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Feb. 27, 2000 SportsLine wire reports |
LOS ANGELES -- No skates, no sticks, and Canada still won a cup.
Canada's soccer team beat heavily favored Colombia 2-0 on Sunday to become
the most improbable champion in the nine-year history of the Gold Cup
tournament.
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"We were a complete outsider," Canada coach Holger Osieck said. "We did a great job in the final. To beat them the way we did is really something special."
Canadian captain Jason deVos, who put his team ahead to stay with a header late in the first half, and goaltender Craig Forrest, the tournament's MVP, gleefully held up the gleaming, 4-foot tall Gold Cup trophy after the game.
"This has exceeded my wildest dreams, to make the final, much less win," said Forrest, who stopped three shots, including a penalty kick, to earn his third shutout of the tournament.
DeVos said: "We didn't want to come in here and lose to Colombia because then everyone would have said we were just lucky to get here."
The Canadians were solid in every aspect of their game in the final.
"This is probably the best moment in Canadian football, next to making the World Cup (in 1986)," forward Martin Nash said. "I don't think we've ever performed like this as a Canadian side before."
Carlo Corazzin, the tournament's high scorer with four goals, made a penalty kick in the second half for Canada, a hockey-crazy country that was ranked 85th in world soccer and had never won a significant soccer championship.
"I was surprised to see the good tactical play of the Canadian team," FIFA president Sepp Blatter said. "They won this Gold Cup on merit. I'm so happy this region has a new champion. This is good because before it was just Mexico and the United States.
"I hope this gives a boost to the development of soccer in Canada for boys and girls."
Colombia was missing many of its stars because of those players' commitments to their soccer clubs.
"I felt Canada was a little bit stronger," Colombian coach Luis Augusto Garcia said. "They were able to take us out of their game with their strong defensive play."
The championship final of the region that includes North America, Central America and the Caribbean was played before an announced crowd of only 6,197 on a rainy, chilly day at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The majority of the fans, who huddled under umbrellas during a constant drizzle, cheered for Colombia.
DeVos brought the small contingent of Canadian fans to their feet in the 46th minute, injury time, when he knocked in a header off a corner kick by Martin Nash. Colombia goalie Diego Gomez got his hands on the wet ball, but it slipped from his grasp and rolled in.
Corazzin made it 2-0 by drilling a penalty kick into the right upper corner of the net in the 68th minute. Canada was awarded the kick when the Colombian goalie ripped Jeffrey Clarke in the box.
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| Colombia goalkeeper Diego Gomez reacts after failing to stop a header by Canada's Jason deVos.(AP) |
Forrest, who plays for West Ham United in England's Premier League, preserved his shutout by blocking a penalty kick by Faustino Asprilla in the 85th minute. Forrest dived to his right to smother Asprilla's shot.
Sunday's poor weather aside, interest in the Gold Cup dropped dramatically when Mexico and the United States both were eliminated in the quarterfinals.
In contrast to the sparse crowd for the 2000 championship game, the 1998 final between Mexico and the United States at the Coliseum drew 91,255 to watch the game won by Mexico.
This time, Canada shocked Mexico 2-1 on Richard Hastings' goal in overtime, and Colombia ended the U.S. team's bid with a victory on penalty kicks to break a 2-2 tie.
Canada made it to the final by winning just two games. The Canadians tied Costa Rica 2-2 and South Korea 0-0 in their group. When Canada and South Korea finished tied in the group round robin, Canada advanced to the quarterfinals when South Korea called heads and lost the coin flip.
Canada's other win was 1-0 over Trinidad and Tobago in the semifinal. The Canadians had never made it out of the first round of the Gold Cup and had to qualify into the tournament this time.
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