As it happens I was in Montreal and was right behind the goal Canada was attacking in the second half.
It was a pretty tame first half. Feisty, not a lot of chances but Canada carrying the play and struggling to carve out an opening. As an injury replacement I thought Italiano was pretty solid and Buchanan had the beating of Kye Rowles but he did enough until Bos came on.
Canada's forwards are all in pretty poor form for their clubs and that carried on. The goal was somewhat against the run of play but also capped Australia's best spell. Our defender hit a pass off a teammate to send Irankunda going the other way and he found Toure who just missed with his volley. A few minutes later Australia had the best flowing move of the match but Circati of all people got on the end of the final pass and missed the net when he should have scored.
Canada was missing three of the starting four in the back and a loose touch by Sigur facing the corner flag gave an opening for Irankunda to use his quickness to nip in and tackle the ball into the net. A horrible goal to concede but we'd been riding our lucky.
Full credit to Izzo but Promise David hit him as much as he saved his shot inside the six and it was a nice save off of Shaffelburg but it was an absolute sitter and he should have scored. And then Oluwaseyi hit the post right at the death. Another day maybe a different result but Australia defended well.
Canada has Colombia on Tuesday and they beat Mexico 4-0 this weekend. So there was an eye towards that with who started and who was subbed by Canada. But Australia didn't start Miller or Bos and I suspect Ryan gets the US game so we were both playing strong but not quite full strength 11s.
We knew Australia were going to be difficult to break down and combative and that given the we play it would be hotly contested. Hopefully we learn from it and put in a better performance on Tuesday.
Infantino was there with the Canadian Prime Minister. I'm not sure the sitting PM has ever gone to a mens match.
It was a pretty tame first half. Feisty, not a lot of chances but Canada carrying the play and struggling to carve out an opening. As an injury replacement I thought Italiano was pretty solid and Buchanan had the beating of Kye Rowles but he did enough until Bos came on.
Canada's forwards are all in pretty poor form for their clubs and that carried on. The goal was somewhat against the run of play but also capped Australia's best spell. Our defender hit a pass off a teammate to send Irankunda going the other way and he found Toure who just missed with his volley. A few minutes later Australia had the best flowing move of the match but Circati of all people got on the end of the final pass and missed the net when he should have scored.
Canada was missing three of the starting four in the back and a loose touch by Sigur facing the corner flag gave an opening for Irankunda to use his quickness to nip in and tackle the ball into the net. A horrible goal to concede but we'd been riding our lucky.
Full credit to Izzo but Promise David hit him as much as he saved his shot inside the six and it was a nice save off of Shaffelburg but it was an absolute sitter and he should have scored. And then Oluwaseyi hit the post right at the death. Another day maybe a different result but Australia defended well.
Canada has Colombia on Tuesday and they beat Mexico 4-0 this weekend. So there was an eye towards that with who started and who was subbed by Canada. But Australia didn't start Miller or Bos and I suspect Ryan gets the US game so we were both playing strong but not quite full strength 11s.
We knew Australia were going to be difficult to break down and combative and that given the we play it would be hotly contested. Hopefully we learn from it and put in a better performance on Tuesday.
Infantino was there with the Canadian Prime Minister. I'm not sure the sitting PM has ever gone to a mens match.
