Canada men left wondering what went wrong after second-half collapse against Jamaica
CTV
A year after appearing in the World Cup for the first time in 36 years, the Canadian men took a step backwards Tuesday in a shocking second-half collapse against Jamaica in the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal.
A year after appearing in the World Cup for the first time in 36 years, the Canadian men took a step backwards Tuesday in a shocking second-half collapse against Jamaica in the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal.
Canada lost 3-2 on the night with Jamaica winning the series on the away goals rule with the aggregate score knotted at 4-4.
A win and Canada would have earned a berth in the Nations League final four and, more importantly, a berth in next year's Copa America. Now the 45th-ranked Canadians are out of the CONCACAF tournament and will have to dispatch No. 99 Trinidad and Tobago in a play-in match on March 23 in Frisco, Texas, to make the South American championship with no prospect of getting the full team together until then.
"Massive disappointment, for sure," said Mauro Biello, now 0-2-0 as interim Canada coach.
"For us, there's no excuse for some of the performances in the second half … We shot ourselves in the foot," he added.
The Canadian men went into the return leg with a 2-1 lead over the 55th-ranked Jamaicans from Saturday's rain-delayed win in Kingston, Jamaica. And they upped the aggregate lead to 3-1 in the 25th minute on an Alphonso Davies goal, to the delight of the announced crowd of 17,588 at BMO Field.
The Reggae Boyz turned the series on its head in a wild second half, defeating Canada on a controversial late penalty that capped a three-goal comeback.
