Dasovic says tough lessons learned from Canada's loss to Haiti
By Lori Ewing, THE CANADIAN PRESS
A day after the dust had settled on a heartbreaking loss to Haiti, Nick Dasovic could do little but chalk it up to lessons learned.
The head coach of Canada's under-23 men's soccer team was still fuming Saturday, following a controversial 2-1 loss to Haiti the previous night that dealt a serious blow to his team's chances of a berth in the Beijing Olympics.
"I talked to the players after the game and just kind of explained to them the ins and outs of international football in CONCACAF," Dasovic said in a phone interview from Carson, Calif. "We learned some lessons (Friday) night. Some stuff you can't do much about.
"I've seen it happen too many times as a country of Canada in these competitions, and you start asking yourself, 'Why?' It's frustrating."
The Canadians, who plummeted to last in Pool B with the loss, face Guatemala in their final game of the preliminary round Sunday, a match they must win to have any hope of advancing to semifinals.
Canada took an early lead Friday night on a goal by Tyler Rosenlund, and looked headed for victory.
But midway through the second half, Nik Ledgerwood was took an elbow to the throat. The Canadians had possession of the ball and when the referee didn't whistle to stop the play, they kicked the ball out.
Haiti took the throw in and rather than give the ball back to Canada - in keeping with soccer's spirit of fair play - they kept possession and scored.
"They threw the ball in and we figured it would come back to us and our players were standing around and the next thing you know the guy's got a free shot from the top of the box and it's 1-1," Dasovic said.
"We seemed to have them contained, and then once they scored that goal, it just seemed to wreck the whole balance and atmosphere of the team.
"I like to think I would try to be calm, but I lost my brains on the sidelines."
Dasovic said after Friday night's fiasco, he would never instruct his team to kick the ball out of bounds, and called on FIFA - the world governing body for soccer - to revisit the rules of fair play.
"God forbid it ever happens, but if a guy's lying down with some kind of serious injury, I still wouldn't tell my players to stop the game," Dasovic said.
"And I think FIFA should revamp that rule, get it out of the game, it just doesn't work. You can't trust anybody, because people will do anything - including cheating - to win."
Making matters worse, a couple of minutes after Haiti's goal, Andrzej Ornoch was taken down from behind in Haiti's penalty box - which should have resulted in a penalty shot for Canada, the coach said.
"The guy almost pulled (Ornoch's) shirt off and then the guy took him down from behind, and they just let it go, and the ref was right there," Dasovic said.
The Canadians have just one point from their two games heading into Sunday's do-or-die match against a strong Guatemala team that leads Group B with six points and has already clinched a spot in the semis. Haiti has three points, while Mexico has one point.
Canada also needs Mexico to beat Haiti.
"If we both win 1-nil, we're tied all the way through, and it comes down to a coin toss. And I would like to see that coin before they toss it. I would not trust the coin to not have two heads on it," Dasovic said with a half-hearted laugh.
But the coach believes his players must only be concerned with their performance Sunday.
"I said to the players, at the end of the day, if you want to get out of this group, you need to win a game, and we haven't done that yet," Dasovic said. "So, win the game tomorrow, and if we win it, we'll sit back and we'll be rooting for Mexico."
Canada will have forward Will Johnson back in the lineup. Johnson, who plays for De Graafschap of the Dutch league, sat Friday's game after receiving a red card in Canada's opener against Mexico.
Dasovic said he'll likely have Josh Wagenaar in net for a third straight game.
The Canadian coach faced a tough task in qualifying for Beijing, gathering his players together from teams across Europe mere days before the opening game.
"I talked to them this morning and I said I was proud of their performance, especially considering the preparation we've had, the time together we've had," Dasovic said. "They've really done a great job."
The Canadians are hoping to make their first Olympic appearance since the 1984 Games in Atlanta.
