Canada Opens Gold Cup With Shocking Draw Against Guadeloupe

It was a result no one was expecting: playing at home at BMO Field in Toronto, Canada draw Guadeloupe 2-2, and as the final whistle blew boos were heard from the stands as the team withdrew from the pitch.

Guadeloupe actually opened the scoring in the 21st minute thanks to Thierry Ambrose, but Canada managed to reply with two goals in the second half from Lucas Cavallini and an own goal by Meddy Lina.

With five minutes of extra time, Guadeloupe pushed back and in the third minute of extra time, a Cedric Avinel set piece late stunner secured a result for Guadeloupe.

John Herdman was bitterly disappointed and spoke about the result in his post-game press conference.

“I think we are disappointed with the result,” Herdman responded to the first question. “You for sure want to get three points out of your first game at home and for the fans.”

Herdman brought in three players to the starting eleven who made their international debut in Moise Bombito, Zach McGraw, and Ali Ahmed.

“I think the fans got to see the future. I think that the tournament has opened the window for that opportunity to see those debutants experience a bit of adversity as well as to watch their response under tough conditions.”

“I think that was a bright spot in our game, and we are proud of the way they handled this match – but at the same time there is so much disappointment that we couldn’t get the three points tonight.”

Herdman was most distraught about the last five minutes of the game, where Guadeloupe was able to stun the home crowd and secure the improbable draw.

“Five minutes to go in a game. We need to manage that better, it has to be managed better. That’s the growth through this tournament and the early adversity… we are on to the next game.”

He was also quick to give Guadeloupe a lot of credit as they are not well known but on paper, most of their players play in Europe in France and Belgium.

“That Guadeloupe team on paper, and the quality they have, we knew they were going to test us. We knew they would take us into deep water as well.”

Herdman was asked what his team could learn from a result like this tonight.

“We will get back to the analysis room tonight and break it down, so there will be a quick look at this game and something we will look at is the high press and how we got caught.”

Set pieces seem to be an area of concern and one that has plagued this team for quite a while, too.

“We got done on set pieces and on that last goal. I don’t think we need to concede a goal, but it’s football and concentration because we lacked in those last minutes.”

Canada will now travel to Houston, Texas to face Guatemala on Saturday, July 1st.