Canada's Alphonso Davies scores his side's opening goal during the World Cup group F soccer match between Croatia and Canada, at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Themba Hadebe)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Moving Forward

P.A. soccer leader believes there are positives from Canada’s loss to Croatia

Nov 28, 2022 | 2:05 PM

Canada’s second match at the World Cup didn’t go as planned but there were positives to take away from it.

That’s according to Dragan Ivkovic, the technical director of the Prince Albert Youth Soccer Association (PAYSA), who believes the team’s 4-1 loss to Croatia will help the national team moving forward.

The men’s team has hardly played any other countries outside of North America competitively, only qualifying for the World Cup on one other occasion.

“I would always like to play these kinds of games against the top opponents then the CONCACAF Cup or whatever,” said Ivkovic.

Facing the runners-up from the 2018 World Cup, Canada came out of the gate poised to make an upset.

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It took just over a minute before they were able to find the back of the goal. Alphonso Davies headed in a cross from Tajon Buchanan for the first goal for the men’s team in World Cup history.

“We opened the game the best way you can… after that, the next 10 to 15 minutes I think the Croatian players were confused,” said Ivkovic.

However, Croatia got two goals late in the first half, before adding two more in the second half.

Ivkovic believes the team was outclassed, with Canada’s midfield and defence having a tough time containing Croatia’s attacks.

“I believe, maybe, we were playing too offensively, too naive.”

He also explained Croatia might have had extra motivation to beat Canada after comments made by the team’s head coach John Herdman. Shortly after their defeat to Belgium, Herdman told his players they were going to “F Croatia.”

“It was motivation for the Croatian players… totally unprovoked and unnecessary,” added Ivkovic.

Canada has one game left as their loss to Croatia officially eliminated them from the knockout stage.

They’ll look to play spoilers against Morocco on Dec. 1 starting at 9 a.m.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow