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October 13, 2021 Canada Soccer Men's World Cup Qualifier--Canada vs Panama game report (by Rocket Robin)
Results of the World Cup Qualifier between Canada and Panama played at BMO Field in Toronto at 7:30pm. This was
the third game of the Octagonal competition to represent the CONCACAF region for 2022.
Canada (all red, white names and numbers)
........................16 Maxime Crepeau
......2 Alistair Johnston...5 Steven Vitoria (cpt)...4 Kamal Miller
.......................7 Stephen Eustaquio
11 Tajon Buchanan...10 Jonathan Osorio...8 David Wotherspoon...22 Richie Laryea
..................19 Alphonso Davies...20 Johnathan David
Subs:...1 James Pantemis (gk)...18 Dayne St. Clair (gk)...3 Samuel Adekugbe...6 Samuel Piette
...9 Chrles-Andreas Brym...12 Zachary Brault-Guillard...13 Liam Fraser...14 Mark Anthony Kaye
...15 Doneil Henry...17 Liam Millar...21 Jacob Shaffelburg...23 Derek Corneilius
head coach John Herdman
Panama (all white, blue numbers)
......................1 Luis Mejia
23 Michael Murillo...4 Fidel Escobar...3 Harold Cummings...15 Eric Davis
...........8 Christian Martinez...20 Anibal Godoy
....10 Eric Barcenas...19 Alberto Quintero...7 Jose Luis Rodriguez
...................14 Rolando Blackburn
Subs:...12 Jose Calderon (gk)...2 Cesar Blackman...6 Eduardo Guerrero...18 Ismael Diaz
...9 Gabriel Torres...11 Armando Cooper...13 Jiovany Ramos...16 Alfredo Stephens
...5 Abdiel Ayarza...17 Freddy Gondola...21 Cesar Yanis...22 Orlando Mosquera
head coach Thomas Christiansen
Game officials:...referee Armando Villarreal...referee's assistants Corey Rockwell and Ian Anderson
...fourth official Nima Saghafi (all from USA)...(all black uniforms)
First Half:...game starts 7:33 pm...Canada defends north end on this mild night.
2 min...Can Eustaquio has low 22 yard shot from left cleared by defender at 15 yards. Can Johnston follow up 22 yard
low shot from slight right rolls for goalie to smother.
4 min...Panama Rolando Blackburn GOAL...Pan Michael Murillo from wide right sends low cross from 20 yards
near end line and Blackburn receives centered pass and one-touches low 6 yarder to center of net past goalie Maxime Crepeau.
6 min...Can Davies short cornerkick from left wins another cornerkick after he nutmegs defender.
6 min...Can Eustaquio cornerkick from right has Pan Godoy in box pop up header over and out right side of box for Can throw-in.
7 min...Can Davies intercepts back pass at 30 yards in middle and from 25 yards feeds pass forward and right for Can David
who dribbles in and with goalie diving forward at 8 yards rolls centering pass and Can Wotherspoon takes low 12 yard shot that
has Pan Escobar put foot out at 7 yards and kick it wide left for cornerkick.
8 min...Can Eustaquio cornerkick from left has nearest Can player on left side of box pop up header that comes down near top left
corner but goalie on near post is able to prevent leaping Can Vitoria from heading in while redirecting ball out right side
of 6 yard box. Goalie is injured on play and wins freekick.
8 min...Can Davies on left dekes player on edge of box but has low centering pass blocked and cleared.
10 min...Can Eustaquio 35 yard freekick from left has goalie fumble catch in front of Can Miller at 3 yards but whistle has
been blown.
13 min...Pan Cummings is injured in Pan box taking low cross in the nuts.
15 min...Can Davies dekes three guys and rolls pass forward to Can David who turns and shoots 15 yard bender that flying goalie
pushes wide left of post.
15 min...Can Eustaquio cornerkick from left is whistled down in box. Pan Godoy is injured with head crashing with Can Vitoria
jumping for header and needs treatment.
18 min...Can Davies can't save long through ball on left before it rolls over end line but offside flag was already up.
19 min...Can Eustaquio can't win Penalty kick at top right of box when bumped over being crushed by Pan Davis. Can Davies
had run in then out of box to elude tackles.
22 min...Can Davies dekes three guys on dribble to middle and 22 yard shot down middle is between defenders and goalie
punches ball forward.
24 min...Can Buchanan run on right to end line and Pan Davis slides to concede cornerkick.
24 min...Can Davies cornerkick from right has defender pop up ball. Can Vitoria ends up sliding to shoot 20 yarder between
defenders wide left of goal.
25 min...Panama YELLOW card...Davis earns if for tripping up Can Buchanan on right near edge of box.
26 min...Can Davies low freekick from 8 yard line on right is into wall of players and deflects for another cornerkick.
