Facing tiny St. Lucia, an island nation with no real soccer pedigree, Canada made their first wobbly step toward grabbing one of CONCACAF's 2014 World Cup qualifying spots with a 4-1 win on Friday. Canada dominated the run of play, but found themselves tied after a 7th minute goal from Tremain Paul. They didn't get the lead back until Dwayne De Rosario converted a 51st minute penalty.
CONCACAF 2014 World Cup Qualifying: Canada Takes First Step
Josh Simpson scored a pair of goals and Will Johnson put the finishing touches on with a 90th minute strike. Atiba Hutchison had an assist on Simpson's second goal.
It was hardly the most dominating performance, but considering it has been 25 years since Canada has qualified for a World Cup, there probably won’t be too much hand-wringing. In order to move on in the qualifying process, Canada will have to win their group, which also includes Puerto Rico and St. Kitts and Nevis.
CONCACAF Second Round. Matchday One
Grenada 0:Belize 2
Haiti 6:US Virgin Islands 0
Trinidad and Tobago 1:Bermuda 0
Suriname 1:Cayman Islands 0
Dominica 0:Nicaragua 2
Antigua and Barbuda 5:Curacao 2
El Salvador 3:Dominican Republic 2
Guyana 2:Barbados 0
St. Kitts and Nevis 0:Puerto Rico 0
Canada 4:St. Lucia1
Guatemala-St. Vincent and the Grenadines
For more on analysis on the Canadian national team, be sure to check out 86 Forever and Waking the Red. For more on CONCACAF qualifying, be sure to check SBNation/Soccer.
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