The hard part is that, up until that sad, soggy and fatal finale, there was so much to like about the way Canada played last night.
For along about eighty minutes, the plucky, hard-charging Canucks essentially owned the ball. They hit the field with snap and purpose, won tons of loose balls, and managed to spend most of the night in Panama's end of the field.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Yeah, the game was no big whoop for the Canal-Zone boys. They'd already punched their ticket to the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarters, and sent six bench players out for this meaningless (to them) kick-around.
But Canada showed real purpose going forward. The only reason this game was scoreless at the half was Our Lads couldn't find any sniff of a finish. At the break, the effort was commendable, but the scoreline was still fatal.
Must-win game, this. A draw would leave Canada needing Guadeloupe to upset the Americans. I wrote in this space yesterday that any Canada team that will ever qualify for any World Cup simply has to be better than Panama. There is no room in that equation for needing blocks from Guadeloupe.
There were early flashes, but nothing on the net. The best, most booming shot Canada concocted was a low, smoking second-half bomb-volley from Julian de Guzman.
(Man! If he can play like that for the national team, imagine what he must be doing for his club!!!)
This time, though, when the penalty kick came, it was legit. A wrong-footed Panamanian defender put a crack-back block clean through Dwayne de Rosario on a corner kick. Even in CONCACAF (most nights) you can't do that. DeRo slotted the spot kick cleanly. Canada had their goal.
Any time you resolve to play the whole night in the other team's end, fatigue is going to be a factor. It was smokehouse hot in Kansas City last night, and your average Panamanian spends a lot more time in that kind of heat that your work-a-day Canuck.
Suddenly, on about eighty minutes, the sureness melted out of the Canadian game. Not nearly as many direct challenges to opponents on the ball. Midfielders dropping back into containment positions, rather than continuing the pressure game.
And then, just into stoppage time, it all went haywire at once. A lazy Panama lob found Canadian crossbar. The rebound got nudge-passed to the goal line -- then stepped-on into the net. (Couldn't really even call it a kick.)
Canada paid -- not for its tactical approach, but for its fatal inability to score more goals. They didn't need to worry about overall goal difference, but they certainly needed to be one goal up on the night.
I loved so much of what I saw yesterday evening, but I still needed a long walk downtown afterwards to try to shake off the result.
Canada's hearts were absolutely in the right place -- but their legs couldn't finish the job. A team that desperately needs to play as much and as often as possible got sent home from a major tournament in the minimum amount of field time.
The result is clear, and unarguable.
We're not better than Panama -- and we're not ready for prime time.
Onward!