26 min...Can Davies cornerkick on right wins another cornerkick on right with defender heading away on near post.
27 min...Can Davies cornerkick on right has goalie punch ball over bar.
27 min...Canada *(Panama Own Goal) GOAL...Can Alphonso Davies cornerkick from right has tipped header on short side
and ball into left side of net. *The goal was credited to Tajon Buchanan on the announcment but later was credited
as an own goal against Michael Murillo who was in the mass of players on the near side of goal.
29 min...Can Davies is pushed from behind by Pan Cummings as he dekes goalie on run down middle fed pass by Can David.
30 min...Pan YELLOW card...Davis earns it for tripping up Can Buchanan on left side at 30 yard line.
31 min...Can has a long possession sequence in and out of right side of Pan box.
32 min...Can Davies has shot blocked on edge of box. There was a long play-on after Pan Martinez went down injured
at Pan 35 yard line.
34 min...Pan Rodriguez cross from left cornerflag has Can goalie catch in front of Pan Barcenas.
35 min...Can Wotherspoon gets ball on left of box and skies 12 yard shot well over net.
36 min...Pan goalie beats Can Davies to loose ball at Pan 35 yard line clearing it off him popping it up and Pan Godoy keeps
ball away from Can David. Pan goalie is injured on play when Godoy then passes back to him and he has to clear out for throw-in.
40 min...Can Eustaquio 40 yard freekick from left near sidelin is caught by goalie behind players in box.
44 min...Pan Barcenas and Davis cornerkick from left is stalled then there's a dustup in the corner with the Can substitutes
who are stretching in the area. There's pushing and fighting and eventually both benches empty. After it's sorted out
there are no cards given. When play resumes, Can clear the cornerkick and start a fast breakout.
47 min...Pan Bacenas cornerkick from left has Pan player pop header back out of box and Can players clear.
48 min...Can Davies is called offside on through ball pass or he'd have been in alone up middle from 40 yard line.
49 min...Can Wotherspoon misses keeping long pass in bounds on left sideline or he was in alone at 35 yard line.
50 min...Can David chips 45 yarder from left that bounces to goalie.
51 min...half ends 8:23pm.
Halftime: Now the stadium looks full at last! All the Canadian subs are warming up while the entire Panama team stays in their
dressing room.
Second Half:...starts 8:39pm...The weather feels unchanged.
46 min...Can Buchanan is away on break down right wing and defender concedes cornerkick.
46 min...Can Davies cornerkick from right is over everybody in box and out of play.
47 min...Can Eustaquio can't win Penalty kick when give and go into Pan box and he is tripped up.
47 min...Can Laryea pass to Can David and pass to Can Wotherspoon whose first touch rolls ball forward to goalie
from 20 yards in middle
48 min...Can Wotherspoon bends 22 yarder from just out left of box just wide right of post.
49 min...Can David can't stop ball deflecting off goalie and back off him and out for goalkick.
50 min...Pan defender heads back to goalie to prevent Can Davies getting to it.
51 min...Pan sub...Cooper replaces Quintero.
...........Pan sub...Stephens replaces Blackburn.
...........Pan sub...Blackman replaces Rodriguez.
52 min...Pan YELLOW card...Cooper earns it for grab and hold on Can Buchanan breaking over center line on right.
54 min...Can Eustaquio freekick from 45 yards in middle is downfield and left for charging Can who hooks it over side line
trying to keep it from crossing end line.
55 min...Can Davies chips pass to no one down middle and out for goalkick wide left of net.
56 min...Pan Barcenas low 35 yard shot up middle bounces to goalie on right post.
57 min...Pan Blackman cross is over leaping Pan Barcenas at 15 yards. Can Laryea makes key clearance though box.
58 min...Pan Stephens is checked off ball inside Can box by two defenders.
Pan is controlling the action in the last 7 minutes.
62 min...Can Laryea wins whistle against Pan Blackman pushes shepparding ball out of bounds. The Can goalie needs the trainer
for injury although not near play. Both teams take a water break.
63 min...Can sub...Adekugbe replaces Osorio.
...........Can sub...Kaye replaces Wotherspoon. Both take place before game restarts.
65 min...Canada Alphonso Davies GOAL...Can Jonathan David sends pass up right line. Davies beats
Pan Harold Cummings who was watching the ball roll towards the sideline and expecting a throw-in.
Davies comes in behind Cummings steals ball at 30 yard line and runs in towards goal. He cuts in around Pan Fidel Escobar
to take shot back towards the right side of net. Escobar slides the wrong way and goalie Luis Mejia is frozen in center of net
as ball rolls into right corner.
67 min...Can defenders clear ball into Can box without conceding shot.
