Canada fall 3 - 1 to England in Cyprus Cup

Carolina Morace got off to a good start as coach of the Canadian Women's National team, unfortunately they fell a few goals short in the Cyprus Cup in 2009 losing to England 3 - 1. England recovered from an early scare after Christine Sinclaire scored her 99th goal as the Three Lions scored three goals and defeated Canada 3 - 1.

Despite dominating the early possession Hope Powell's side fell behind on 14 minutes, when a defensive mix-up allowed Christine Sinclair to take full advantage and give the Canadians a surprise lead, prodding the ball over Rachel Brown.

With the European Championship beginning in August, this result will instil a confidence in the Three Lions that they can achieve victory in a tournament environment and an unbeaten Cyprus Cup campaign will further boost their hopes of major success in Finland.

Canadian 'keeper Karina LeBlanc was impressive between the posts for Canada. The Canadians played better in the second half, but couldn't stop the dominance that England was showing throughout the match, eventually, the Three Lions lifted the Cyprus Women’s Cup.

Canada now moves on to face Japan on May 25th at BMO field in Toronto.


England: 1 Rachel Brown, 2 Alex Scott, 3 Casey Stoney, 4 Fara Williams (C), 5 Anita Asante, 6 Steph Houghton, 7 Karen Carney, 8 Jill Scott, 9 Lianne Sanderson (16 Eniola Aluko, 71), 10 Kelly Smith, 11 Sue Smith

Canada: 1 Karina LeBlanc, 17 Brittany Timko, 2 Emily Zurrer,10 Martina Franko (23 Sasha Andrews, 46), 3 Melanie Booth, 19 Kelly Parker, 6 Kaylyn Kyle, 8 Diana Matheson, 5 Chelsea Stewart (16 Marie Eve Nault, 46), 12 Christine Sinclair, 14 Melissa Tancredi

Scoring
England 3-1 Canada

England: Sanderson 32, K Smith 40, Williams 45+1

Canada: Sinclair 14

Canada's men's U-20 team won 2-0 over Mexico

Canada's men's U-20 team won 2-0 over Mexico today in its second match at the 2009 CONCACAF Men's Under-20 Championship. Despite being forced down to 10 men in the second half, Canada rallied to score two goals in a must-win against Mexico. Randy Edwini-Bonsu scored both goals while Adam Street posted the clean sheet at Marvin Lee Stadium in Macoya, Trinidad & Tobago.

It was a huge win for Canada after losing their tournament opener.

Nice to see Whitecap Edwini-Bonsu to score a pair of goals. A lot of pressure will be on Randy when he plays for the Whitecaps this season after the Caps lost their two top scorers in Eduardo Sebrango and Nicholas Addlery in the off-season.

Canada wraps up round-robin play Wednesday against Costa Rica.

The loss was the second for Mexico and , combined with a 0-0 draw between Trinidad & Tobago and Costa Rica, eliminated the 10-time CONCACAF champion from contention. The results left Trinidad and Costa Rica atop Group B with four points each, one ahead of Canada. Mexico was last with zero points and only a match against host Trinidad & Tobago remaining on Wednesday. Canada will face Costa Rica on Wednesday with the winner advancing to the semifinals. A draw also would advance Costa Rica to the semifinals.

The top two teams in each of the two pools will advance to the tournament semifinals - and qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Egypt 2009.

-TG