cup qualification  Austin, Texas. 99th minute. David Pizarro penetrates the soft side of the Canadian box and squares across for Hector Herrera who slides the ball low, under Canadian keeper Maxime Crepeau. This, the final act of the Canadian Gold Cup 2021 ends what many thought would amount to only an opportunity to give some new players some minutes. It was more than that. After defeating Martinique (4-1) and Haiti (4-1), John Herdman's men were tested by the United States whom, after opening the scoring in only 20 seconds, were unable to produce truly dangerous chances. Canada on the other hand held their own but were unable to score despite creating some scoring chances. The quarter-final match against Costa Rica was telling of...

Teammates celebrate  Stephen Eustáquio  after he scores from direct free kick to give Canada the lead Credit: Canada Soccer The Canadian men's national team flies into the Gold Cup quarter finals. But first, they'll face a major test against the United States on Sunday. After securing a spot in the Octagonal Round, the 2021 Gold Cup presents an opportunity for Canada to continue their growth path and can be a proving ground for newer members of the men's national team.  So far, so good - from both perspectives. After two matches, both won with the same score line, Canada sits atop Group B thanks to a +6 goal differential, achieving qualification to the Gold Cup quarter finals for the 7th time irrespective of the result of the final group match. Canada's Gold Cup had started last Sunday with a 4-1 win over Martinique with goals by Cyle Larin, Jonathan Osorio, Stephen Eustaquio, and Theo Corbeanu. The match (and therefore the tournament) didn't get off to an idyllic s...

Chris Armas (Photo Credit: MLS.com) In the wake of an embarrassing 7-1 trouncing at the hands of DC United, Toronto FC brass fire Chris Armas and hand the reins to Javier Perez. Rocco Fasano looks at Armas’ short reign and what’s in the cards for the Reds. In the middle of a sunny and hot Sunday afternoon, the news release many Toronto FC fans expected (and some clamored for): TFC coach Chris Armas is relieved of his duties. Reds fans called for Armas' firing after the shocking 7-1 defeat in DC's Audi Field, where matters got back quickly and often: TFC had conceded three goals in just 21 minutes of play. The wheels came off late in the game, conceding four more goals in the last twenty minutes. "Chris [Armas] is a good man, but we have to win" said TFC President Bill Manning, i n a press conference that took place an hour after the news release. The decision comes on the heels of a poor start that sees Toronto FC at the bottom of Major League Soccer's Eastern Con...

  Kyle Larin celebrates his goal in Haiti.  Photo: Canada Soccer Herdman’s men are laser-focused on their mission: “take us to the octagon” as the Canucks host Haiti in Chicago for the final leg of the second round. Canada’s pursuit of a World Cup berth continues when they take on 83rd-ranked Haiti, the 11th strongest team in CONCACAF. The two sides squared off in Port-au-Prince on Saturday, where Canada put on quite the professional performance defeating the host 1-0 courtesy of Kyle Larin's tap-in goal on 14 minutes. The Reds could have doubled their lead shortly after taking the lead with Larin and late in the second half with Jonathan David whose attempts were well stopped by Haiti's shotstopper Placide. Canada ran a few risks themselves, particularly in the second half but Bojan responded well. The Red Star Belgrade man had to come up big when a Pierrot bicycle kick forced him to a fingertip save. Canada, however, was able to soak up the pressure by the home side and run...

Photo Credit: AP Photo / Mike Wyke The Canadian men’s national team’s long route to the next World Cup takes a decisive turn as the Canucks square off against Haiti in a key home-and-away encounter. We examine how they got there, and what’s next as Canada’s quest for Qatar 2022 continues. After missing out on the top five-ranked teams who were seeded in CONCACAF’s world cup qualifying group of eight (known as "the octagon"), Canada knew that it was destined for the long road to World Cup 2022 that will take place Qatar. Canada is pursuing the world’s biggest tournament through a first round (organized through round robin groups) and eventually a second knockout round to the tournament. Under this format, the remaining 29 CONCACAF associations were placed in groups, the winners of which move on to the knockout round. Canada’s group stage performance saw the 70th ranked association thump 168th ranked Bermuda 5-1, destroy 194th ranked Cayman Islands 11-0, dominate 205th ranked A...

Juventus stutter in Portugal, symptomatic of a poor period.   On the heels of a match in which nothing went right, Juventus collects a 2-1 loss and is sent home packing in an irritating (is there another way to characterize it?) display at the O Dragão stadium in Porto.  Rodrigo Bentancur's unfortunate miscalculation sixty-three seconds after kick off opened the dances to what may be a key passage of Juve's 2020-21 Champions League. That notwithstanding, it's too easy to blame Bentancur. This match is the offspring of a performance that evidenced a particular period of this 2020-21 Juventus: lacking in will, confidence, determination, character, ideas, and identity. Sure, bad luck had its place: lack of form of key players like Morata, Ronaldo, Chiellini, Arthur and McKennie; the aforementioned unfortunate touch by Bentancur, Dybala being a non-entity the entire season, and a clear penalty denied at the death. This does not excuse, however, Juventus' poor p...