Canada 3 - 1 Ísland (282771547)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 111500 at The Dwyer Compound today. Puck Lipperts was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ramy Barazi and Scott Dolan. Canada started off with a 3-4-3 lineup. The following players took the field: Larcheveque - Gani, Theisen, Qurashi - Macahan, Power, Uría, Whittington - Coughlan, Srirattanasobhon, Queen.

Ísland tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Friðmundsson - Auðunsson, Gautason, Friðlaugsson - Sævarsson, Hjálmgeirsson, Ólafsson, Sturluson, Unnarsson - Sigurðsson, Þjóðólfsson.

Canada used their ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings. Today, Ísland's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. Canada's D. Queen left the field after 8 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was L. Allen. With 21 minutes played A. Whittington almost put the home team one ahead on a cross coming in from the right, but the shot went just wide. Ísland's I. Gautason got himself booked for a foul. L. Allen caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 34 minutes. This gave Canada the 1 - 0 lead. The crowd was silenced 35 minutes into the match as the visiting team's G. Sigurðsson came in from the left, levelling the score to 1 - 1. 1 - 1 was the score after the first half. Canada had most of the ball, with 56 percent of possession.

Canada created a good opportunity to score 47 minutes into the match when J. Qurashi's hooked ball from the left created a scuffle in front of the goal, and the visitors' defenders had a hard time clearing the ball. 65 minutes into the game, Canada wanted to bring some new energy to their game. J. Macahan gave M. Spalding a quick hug as he left the field. 75 minutes into the match, the referee signalled for a Canada substitution. S. Lévesque came on for G. Theisen. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave A. Whittington from Canada a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 82 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! 83 minutes into the game, S. Þjóðólfsson had a great chance to put his team ahead, but his kick from the left went wide. They were singing the praises of A. Whittington 84 minutes into the match after his speculative chip from the middle of the penalty box found its way over the visitors' keeper to make the score 2 - 1 to Canada. Canada solidified their lead at the 88 minute mark, as O. Gani dribbled the ball through the opposing central defence and scored to make it 3 - 1. Canada claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 59 percent.

Canada's best player was L. Coughlan. However, S. Lévesque made a disastrous appearance. Most important Ísland player was G. Sigurðsson. Þ. Auðunsson was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 1.