After waiting patiently on the sidelines during Canada's first two CONCACAF Gold Cup matches, Town's Jaime Peters finally got into the action on Friday night as his side drew 2-2 with Costa Rica in their final group game in sweltering Miami. Peters picked up his 18th full cap.
Canada were already assured of a semi-final berth following results elsewhere, including Panama's fight-filled 1-1 draw with Mexico, and so wholesale changes were made to the starting line-up.
Peters started the game, and initially appeared to be forming a dual strike force with Gillingham's Simeon Jackson before dropping into central midfield in a 4-5-1 formation, a role to which his physique and talents seem spectacularly unsuited and one he had previously filled with disastrous results in Canada's infamous U20 World Cup campaign in 2007.
On an artificial surface more familiar to their opponents, and also more suited to them given the 100 degree field level temperature, Canada impressively enjoyed an even share of the opening exchanges, given that their opponents, the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying leaders, needed a result and Canada did not.
In the early exchanges, Peters was notable mostly for going at opponents and then going to ground, earning a yellow card for Costa Rica's Segares in the 15th minute. However, Canada then seemed ready to self-destruct, a horrible distribution error by veteran goalkeeper Greg Sutton leading to a gift goal for Andy Herron in the 23rd minute.
The response was instant and effective, and Peters-inspired. Jaime's telling through ball to Kaiserlautern's Josh Simpson led to a pin-point cross which Danish-based Patrice Bernier clinically dispatched within 30 seconds of the Central Americans' goal.
Less than five minutes later, Roda JC's Marcel De Jong put Canada in front with a speculative 30 yarder, his first goal for Canada, following his own partially cleared freekick.
The Costa Ricans got on level terms before the interval, however, with what Canadian TV commentator Craig Forrest described as a "world-class free-kick†from Centeno.
The second half was even and scoreless as Jaime played the full 90 minutes. He had a dazzling run into the box in the 48th minute before his shot was blocked, and after 66 minutes his header back across goal almost led to a scoring chance (it was remarkable throughout how often the diminutive Pickering, Ontario native won aerial challenges, but of course this was Costa Rica, not Stoke!).
Peters finally moved to the right wing and continued to run at defenders, his "blinding pace†(our Craig again) causing palpable fear. His most telling contribution, though, was defensive, preserving first place in the group with a timely goalline clearance in the 77th minute. After that, he looked to the corner flag as his best friend, to the chagrin of his opponents, as Canada saw out a dull but effective group-winning performance.
Canada will move on to Philadelphia for a quarter-final next week, probably against Honduras. Peters will hope his performance in an unfamiliar role will have won him a chance to show what he can do in a part of the field for which he will not require a road-map. Town fans and Roy Keane will just hope he gets a game.
Thanks to Canada-based Blue readtheleague for the report.