Blues boss Roy Keane must be wondering whether Jaime Peters's absence from pre-season training is worthwhile. His young winger-turned-defender is yet to leave the Canadian bench at the CONCACAF Gold Cup as he awaits his 18th full international cap.

However, Canada's second successive 1-0 victory, this time over El Salvador last night in Columbus, Ohio, almost guarantees an extended run in this competition which will surely provide opportunities for the Town player.

He will be hoping to get the nod from Stephen Hart this Friday against Costa Rica as Canada hope to stretch their new interim coach's four-game unbeaten run.

The 80 degree weather and a partisan crowd favoured El Salvador (‘Les Voyageurs' were well outnumbered by the Central American nation's fans despite the game's relative proximity to the Canadian border), but the game was always going to be a physical mismatch and the Canadians stifled their opponents' vaunted creativity.

It was the Julian De Guzman Show as the Deportivo La Coruna midfielder dominated proceedings throughout and continually drove Canada forward. The only goal came once more from Montreal-born striker Ali Gerba, who will be joining goal-starved Toronto FC when this tournament run comes to an end. Gerba has now tallied 15 times in his first 26 games for his country.

Unattached veteran goalkeeper Greg Sutton was rarely troubled as Canada cruised to victory, and his team-mates squandered several chances to extend their lead.

Former Spur Paul Stalteri and Real Salt Lake's Will Johnson continued to roam the Canadian right and deny action to Peters. When Hart finally did go to his bench late on, it was Gillingham's Simeon Jackson, linked with Town in January, who came on to let Gerba rest on his laurels.

El Salvador fielded no one familiar to fans of the British game, unlike Canada's previous opponents, Jamaica, whose motley crew of Championship journeymen lost 1-0 again last night, this time to Costa Rica, and so will almost certainly be rejoining their clubs soon.

Thanks to Canada-based Blue ReadTheLeague for the report.

Photo: Action Images

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