Short-handed Canada digs deep to battle Ecuador to scoreless draw

Jesse Marsh, head coach of the Canadian men's soccer team, leaned into the fourth official's ear to plead his hopelessness.

“Unbelievable,” Marsh shouted to him. “It's incredible.”

Just six minutes into Thursday's supposed friendly against Ecuador at Toronto's sold-out BMO Field, Ali Ahmed was shown a straight red card for a difficult challenge. The contact with Alan Franco's hand was not as significant as it seemed at first glance, but Fernando Hernandez, the Mexican referee, was merciless in his judgment.

Ecuador, 23rd placedistrict at peace and on the rise, continued to dominate possession if not on a controversial night. The visitors failed to get a single shot on target against the shorthanded Canadians, who held to an impressive scoreless draw.

“You know the guy next to you will go to war for you,” Canadian goalie Dane St. Clair said afterward.

But that was only partial consolation for Marsh, who saw one of the last matches before next summer's all-important World Cup unfold in front of the biggest home crowd of his tenure, with one player missing.

“I don’t think it’s a red card,” Marsh said. – You can write this down in the protocol.

There was also something to be said for the powerful performance that followed.

“I know we have character on this team,” Marsh said. “But when you add maturity, intelligence and savvy, you can really understand what this character is all about. That part made me very happy to be their coach tonight.”

The past few weeks have been challenging for Canada's previously fast-paced players, who began a string of international windows in September that Marsh called the “best 10 days” of his tenure. His team won back-to-back European matches against Romania and Wales for the first time in the program's often troubled history.

October was less successful after a late and shambolic defeat to Australia in Montreal and a goalless draw with Colombia in New Jersey.

Now Marsh endured watching a distraught Ahmed, one of his favorite players, pound his fists on the ground before his depleted team lost count again.

This is partly the result of significant opposition and many injuries. Alphonso Davies, Alistair Johnston, Moise Bombito, Samuel Adekugbe and Luc de Fougerolles were all ruled out.

But much of that damage has been done in defense and the following players, especially Richie Larrieu and Niko Sigur at fullback, have been a revelation – so good that Marsh may face a dilemma or two when his former starters return.

The current concern is assault. Marsh appeared to have settled on Tanya Oluwaseyi to partner Jonathan David – instead of Kyle Larin, Promise David and late addition Theo Bair – but regardless of the combination, Canada failed to score for the third game in a row.

Even with a man down, Oluwaseyi missed the best chance of the game soon after Ahmed was sent off when Larya released him and Oluwaseyi could only find the keeper with his attack.

Much of the responsibility rests with David, who pressed well despite the difficulties at the coldest stage of his sometimes magnificent career.

He did not score a single goal in 16 consecutive matches for club and country. He last scored for Canada against Romania and has only scored once for Juventus, his new club, on his debut against the Italian giants in August. The confidence he built during five seasons of near-constant success at Lille now looks badly shaken.

“These are two games we played at home in front of huge crowds where we didn't score,” Marsh said. “This is the biggest disappointment.”

David, who hasn't played much for Juventus recently, at least played meaningful minutes against Ecuador.

Alfie Jones, the English-born centre-back who only needed to take a citizenship oath to be eligible to play for Canada, was not sworn in before kick-off and could not even sit on the bench.

He might be able to go all-Canadian on Friday before the team heads to Florida for a friendly against Venezuela next week that suddenly looks like something of a must-win. The men will not be together again until March, and they face a long winter that will bring them no results.

It's time for the best incredible.