Let me know if this sounds familiar: Canada, playing a friendly in hostile territory, against a top-10 ranked nation, concedes a goal after a young defender gets lost in the moment and turns the ball over.
It happened on Wednesday morning, when 20-year-old Adam Straith's botched clearance fell to the feet of Greek striker Ioannis Fetfatzidis, who potted the game's decisive goal.
But it also happened nearly a year ago, when Andre Hainault's deer-in-the-headlights brain freeze in Buenos Aires on the edge of Canada's penalty area meant a loss of possession and a superfluous tally for the Argentinians, in their never-in-doubt 5-0 thrashing of Les Rouges.
The more things change, the more they stay the same, some would say. But rather than bemoaning the lost opportunity against the Greeks, it's worth considering how much has changed since that game against Argentina last spring.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
On the player-development end, three players won their first caps for the nats: 'keeper Milan Borjan (I'll get to him in a minute), defender David Edgar (finally!) and striker Tosaint Ricketts. Pedro Pacheco, an unknown at this time last year, got his second appearance for Canada, while several players who weren't figuring for Canada at this time last year made solid contributions.
But first... no one will dispute that Canada's backline looked disorganized against Greece. Whether that is a product of Stephen Hart's tactics is a debatable point. But what's indisputable is that it was far from a first-choice lineup. Jaime Peters and Dejan Jakovic turned in decent performances at their normal positions (right-back and centre-back, respectively). But they were joined by an out-of-form, last-minute callup in Adrian Cann, and a starting-out-of-position 20-year-old, the aforementioned Adam Straith.
No Kevin McKenna, Nik Ledgerwood or Marcel de Jong, all pulled from the lineup late due to injury. Mike Klukowski is still dealing with personal issues that precluded him from the game, while erstwhile captain and all-time caps leader Paul Stalteri was there, but didn't see the pitch.
The patchwork backline didn't have a regular, stabilizing force behind them either. Canada's regular No. 1 keeper, Lars Hirschfeld, sat out with an injury. In his place, we saw the first on-field appearance for Borjan, a complete unknown to his teammates mere months ago. While he made some quality saves, the ability of the 'keeper to communicate with, and organize, his defenders is critical to any team's success. Borjan probably just met most of his teammates for the first time earlier this week.
There's obviously some work to be done, but all things considered... a one-goal loss, on an unpredictable scuffed clearance, away, against a team that was just in the World Cup? This is hardly tossing-your-Voyageurs-scarf-in-the-dust-bin material, folks. If anything, if you're caffeinated and delusional like I am at present, it's actually somewhat encouraging.
In the midfield, the most pleasant surprise for many was probably the interplay between Dwayne DeRosario and his teammates. Many had figured DeRo was done with the national team after his fallout with former coach Dale Mitchell, and the controversy surrounding his contract situation with Toronto FC.
But aside from a few slips (thanks to the austerity-measure-induced crappy pitch in Larissa), DeRo was one of Canada's best players on the day... and a trademark curling free kick nearly grabbed us an equalizer deep into the second half. Even his most vocal critics (Lord Bob, I'm looking at you) couldn't help but acknowledge his solid performance. Many considered him done-and-dusted with the CanMNT in 2010, but his willingness to buy into the team dynamic against Greece showed he may still have plenty to contribute to Canada.
But the man of the match, for most, was Josh Simpson. His movement with and without the ball, his bullheadedness and his distribution... if you want to talk about someone peaking at the right time, it's him. He hasn't been a key figure of Canadian tournaments in the past (he wasn't a key figure against Argentina last spring), but will definitely be a linchpin of this year's Gold Cup, and the 2014 qualifying campaign.
Yet the one devastating shortfall for the Canadian team was, again, a lack of finishing. Aside from DeRo's free kick, brilliantly turned aside by the Greek keeper, Canada's other clear-cut scoring chance came from Rob Friend, who had a free header off a corner kick, but turned the ball wide. Based on the live chat and reaction on Twitter, fans' patience for Friend's lack of finish for Canada is wearing very thin.
Who else have we got out there? Olivier Occean played the first half, but didn't have the chance to contribute much. Simeon Jackson played most of the game, but out on the wing (where Hart favours him) rather than in a pure striker's role. Tosaint Ricketts came on late in the game, but didn't really have the opportunity to show what he could do.
Plenty of folks in Scallywags, where the CSN viewing party took place, were calling for Ali Gerba. (I was calling for Gavin McCallum, for what it's worth... no unexpected
So yeah, it's a shame that we lost today. A win -- or even a draw -- against Greece would have been massive not just for morale, but for our FIFA ranking. Then again, even the most ardent optimists probably didn't realistically expect much from Canada's less-than-full-strength roster, up against a squad full of fellows who played in the World Cup just last summer. A 1-0 loss is disheartening, but ultimately, based on the Greeks' performance in the second half, perhaps somewhat flattering.
But as Hart has stressed, the performance and development of the players (and the team) is more important than the end result. Sure, Straith's botched clearance was ugly. But as I said, he's 20 years old. He performed admirably for Canada last year, and one bad mistake isn't going to cost him his place on the squad. If anything, it's good that he's gotten an error such as this out of his system now, rather than in some critical game in San Pedro Sula two years from now.
He can learn from it, bury it in the past, and move on.
As should we all, about this game.
We, as Canadian supporters, can't sit around and fret about what may have been. Rather, we can see this game for what it was: another bump on the road to the games that really matter, the Gold Cup and World Cup qualifying. Sure, a result would have been nice. But if this game has helped the team identify its deficiencies (of which there were several), and develop greater camaraderie amongst themselves, then the outcome is, indeed, favourable -- regardless of the final scoreline.