Canada makes final preparations in Philadelphia

Canada’s men’s national team made its final on-field preparations today before Saturday’s quarter-final match in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Canada had its official training today at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, the same stadium that will host the Canada-Honduras match on 18 July. The Canada-Honduras match will be broadcast live on all four Rogers Sportsnet channels (17.00 ET / 14.00 PT).



“Honduras is very quick in a lot of positions,” said coach Stephen Hart. “The players have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities. They are very quick (and effective) on the counter attack.”

Listen to Canada coach Stephen Hart | Listen to Honduras coach Reinaldo Rueda



Canada’s men’s national team made its final on-field preparations today before Saturday’s quarter-final match in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Canada had its official training today at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, the same stadium that will host the Canada-Honduras match on 18 July. The Canada-Honduras match will be broadcast live on all four Rogers Sportsnet channels (17.00 ET / 14.00 PT).



“Honduras is very quick in a lot of positions,” said coach Stephen Hart. “The players have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities. They are very quick (and effective) on the counter attack.”



Canada reached the quarter-final stage of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup after finishing first in Group A with seven points (two wins and one draw). Honduras finished second in Group B after picking up six points (two wins and one draw). The winner of the Canada-Honduras match will face the winner of the USA-Panama match in the semi-final on 23 July in Chicago. The USA-Panama match will be broadcast in Canada on GolTV (20.00 ET / 17.00 PT).



“It’s going to be a beautiful game,” said Honduras coach Reinaldo Rueda. “Canada is strong with lots of international players. Hopefully we can beat them.”



All 19 players were dressed for Canada’s training today, as were all 23 players for Honduras’ official training on Thursday night. Honduras had previously identified Marvin Chávez, Miguel Castillo and Carlos Palacios as three players under “medical review” from the group phase. Teams are only allowed to dress 18 players for CONCACAF Gold Cup matches; from the seven bench players, teams are only allowed to make three substitutions during the game.



The 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup runs 3-26 July in 13 cities across USA. Canada won 1:0 over Jamaica on 3 July in Los Angeles, won 1:0 over El Salvador on 7 July in Columbus, and drew 2:2 with Costa Rica on 10 July in Miami. The quarter-final stage features Canada-Honduras and USA-Panama in Philadelphia (18 July) as well as Guadeloupe-Costa Rica and Mexico-Haiti in Dallas (19 July). From the quarter-final stage, Canada can move to Chicago, IL for the 23 July semi-final and then New York, NY for the 26 July final.