67 min...Can Kaye at 65 yards sends through ball chip forward for charging Can Buchanan at 40 yard line fed long through ball
but retreating defender Pan Cummings cuts him off conceding cornerkick on 20 yard shot that's deflected wide left.
68 min...Can players work out short cornerkick from left has Can Eustaquio fall and roll 12 yarder from left wide left
of short side.
68 min...There are injuries to Can Adekugbe and Pan Stephens near center line as they butt heads jumping for header.
Both needs trainers.
70 min...Canada Tajon Buchanan GOAL...Can Richie Laryea crosses from 15 yards has charging Buchanan leap
and pop header over goalie on 8 yards header and into right corner of net with goalie trapped on near post.
76 min...Pan sub...Torres replaces Martinez.
77 min...Canada Jonathan David GOAL...Can Alphonso Davies long crossfield pass from 45 yard on left over to pass
to charging Can Jonathan David alone on right side of box who shoots in 8 yarder to left corner of net. The defenders
were crowded around Can Buchanan in center of box but he let ball go by him.
79 min...There's a small dust up before Pan freekick is taken.
80 min...Can sub...Brym replaces David.
...........Can sub...Piette replaces Eustaquio.
............Can sub...Shaffelburg replaces Davies.
80 min...Pan 45 yard freekick from left has Pan players in crowd of players pop 10 yard header well over bar.
81 min...Can Kaye is injured at Pan 45 yard line jumping for header and needs trainer.
83 min...Can Adekugbe 35 yard freekick from left has defender head away in box.
84 min...Pan Stephens 5 yard header is stopped by flying goalie. The ball was put in the net by Stephens but the referee
had blown his whistle.
85 min...Pan sub...Gondola replaces Murillo.
86 min...Pan Davis 28 yard freekick from right is caught by goalie charging into crowd of players at 5 yards on left post.
87 min...Can players Can Brym rolls pass just in front of two charging players on left side of 6 yard box.
88 min...There's another dustup before Can throw-in at Pan 45 yard line.
91 min...Can goalie catches 28 yard cross from left under no pressure.
92 min...Can Shaffelburg who was called over to take freekick has Can Buchanan head 12 yarder into ground for goalie
to pick up on bounce.
93 min...Can Laryea long run up right and cuts in near end line and 8 yard shot is stopped by goalie on near post. The goalie
is then out twice to attempt to smother ball and finally does on right edge of box.
94 min...Can YELLOW card...Brym earns it for continuing to play after referee had blown whistle.
..........Pan YELLOW card...Godoy earns it for continuing to play after referee had blown whistle.
95 min...game ends 9:29pm.
Final Score:...Canada.......4........Panama.....1.....
Attendance was announced as 26,622 which was the largest of the three Octagonal games held at BMO Field in Toronto. Some of this is explained by the pandemic restrictions of the previous games with an empty seat mandated between every pair of tickets sold keep the number down to 15000. This game started as restricted too but new section tickets were opened up as recently as two weeks ago. I sat in the row in front of the press box in hopes that a rep from the Canadian Soccer Association would slip me a game sheet. Thanks! That room looked pretty full without attendance restrictions but I wonder if I'll ever get my spot back now that soccer has become so popular with the mainstream media. This was a very pro-Canada crowd. I watched when Panama scored so early in the game to see what the visiting fans would be like and it wasn't subdued but there just weren't the numbers that were here in the Honduras and El Salvador games. Also Canada doing so well has got the young people who want to be in the 'event' games to be seen were here in great numbers. It was also the start of hockey season with the home opener of Toronto Maple Leafs playing Montreal Canadiens tonight. It did take until halftime before the place looked full but that's the timetable for hipsters. There had been pleas about turning out more Canadian fans in the media and Canadian players comments. Toronto FC couldn't let this opportunity go by without the announcement that their next home game with Saturday against Atlanta would be "Spanish Heritage Night". The Voyageurs (Canadian national teams supporter group) was here in force even with a rental truck distributing tickets and selling swag to their group. I received a tweet from them that they were trying to get here by 6:00pm to greet the team bus so I hurried myself up to get down to the grounds a bit earlier. I'd say they were responsible for filling up the entire south stand. We early arrivals inside the stadium were given small towels with the CSA logo to wave thanks to Allstate Insurance. Nice touch that they made sure they were in red and white rather than the corporate colours of blue and white which look too close to all three of the visiting teams. Canada dominated the first half with Panama playing safe giving up cornerkicks and throw-ins when under severe pressure. Their early goal was against the run of play. The statistics credit Canada with 11 cornerkicks vs Panama's 1. Canada's first goal was at the end of a two minute span where Alphonso Davies took four in a row from the right side. This made it seem like a practice where the same situation could be tried again and