Burnaby’s Alessandro Hojabrpour was one of just a handful of players to score for Canada, as the national
men’s under-17 soccer team gave a valiant but unsuccessful push at the CONCACAF men’s u17 championships.
With a berth to the FIFA World u17 Cup in India on the line, Canada was eliminated after starting the opening round with back-to-back one-goal losses, including 2-1 last Wednesday to Cuba.
In that game, Cuba counted markers at the 26 and 59 minutes to go ahead 2-0. Hojabrpour put Canada on the scoreboard when he buried a one-timer from just outside the goalie box, making the score 2-1 with 19 minutes to play.
A Burnaby Central student, Hojabrpour was part of a strong offensive line that battled to create more scoring opportunities down the stretch. But Cuba did a strong job of shutting them down to secure the win – a victory which helped put them into the next round.
“We fought back and we were pouring on the pressure, but it just didn’t happen in the end,” said Hojabrpour.
The loss ended Canada’s hopes of advancing to the playoff round, where eight teams battled for four berths to the u17 world championships, held later this year in India.
It came on the heels of a tourney-opening 2-1 loss to Costa Rica.
Canada finished the round robin on a winning note on Thursday, blanking Suriname 2-0.
“They responded well from two disappointing results,” said Paul Stalteri, Canada’s u17 men’s head coach.
“The performances weren’t poor, but with no points from the first two games you are out of the group. Still, the boys handled themselves like young, aspiring professionals and we came away with the result after another good performance.”
Burnaby’s Michael Baldisimo, a midfielder, also represented Canada at the 16-team tournament.
