CanMNT’s Ali Ahmed Impresses in Draw Against Guadeloupe

Ali Ahmed Had An Impressive Debut

There was a lot of praise for the Whitecaps midfielder, Ahmed. His ability to create scoring chances for his team was on full display on a Tuesday night at BMO Field. He created some scoring chances with his crosses, with one of them missing Cavalini, who was unable to get a good touch on the ball. Ahmed would later win a free-kick for his side deep into Guatemala’s half.  He was all around the pitch on the night and made himself big in his debut for the CanMNT.

Most notably, Ahmed played a big role in Canada’s second goal as he and Richie Laryea forced Guadeloupe to score their own goal. This is what John Herdman said about the game on Tuesday night about both Moise Bombito and Ahmed after responding to a question from James Grossi of Toronto FC.

“And I think to be fair, the young players stayed, they kept going, you know, Bombito was hit didn’t go down. Ali Ahmed just kept going. And I think that was quite inspiring for our leaders.”

Bombito is a current centre-back for the Colorado Rapids and played well in his debut. He is only 23 years old and will be a player to watch out for as he is playing his rookie season with the Rapids this year.

The CanMNT Know How to Respond Back

The CanMNT early on had trouble getting shots on target. However, it still does not take away the effort that was displayed at BMO Field.

After conceding that first goal, Canada responded by creating a few scoring chances for themselves at BMO Field.

• Bombito had a great chance to score but was unable to control the ball in a dangerous area of the park.
• Canada forced Guadeloupe to make a lot of turnovers as Canada brought the tempo up immediately after scoring a goal.

There was then the penalty that was waived off for Canada. From a closer inspection, it did not look like a penalty, but at least a foul should have been called near the box. Either way, it did not matter as Canada responded by scoring their first goal of the game thanks to Lucas Cavallini. Cavallini played very well, getting himself in good positions to score. The execution, while not always there, provided a reminder of Guadeloupe defenders of his presence, as his runs off-the-ball gave him opportunities to score. This is what Herdman said of Raheem Bashir’s Last Word on Soccer question regarding Cavallini:

“Yeah, Lucas looked hungry tonight. I mean, he’s been in the shadow with David and Davies and Larin for the last probably year and a half, he had a few injury problems, which, you know, shifted him down the pecking order a bit. But you know, this tournament, we’ve put a lot of emphasis on Cavallini to lead that frontline, whether its his pressing, I think a lot of what people don’t see is the work he does off the ball. And then to keep finding those front post runs for us has been a big part. I think of our attacking success tonight.”

Guadeloupe Troubled Canada’s Defence

One player that deserves a mention in this is Thierry Ambrose, who currently plays for KV Oostende of Belgium. He had the majority of the scoring chances for Guadeloupe and was responsible for scoring Guadeloupe’s first goal.

He was also involved in other scoring chances like:

• He forced CanMNT goalkeeper, Milan Borjan, to make a big save early in the game.
• In the second half, Ambrose got a pass from Michael Alphonse and Ambrose’s shot was off-target and passed Borjan.

There was also an own goal forced by Guadeloupe that started with a free-kick from FC Sete’s Johen Watson. John Herdman made a reference to these two players when talking the quality that Guadeloupe has in Concacaf when responding to Chris Jones from the CBC:

“In fact, a top five league player played in Guadeloupe with Andrea Gravillon and their striker plays in the top Belgian league.” Herdman continues, “I mean, Ambrose was a very good player, very good player tonight, and we struggled against them, which, that’s got to be one of our fixes going through this tournament, you know, we need to find the two can manage that quality, because there’s more coming.”

Other Factors

The CanMNT defence was not sharp. Steven Vitoria was out of position and Borjan slipped for Ambrose to score the game-opening goal. Then there was the free-kick awarded as Vitoria was not able to deal with the ball and Jacen Russell-Rowe gave up the own goal as Canada had trouble once again with the set-pieces. This is what Herdman said about the centre-backs performance on Tuesday night as he responded to a question from Matthew Scianitti of TSN:

“The centre-backs will be disappointed. There were moments tonight, they know, they’ve got to clean up a lot about them, they don’t make excuses, they’ll own it, they will own it.”

In the other game, Guatemala got a 1-0 victory over Cuba and stand first in the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup. This is while Canada and Guadeloupe are tied for second place with one point each.

Both Canada and Guadeloupe will now travel to the U.S. for the remainder of the Concacaf Gold Cup in Houston, Texas. Guadeloupe will face Cuba on July 1 at 5:30 p.m. ET. Canada will then have an important game against Guatemala on July 1, which is also Canada Day, at 7:30 p.m. ET. Both games will take place at Shell Energy Stadium. All the games will be shown live on OneSoccer and Telus.