By FRANCO PANIZO
In its final tune-up before its Gold Cup opener against the United States, Canada tied Ecuador, but it did so in controversial fashion.
Trailing 2-1 in injury time, Canada equalized through a goal from Tosaint Ricketts while several Ecuadorian players were busy arguing a foul call with the referee. Ricketts' first goal for Canada came after Julian de Guzman quickly played a free kick to him.
Canada had opened the scoring in the 2-2 draw when Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Terry Dunfield nailed a blast from distance. Ecuador responded with two goals in a span of three minutes in the second half. Christian Benitez and Michael Arroyo each found the back of the net before Ricketts' late-game heroics.
Mexico also prepared for the Gold Cup with one final friendly on Wednesday. With Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez being rested, Mexico defeated New Zealand, 3-0, in Denver. Giovani Dos Santos netted twice and Aldo de Nigris added a goal just before halftime to give the Mexicans a win before its Gold Cup opener against El Salvador on June 5.
In total, there were six international matches played on Wednesday. Here are the results from those matches along with highlights from Canada's 2-2 draw with Ecuador:
Japan 0-0 Peru
Nigeria 4-1 Argentina
Ukraine 2-0 Uzbekistan
Canada 2-2 Ecuador
Guatemala 0-2 Venezuela
Mexico 3-0 New Zealand
———
What do you think of these results? Starting to think Canada will prove a stiff test for the U.S. men's national team in the Gold Cup? Impressed by Mexico's win?
Share your thoughts below.
Stop insulting people.I guess you are not every intelligent to do otherwise. Try combining the last 10 years instead of the last two game. You know absolutely nothing about soccer. Oh yeah, “dos a cero” forever.
Is it weird if I’m not worried about Mexico’s attack as much as our own mental lapses? When we play well (or scrappy and lucky), we keep Messi from scoring, beat Spain, and give it to Brazil. If we have mental lapses and dumb moments, then we go down two goals to Slovenia. I feel like a lot of this will come down to who shows up to play that day.
You are an idiot! last two times Mexico faced the US it was a 7-1 combined score in favor of El Tri. That was without “ChiChaRo”! 2-0 will never come back!
Give it up, dude. This is supposedly Mexico’s future. The only future for Mexico is dos a zero – in the Gold Cup and in qualifying. Go spreads you disregards to “Futbol Picante.”
Are you on drugs, can you read English?
First of all I was answering Benny’s rant that New Zealand is crap and therefore Mexico’s victory is without merit. So I was pointing out the fact that NZ did very well in the WC!
That’s pretty much the best lineup in my eyes. Probably actually go with EL at RB–he’s fast relative to Specs.
Sorry lost me at the NZ excuse…. However to talk $h!+ about a team that may beat the US in the final, is ridiculous in itself.
Or I don’t know, maybe we can modernize and get rid of stoppage time by actually stopping the clock when play is stopped. I know that’s sacrilege, but I cannot stand time wasters.
The Mexico of the second half had NEVER played together before last night! Neither had the one that palyed vs Venezuela. Plus it was their first game with J.M. de la Torre at the helm.
The New Zealand team you saw yesterday (or didn’t) is exactly the same as the one that was undefeated in t he group stages of the WC, having played both Italy and Paraguay.
So go spread your armchair disregards somewhere else!
Well if we neutralize the great “Chicharito” we’ll at least be able to starve him out, if I had it my way, I’d play a 4-5-1 or a 4-4-2.
Preferred starting lineup:
Jozy-Agudelo
Dempsey -Bradley- Jones- Donovan
Cherundolo -Bocanegra- goodson (Ream) spector
Howard
that was argentina’s b-c teams. never played together b4 las nite in nigeria. still should of been much better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOY-e7xHM8k
You must not have kept up with the beginning of Altidore’s career 😛
In the Gold Cup I am very worried about Canada and extremely worried about Mexico. I don’t even want to think about Gooch and whoever matched up against Hernandes and Dos Santos.
If Canada marks anything like that on free kicks next week, Bocanegra could get a brace.
I’ll say it again, if I could change one rule in soccer (along with adding a second ref) I would create a means to punish time wasting through faux-injuries. If a player is down give them a boxing style 10-count. If they can’t stand up and allow a restart then you automatically add time to extra time and the player has to leave the field for “X” number of minutes because they must truly be hurt and needs treatment.
I’ve seen hockey players take slapshots in the face and bounce back faster than soccer players who get clipped in the heel…and it’s embarrassing for the sport.
Nigeria 4, Argentina 1????? WTHeck?
Daaaaaang. There were three amaaazing goals in that game.
As a USA supporter, I am worried. I’ve never seen Jozy Altidore score a goal like those first three ever.
Gio Dos Santos looked really good last night and if he is partnered right behind Hernandez then that is the best CONCACAF front duo in a very long time.
Neither Venezuela nor Ecuador are bad teams. Venezuela hasn’t been a South American minnow for a few years now, and potentially could be one of the better South American teams in the future. There’s a reason Wolfsburg snapped up Yohandry Orozco, he was a handful for Guatemala last night, that kid is one to keep an eye on.
Ecuador is on a bit of slide but they aren’t a bad team at all. Do we have anyone that’s as good as Valencia or even Benitez for that matter.
Mexico, with their A team, ties powerhouses Venezuela and Ecuador 1-1 and defeats the great New Zealand 3-0. How impressive is that?
+1
+1
yes, it serves the Ecuadorians right for all the crap they pulled after they took the lead.
It’s a FRIENDLY and they are killing time. The keeper got nudged by Rob Friend and went down like he was shot, staying down for probably 2 minutes while some staffer sprayed something on his back. Then he pops up fine and plays the rest of the game. There was also a collision with a Canada player (both players equally bumped each other). The Canadian jumps up while the Ecuadorian rolls around. Of course, after the play is stopped and he gets attention from the staffer, he pops back up and plays the rest of the game.
The second Canadian goal is karma. They had 10 guys surrounding the ref to complain that the free kick against them was unwarranted. Of course they were trying to delay the game by intimidating the ref in injury time. The ref would have none of it, and the SMART Canadian Julian De Guzman just took the quick free kick and Ricketts scored. This is JUSTICE for Canada considering the awful tactics the Ecuadorians used after they took the lead. And this was supposed to be a friendly… you’d think the Ecuadorians were playing in the World Cup.
Nothing controversial about taking advantage of the other teams stupidity.
Where would this leave Landon Donovan?
Don’t forget that Ecuador’s pointless arguing was a follow-up to their needless timewasting minutes before.
+1
Maybe if more goals were scored while players surround the referee and pointlessly argue, they’d stop doing it. Well done Canada!