Game Notes: Costa Rica v Canada

COSTA RICA

Last Time Out at the Gold Cup (GC): Costa Rica 1, Honduras 0 … Marco Ureña’s fourth-career GC goal was enough to give Costa Rica its first-ever GC victory over Honduras in five matches (1W-1D-3L) … Ticos stretched unbeaten run in GC group openers to four matches (3W-1D-0L)

• Head Coach: Oscar Ramirez (Costa Rica) … since 2015 … entering his second Gold Cup as national team coach … played in three matches at 1991 Gold Cup

• Gold Cup appearances: 13 (1991, 1993, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017) … Gold Cup record: GP-51; W-17; D-15; L-19; GF-77; GA-63 … Best Finish: Runner-up-1 (2002) … Top GC Scorer: Walter Centeno (9 goals)

• Qualification method: 4th place, 2017 Central American Cup (GP-5; W-1, D-3; L-1; GF-4; GA-2) … Goals: Jose Guillermo Ortiz (2); Johan Venegas, Francisco Calvo (1) • 2017 Gold Cup results: 1-0 win v Honduras (Marco Ureña 39’)

• 2017 Copa Centroamericana results: 0-0 draw v El Salvador, 3-0 win v Belize, 0-0 draw Nicaragua, 1-1 draw v Honduras, 0-1 loss v Panama … Costa Rica, which entered the competition as two-time defending champion, has won a record eight Copa Centroamerica titles

• 2017 Copa Centroamericana scorers: Jose Guillermo Ortiz (2 goals); Francisco Calvo, Johan Venegas (1)

• 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifying: currently second place in ​fifth round of CONCACAF qualifying … Fifth-round record: GP-6; W-3; D-2; L-1; GF-9; GA-4 … Overall qualifying record: GP- 12; W-8, D-3; L-1; GF-20; GA-7 • 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifying, CONCACAF fifth round results: 2-0 win v Trinidad and Tobago (H), 4-0 win v United States (H), 0-2 loss v Mexico (A), 1-1 draw v Honduras (A), 0-0 draw v Panama (H), 2-1 win v Trinidad and Tobago (H) … Remaining matches: United States (A), Mexico (H), Honduras (H), Panama (A)

• Advanced beyond group stage in nine consecutive GC appearances, dating back to the 2000 tournament … eliminated at quarterfinal stage in last three appearances

• Progressed beyond group stage in 2015 despite failing to record a single victory in group play (0W-3D-0L) … in 2015 edition, failed to win a match for second time in 12 GC appearances

• One of only two nations in GC history that has a positive all-time goal differential (plus-8) but a losing tournament record, along with Honduras (Panama has a plus-4 goal differential with an exactly even record of 10W-15D-10L)

• Record against North American GC opponents: GP-21; W-1; D-5; L-16; GF-15; GA-32 … Only victory against North American opponents was a 1-0 win v Canada on July 7, 2005 (Jafet Soto 30’ pen.) … 13 of 16 losses against North American teams have been decided by a single goal

• Captain Bryan Ruiz, the 2016 CONCACAF Player of the Year, has appeared in three previous Gold Cup editions … the Sporting Lisbon forward’s two GC goals were scored 10 years apart: 3-2 quarterfinal loss to Honduras in 2005 & 1-1 draw with El Salvador in 2015

• Four players on roster have scored in GC: Marco Ureña (4 goals, including 2017); Bryan Ruiz (2); Joel Campbell, David Ramirez (1) • Scored and conceded one goal or fewer in four consecutive GC matches

CANADA

• Last Time Out at the Gold Cup (GC): French Guiana 2, Canada 4… Having gone winless in seven straight GC games and scoreless in two consecutive tournaments (six matches), Dejan Jakovic (first-ever Canada goal) found the net 28 minutes into the 2017 competition. Scott Arfield added a goal in first-half stoppage time and 16-year-old Alphonso Davies scored twice after the break as Canada hit four goals for the first time in its Gold Cup history

• Head Coach: Octavio Zambrano (since March 2017) … the Ecuadorian is in his first national-team managerial job after a long club career … spent six seasons as a head coach in Major League Soccer with LA Galaxy (1997-99) and MetroStars (2000-02)

• Gold Cup Appearances: 12 (1991, 1993, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017) … Gold Cup Record: GP-42; W-16; D-11; L-15; GF-47; GA-55 … Qualification method: automatic North American entrant

• 2017 Gold Cup results: 4-2 win v French Guiana (Dejan Jakovic 28’; Scott Arfield 45’+2; Alphonso Davies 60’, 85’) • Best Finish: Champion-1 (2000) … defeated Colombia, 2-0, in 2000 final (Jason De Vos 45’; Carlo Corazzin 68’ pen) … only team besides Mexico (7) and the United States (5) to win title … Top GC Scorer: Dwayne De Rosario, Ali Gerba (6 goals each)

• 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification: eliminated in fourth round (2W-1D-3L), finishing one point behind second-place Honduras in Group A … overall qualifying record: GP-10; W-5, D-2, L-3; GF-15, GA-9 … Cyle Larin and Tosaint Ricketts were team’s joint-top scorers in 2018 WCQ play (4 goals) … has not progressed to final round of CONCACAF qualifying since the 1998 World Cup cycle … only World Cup appearance came at Mexico ’86

• Performance against French Guiana marked the first time Canada had scored multiple goals in a GC match since a 2-2 draw against Costa Rica to close group play in 2009 (Patrice Bernier 25’; Marcel de Jong 28’) … scored just two goals in previous 10 GC matches … conceded two goals, after allowing only one in previous four GC matches ... has not allowed more than two goals in a GC game since a 4-1 loss to Brazil in 1996, a stretch of 33 matches … previous GC win: 1-0 v Guadeloupe (Dwayne De Rosario 62’ pen) on June 11, 2011

• Alphonso Davies: with brace v French Guiana, became youngest player to score in GC history (third youngest player in appear in a GC game) … scored two goals for Vancouver Whitecaps FC in 2016/17 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League: game-winner (90’+3) in 2-1 away win v Sporting Kansas City on September 13, 2016 … first goal (5’) in 2-0 home win v New York Red Bulls in quarterfinal, second leg

• Conceded a goal per match or fewer in each of the last four GC editions (10 goals in 13 matches overall) …

• GC record against Central American opposition: GP-15; W-5; D-7; L-2; GF-18; GA-14 … drawn four consecutive games against Central American foes, the last three of which were scoreless … before setting new team record with four GC goals v French Guiana, had scored three goals in a GC match three times, including twice against Central American opponents (3-1 win v Honduras on Jan. 10, 1996; 3-0 win v Guatemala on June 16, 2007

) • Four players on roster have scored in GC (including 2017):: Alphonso Davies (2 goals); Scott Arfield, Patrice Bernier, Marcel de Jong, Dejan Jakovic (1)