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Canada’s Soccer
team surprised the entire soccer community in
February 2000 when they won Canada’s first
title, the Gold Cup. It was a team with many
young players full of determination and
patriotism. A few of the players were the same
players that were members of the U-20 team that
represented Canada in 1997. A team that also
made history by being the first Canadian team to
advance to the second round of any FIFA World
Cup. The squad coached by Holger Osieck
consisted of Craig Forrest; Mark Watson, Tony
Menezes, Jason deVos, Jeff Clarke, Paul Fenwick,
Paul Stalteri, Richard Hastings, Jim Brennan;
Martin Nash, Garrett Kusch, Carlo Corazzin,
Robbie Aristodemo, Dave Xausa, Dwayne DeRosario,
Elvis Thomas, Pat Onstad and Paul Peschisolido.
“We obviously had luck on our side, but we
worked hard and we got better as each game went
along”. The most dramatic win of the tournament
was Canada’s golden goal win over Mexico in
overtime. “That game gave us confidence and
from that point forward we believed that we
could win the Gold Cup”. Paul believes that the
win against Columbia was the most important win.
It showed everyone that Canada could win
against one of the better sides in international
football.
In the group competition Canada tied with Costa
Rica and South Korea but won the coin toss in a
three way tie. Canada beat Mexico 2-1 in the
quarter-final and Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 in the
semi-final. Canada won the CONCACAF Gold Cup in
February beating Colombia 2-0 in the final.
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