Canada Beats Costa Rica 2-1 at Gold Cup
MIAMI – Canada's inexperienced squad showed a lot of composure in an upset victory to kick off the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Canada rallied with two Julian De Guzman goals in a 15-minute span of the second half to defeat Group A favourite Costa Rica 2-1 Wednesday.

The result is more surprising considering the Canadians didn't have a lot of time together as a team before the tournament. Canada was still adding players the day before the tournament started.

"We knew we were playing a good team, a team you need to respect in CONCACAF," Canadian head coach Stephen Hart said. "But we told the players, `Let's not worry too much about Costa Rica. Let's establish our game."'

De Guzman certainly took Hart's advice. His first goal in the 58th minute was an immediate counter to Walter Centeno's goal a minute earlier, which gave Costa Rica a 1-0 lead.

De Guzman, who plays with Deportivo La Coruna of the Spanish league, scored the game-winner in the 73rd minute, helping Canada to three points in the Group A draw.

"The guys showed great determination after the first goal on us," De Guzman said. "In my case, I'm not a usual a goal scorer and yet when we got the first goal, it gave us momentum for the game winner."

De Guzman dribbled past Costa Rican defenders Victor Cordero and Jervis Dremmond and scored on a shot just outside the penalty area which landed past the upper left post.

"I had a lot of space in front of me to take some time and put the ball in the far post," De Guzman said.

Costa Rica's best opportunity at tying the game occurred in the 83rd minute, when Rolando Fonseca's deflected shot outside the goal area missed the right post by a couple of feet.

"It was a very close match, we just lost our concentration the final 20 minutes," Costa Rica head coach Hernan Medford said.

Costa Rica plays Haiti on Saturday (June 09) and Guadalupe on Monday (June 11). The quarter finals begin on Saturday, June 16 and Sunday, June 17, with the semi-finals played on Thursday, June 21 and the final game will be played on Sunday, June 24.