- July, 03 2009 -
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CARSON, California - Ali Gerba scored in the 75th minute to lead to Canada to a 1-0 win over Jamaica on Friday, kicking off 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Canadian defender Mike Klukowski took a loose ball in the middle of the field and sent a long looping cross to the Toronto FC striker, who one-timed a strike past Jamaica goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.
Gerba's goal was his fifth in CONCACAF Gold Cup play tying striker Carlo Corazzin for the Canadian record.
"The ball was going pretty fast and I see Mike on the wing and he crossed the ball. Naturally I just follow the ball with the eyes and I just hit it and that's it," Gerba said. "The guys played the game very well and read the game very well, so it is a little bit easier the more you move forward the more you score and your confidence gets boosted."
The win in the first game of the doubleheader gave Canada three valuable points heading into its second match against El Salvador at Crew Stadium in Columbus on Tuesday. El Salvador beat Costa Rica 2-1 in the second match of the evening.
"I think the whole compactness of the team midfield and backline, we kept it tight we managed to squeeze balls didn't give them a lot of speed," Canada manager Stephen Hart said. "We were really concerned about the Fuller-Shelton combination early on, they put us under some trouble, but in general we solved that problem very well."
The match was a reversal of the last meeting between Canada and Jamaica, when the Reggae Boyz won 3-0 in a World Cup qualifier that they had to win by a huge margin to advance to the final round.
Goaltending dominated as both Canada's Greg Sutton and Ricketts produced several dramatic saves, especially in the second half.
Hart's decision to start the veteran Sutton ahead of Josh Wagenaar proved wise as the taller Sutton used his size to deny Jamaica repeatedly.
"I discussed it with the coaching staff and we knew Jamaica was very powerful in the air, very strong and we felt that a big part to their game would be one, getting crosses in on us and then on the set plays putting us under pressure and under that situation we thought that Sutton would be the best person to go with," Hart said.
Sutton stopped Ricardo Fuller's point-blank shot in the 65th minute and minutes later made a leaping save to deny pinching defender Damian Stewart.
"I hadn't played in a while and it was something of concern and I felt rusty at times and did some things I'm not too pleased with," said Sutton, who was released last month by Toronto FC and has not found a new club. "But I understand that's part of the layoff that I've had and it was a good game to get under my belt and I was still able to help the team out and still get the victory."
Canada began with a possession game and used its one-touch passing in the middle to limit the athletic Jamaicans.
"They played a disciplined game this afternoon," Jamaica manager Theodore Whitmore said. "I think some simple basic mistakes from our team cost us the game, but again we have to look back and move on."
The keep-away strategy seemed to work, denying Jamaica the ability to exploit the flanks with its speed.
Jamaica was forced to counterattack, which resulted in two quality chances midway through the first half.
Canada's more patient approach started to pay dividends late in the first half.
The Maple Leafs' best chance came when 2007 Gold Cup most valuable player Julian de Guzman sent a cross in off a free kick and Kevin McKenna one-timed it from 10 yards out that was tipped just over the bar by Ricketts.
Minutes later, De Guzman sent a cross to Patrice Bernier on the left. Bernier fired just wide of left post and just out of reach of Will Johnson, who was late onto the ball.
Play opened up considerably in the second half with both teams generating scoring chances before Gerba's goal.
American referee Terry Vaughan issued six yellow cards, five to Jamaica (Claude Davis, Jermaine Johnson, Luton Shelton, Demar Phillips, and O'Neil Thompson) and one to Canada (de Guzman).
Jamaica will try to regroup against Costa Rica in the other match on Tuesday.
Source: goldcup.org
