CANADA 2 TRINIDAD 0
Tosaint Ricketts certainly didn't look like an unemployed soccer player.
Ricketts, who was at home in Edmonton while a legal tussle with his former club in Romania has prevented him from finding new employment, scored the winner on Wednesday as Canada picked up a 2-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago in an international friendly.
"It was tough coming in," said Ricketts, whose goal was his third for Canada.
"I'm kind of out of a club right now so the situation's not so good for me.
"I came in with a positive attitude and a positive mentality and I wanted to work and get this game in and get this result and I think we did that and we did well."
Will Johnson added a late goal from the penalty spot as Canada easily could have put two or three more goals past Trinidad in a second half where the Canadians outplayed their Caribbean opponents.
"I was pleased with everything in the second half," said coach Stephen Hart. Usually expressionless on the sidelines, Hart even cracked a rare grin after the second goal went in. "We defended well, we came up with the ball, we counter-attacked and we built attacks very well."
Canada dominated throughout the match but had to wait until the 57th minute when substitute Marcel De Jong crossed a ball from the left side that Ricketts controlled on the right side of Trinidad's 18yard box.
Ricketts capitalized on some poor marking as he had plenty of time to take the ball down, turn and line up a shot that tucked in under the crossbar.
De Jong was particularly impressive considering it was his first game back with the national team in over a year during which he was sidelined by a series of injuries.
"He wanted to perform, he desperately wants to be back in the squad-it's been over a year," said Hart of De Jong. "I think we're reaching a stage where we can't have any complacency. There's a lot of competition for places."
As Canada dominated that second half, most of their offence came from the left side of the field as parts of the right side had very little grass since most of the time the surface is used for cricket.
Even if Ricketts is unable to find a club in the next few weeks, Canada is back in action in a little over three weeks. Canada resumes its World Cup qualifying campaign next month with two games against Panama. They'll play Panama first at BMO Field in Toronto on Sept. 7 before playing in Panama four days later.
