Derek Cornelius led Canada’s performance on defense against Martinique.
Canada just can’t stop winning right now.
Two days after the Toronto Raptors captured the NBA Championship, and with the women’s team beating New Zealand earlier in the day to secure its advancement to the knockout rounds of the Women’s World Cup, the men’s team looked to keep the good times rolling for our neighbors to the north, as they opened up the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup with its first match against Martinique.
Indeed the men’s team added another win on Saturday evening. Led by Jonathan David’s brace, Canada asserted themselves on every opportunity on Saturday. A first-half strike was followed by three second half goals, and Canada began its Gold Cup run with a 4-0 win over Martinique at the Rose Bowl.
“It was great for the players,” Canada head coach John Herdman said. “They were excited, they wanted to get off and they wanted to make a statement in the first game.”
Canada seized the advantage in the 33rd minute. Keeper Loic Chauvet played a ball to defender Daniel Herelle, but he got a bad touch on the ball, David immediately capitalized on the opportunity, as he took the ball away from Herelle, then sprinted for the penalty area. Once in the box, David hesitated, which forced Chauvet to the ground, then took the shot that beat Chauvet far post.
Canada broke the game open in the second half. Canada opened the second half scoring in the 53rd minute, as Samuel Piette lobbed a perfect ball over the Martinique defense, David timed his run perfectly and once he received Piette’s pass, sprinted for the penalty area, then buried the shot near post to double the Canada lead. The lead tripled in the 63rd minute, as Davies capitalized on a bad clearance attempt by Jordy Delem, played a short cross into the six-yard box and Junior Hoilett swooped in fired a one-timer that was saved, but the ball fell back to him and his momentum afforded him a touch that went into the back net. Four minutes later, Scott Arfield concluded matters, as he took a pass from Mark-Anthony Kaye and shot low, but it beat Chauvet near post to finish off a spectacular evening for Canada.
“We wanted to show what we’re capable of doing,” Kaye said. “It’s the first game of the tournament, so All eyes are going to be on us and we wanted to show well.”
David was not the only star for Canada on Saturday. Canada also received solid play from its midfield, as the group of Arfield, Davies, Kaye, Piette and Atiba Hutchinson were instrumental in Canada’s goals as well as other scoring opportunities.
“When you look at our midfield, we’ve been pretty consistent with our group for a while now,” Herdman said “You can see how fluid and in-tune they are, they pretty much quarterbacked the game for us.”