again. The hero of the game was Alphonso Davies with the winning goal. It was one of the best goals I've ever seen. He started 30 yards away from the play--so far away that the defender stopped to watch the ball roll out of bounds so he could turn and take a throw-in but Davies came in full speed and poked the ball away and the player looked like all he could do was point then plead his case to the referee's assistant that the ball was already out of bounds. Davies then ran down the right side cutting towards the center. He ran along the 20 yard line and cut a shot back towards the right corner eluding a sliding defender and freezing the goalie to the center of the net. Tajon Buchanan was waiting for a pass on the left side of the box but was only used as a decoy to keep another defender out of the play. The match was in doubt until that time. Canada had tied the game before the first half ended but there was less than 30 minutes to go until Davies goal then two more about five minutes apart. Finally I could relax. I should have figured that Panama players would time waste not just to prevent the tieing goal but to preserve the tie as getting points on the road may be vital to separate the teams after the 14 game cycle. Canada's David Wotherspoon had at least three great chances in this 63 minutes. He shot over the net from 12 yards at 35 minutes, He couldn't hold a pass that would have put him in alone on the left during injury time of the first half and bent a shot in the 48th minute just wide of the post. It felt like it might be one of those nights for Canada. I'm not sure why Jonathan Osorio was wearing #10 tonight (OK Junior Hoilett not here) instead of his #21 which he's worn for other games in this qualification. #21 is his Toronto FC number. Surprise that TFC teammate (late sub in this game) Jacob Shaffelburg wore #21. There was another dust up after the game with players having to be separated. Video evidence released later shows a Panamian player spat on Canadian Richie Laryea. This is another good reason to qualify before the return fixture in Panama which will be both teams' last game of the Octagon so the rematch will not mean anything. The Canadian players after the game went to the south end and a drum was brought out and players led us in the Viking Chant. Fans in the stands booed the Panama goalie from the 38 minute mark for his clash with Davies when he came out of his box to clear at 35 yards and they made contact. They also didn't like his time wasting and feigning injuries. This was a huge game for both teams in a battle for third place and only the top three qualifiers will gain an automatic spot to the World Cup in Qatar next year. Fourth place means you have a playoff against a team in another federation. The USA won their home game to stay in second spot, Mexico won later that night to hold onto first with an away game win against El Salvador. Biggest surprise was previous winless Jamaica beat Honduras on the road and passing them but both teams are far back. There's now two points between fourth and fifth place creating a bit of separation. There are now no games until next month when Canada hosts two games--both held in Edmonton. The Canadian Women's National team is on a vitory tour but for now that's in Ottawa and Montreal so it looks like I'm through with national team games until next year. On my way home I ran into the Toronto Maple Leaf fans who had been at the Air Canada Centre for their NHL season opener against Montreal Canadians. This happened again at Eglinton station as more of them were on a short turned train and were dumped off. The rush was on to get home because the subway was closing early again tonight. Good thing I didn't stop anywhere. There were shuttlebuses before 11:00pm at the station to take anyone back to the downtown.
I forgot my camera so these pictures are from my phone. The night ones are particularily poor.
Canada starters
Panama starters
Canada Alphonso Davies (19) takes opening kickoff.
Canada sets up for first half freekick.
Canadian goalie Maxime Crapeau clears ball away from Panama Jose Luis Rodriguez (7).
A dust up in the Canadian corner just before a Panama cornerkick.
That incident escalates as both benches empty.
Panama Alberto Quintero (19) and Rolando Blackburn (14) take second half kickoff,
A post match dust up.
Canadian players thanks the Voyaguers.
Canada players complete full circuit of field.
Canadian players salute The Voyageurs.
Earlier in the day:
The Voyageurs truck distributing tickets and swag.
The arrival of the Canadians' bus.
Game statistics (from Fotmob site)
Canada Panama
Ball possession 43.4% 56.6%
Clearance created 14 7
Big Chances 3 1
Accurate Passes 302 422
Pass Success 83% 86%
Fouls 16 18
Corners 10 1
Offsides 3 1
Total Shots 16 7
Shots On target 4 2
Shots Off target 8 2
Blocked shots 4 3
Shots off woodwork 0 0
Shots inside box 10 4
Shots outside box 6 3
Accurate passes 302 422
in oppostion half 141 192
in own half 161 230
Passes 365 491
Pass success 83% 86%
Long balls 37 74
Accurate long balls 17 44
Crosses 19 11
Accurate crosses 5 5
Duels 110 110
Duels won 63 47
Duels lost 47 63
Dribbles attempted 24 16
Dribbles succeeded 17 9
Tackles attempted 15 12
Tackles succeeded 8 5
Aerials won 15 13
Interceptions 8 1
Yellow cards 1 4
Red cards 0 0
Saves 1 4
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