Canada 4-1 Kuwait: 2010 U21 ConfedCup

Kuwait easily dispatched as Canada advances to the quarter-finals.
The first real chance of the game came to Alphonso Cho, who made the most of it by finishing well from close-range after receiving Truman Land's pass. The two combined again for the second goal, although this time it was Cho who made the pass. Land finished it off with a low shot from the corner of the penalty box. Kuwait got back in the game following Doug Laframboise's poor clearance with a strike from the edge of the box from Abdelnaser Al Amer which Houston Hernandez really should have saved. However, Canada's two-goal cushion was immediately restored through Floyd Hewitt with a stunning strike from a long way out that flew into the top corner past a helpless Sayed Bo Qamaz in the Kuwaiti net. Land could have made it 4-1 at half-time, but his effort hit the bar, and so Canada went into the break with a comfortable lead, although there was still much to be done in order to preserve it.
Canada struggled to create scoring chances in the second half, and at the other end, Al Amer and Esmael Al Arbash both came close. Eventually, substitute Cristobal Carney took Rueben Webber's pass, ran into the penalty area and shot inside the far post for the fourth goal of the game, and the Canadians hung on for a 4-1 win. We're going to the quarter-finals to face, yet again, the United States.
This was a very boring game to watch, as the defences were on top, and both teams had to resort to long-range efforts, most of which weren't dangerous at all. Canada went with a 4-3-3 similar to the one that played against Nigeria, except the defence was a flat back four instead of the fullbacks being placed higher than the central defenders, the two defensive midfielders were at wider positions than against Nigeria, and there was no real attacking midfielder, but a central one. The center forward, Cho, was slightly more advanced than the other two, who weren't stretched out too wide. Kurait, meanwhile, fielded a 3-5-2, or 3-2-2-1-2, with a pentagon midfield.
Despite his mistake which helped Kuwait score their only goal of the game, Laframboise formed a solid partnership with Alfonso Farr in central defence, and the defensive midfielders Alden Miranda and Stephan McLean stopped most of Kuwait's attacks. Although Webber was virtually invisible for most of the game, Floyd Hewitt looked quite good in central midfield, and Truman Land terrorized the Kuwait defence by creating many chances. For me, Land was the best player on the pitch today and deserves his man of the match award.
The USA eliminated us from the last U21 ConfedCup at this stage, and also beat us in the senior ConfedCup semi-final. Add in the real life Winter Olympics hockey final many Americans are still, I'm sure, frustrated about, and you've got an intense match-up both countries really want to win. However, if Canada are to beat our neighbours to the south, we'll have to do it without Parker Fay; he picked up his second yellow card of the tournament late in this game.