Soccer really is a weird sport sometimes.
You can hardly imagine a scenario in any other game where a scoreless deadlock would be lauded by the hometown fans as an encouraging sign. Yet the consensus among observers on both sides of the border seems to be that a Canadian victory on Sunday night would have been justifiable and deserved.
The folks at the CSA were surely keeping their fingers crossed that the "Centennial match" would provide some momentum on and off the field before World Cup qualifying resumes. And lo and behold, it did.
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Say what you will about the merits of using a friendly to gauge much of anything, but the Canadian side surely seemed more energetic and motivated than their cross-border rivals. You can chalk that up to the States playing three games in eight days, or just being un/disinterested in this particular tuneup.
One way or another, after being outplayed for the first 15 minutes, Canada largely controlled the run of play. If you'd told me to expect that, I wouldn't have believed you. But it happened.
Nik Ledgerwood not only started, he was one of the bright spots for the Canadian side (looking pretty comfortable in midfield, truth be told) and scored the game's only goal (thanks to the unwritten rule that legit Canada goals v.s. the U.S. need to be called off thanks to dubious decisions by linesmen, though, it didn't actually count). Hell of a finish, too.
Wouldn't have believed you on that one.
Andre Hainault and David Edgar flipped from their normal positions for their clubs (Hainault was at CB for Canada, with Edgar on the right), but along with Kevin McKenna and Ante Jazic, they solidly held down the fort, snuffing out nearly every forward-moving attempt by the Yanks.
I'll guarantee you that Jazic looks a hell of a lot better on the field now than I'll look doing anything by the time I'm 36.
JDG showed up. DeRo showed up. Tosaint Ricketts continued to solidify his standing as a Canadian fan favourite, and Lars Hirschfeld put many Canadian fans' minds at ease with a remarkable save in injury time to preserve the draw.
If you'd told me Canada would create the bulk of the scoring chances and then concede a dangerous free kick at the end, I'd have said, "of course they're going to get scored on; of course all their hard work will go for naught."
But this time, it didn't.
That's not to say it was all positive. Atiba Hutchinson's absence was a worrying sign, as he picked up a minor injury during training. His status for Friday's game in Cuba is unknown.
Not to continue beating the dead horse that everyone else has thoroughly flogged, but Simeon Jackson's miss on a well-worked build-up from Dwayne DeRosario was disappointing.
And while it was encouraging to see David "Junior" Hoilett taking in the game from the stands, the Canadian team doesn't need his moral support -- they need his on-field support.
The crowd was in full voice. Excitement is building about the team (and the Centennial jerseys, which a growing number of fans want to see adopted as a regular Canadian kit) and the players surely got a morale boost from the outcome on Sunday night.
The eternal Canadian-soccer cynic (which is to say, most long-time Canadian fans) might be tempted to believe that the encouraging result against the U.S. will prove to be the latest example of the team raising our hopes before dashing them to pieces soon after. Maybe that's what to be expected by this point.
But then, no one really knows what to expect from this team anymore. Sunday night was a fine example of that.
The perhaps-overly-optimistic chants of "We're going to Brazil!" could be heard before and after the U.S. friendly. It's still a long and difficult road, with the next stop being the midday heat of Havana on Friday.
After Sunday night, though, we've got a little bit more reason to suspect this team might find a way to reach the end of the Road to Rio.
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