J’can strikers square-off in Canadian decider
TWO players likely to be a part of Jamaica’s 2014 CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying matches, Darren Mattocks and Ryan Johnson, will face-off tonight at 9:00 in the first-leg final of the Canadian Championship at the BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Twenty-one-year-old Mattocks, who scored his first professional goal last week Wednesday for the Whitecaps after being out for two months with oil burns from a cooking accident, is considered a game-changer by head coach Martin Rennie.
Rennie, a Scot, sees Mattocks as an impact player able to put together a great finish and blessed with pace.
In fact, Mattocks’ teammate Atiba Harris often calls him Usain Bolt.
Last Wednesday in the semi-final at the Canadian Championships when Mattocks scored, he grabbed a Jamaican flag from the crowd to celebrate.
He promptly received a yellow card for, according to one report, for “excessive enjoyment”.
Mattocks, who played for only 19 minutes last week in the Whitecaps’ 3-1 win over FC Edmonton in the Canadian Championship semi-final, is expected to get more playing time tonight in order to get back into shape.
With Toronto FC establishing a record-setting eight straight defeat in the US Major League Soccer, 27-year-old Johnson is hoping for a change of fortune.
“We can’t go on like this. I can’t go on like this,” the Jamaican international told the The Record last weekend.
Johnson has scored only goal in eight matches in the MLS this season, compared to three goals from 26 matches in 2011 for Toronto and San Jose Earthquakes.
Johnson is hoping for at least his 2009 form when he scored 11 goals from 27 matches for the Earthquakes.
“It’s eating me up inside. I can’t handle it anymore,” added Johnson, who has 19 caps and six goals for the Reggae Boyz.
“It’s embarrassing that the fans come to watch us and we’re just playing so defensive. We were just waiting for them to play the ball. We were just sitting in our half the whole time,” Johnson stressed, after the match against DC United which they lost 0-2 at their BMO Field.
In eight matches against the Whitecaps in the Canadian Championship, Toronto have won two, lost two, and drawn four.
