John Herdman still feels the sting of Sunday's penalty shootout loss to the U.S. at the Gold Cup. But the Canada coach believes the tournament will pay real dividends in the future.
The 45th-ranked Canadian men were missing a slew of marquee names following their 2-0 loss to the 11th-ranked Americans in the June 18 CONCACAF Nations League final loss that preceded the Gold Cup. They made it to the Gold Cup quarterfinal, pushing the U.S. to the limit in a back-and-forth contest.
"It was invaluable, an invaluable experience, to just get that feel that there's a crop of players here that want it really bad and they're going to prevent this country falling into some kind of complacency trap. … And that's how it's going to be now for the next two years. New players are going to drop into this environment like a Moise Bombito or Ali Ahmed who people didn't really know.
The Americans tied it on a Scott Kennedy own goal in the 115th minute and went on to prevail 3-2 in the penalty shootout. Ahmed, Bombito, Zac McGraw, Jacen Russel-Rowe and Dominick Zator all made their national team debuts for Canada against Guadeloupe. Minnesota United 'keeper Dayne St. Clair took over after two games when No. 1 Milan Borjan was sidelined by injury, earning his third and fourth caps and was exceptional in the U.S. loss.
The 23-year-old Bombito has played just five games for the Colorado Rapids as a defender. Herdman moved him into the midfield, starting him in all four Gold Cup outings.
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