Fulham defender Luc de Fougerolles missed a sudden-death spot-kick as ten-man Canada were knocked out of the Gold Cup on penalties by Guatemala at the quarter final stage tonight.
The Guatemalans progressed to the last four when, after a 1-1 draw, de Fougerolles rattled the crossbar with his effort from twelve yards before Jose Morales stroked home his penalty to send the underdogs to their first semi-final for 29 years. Canada had taken the lead on the half hour mark through Jonathan David’s penalty, but the complexion of an edgy quarter-final completely changed when winger Jacob Schaffelburg was sent off in first half stoppage time.
Guatemala were galvanised by their numerical advantage and equalised through a bullet header from Rubio Rubin. Jesse Marsch’s side struggled after that equaliser and the eventual penalty shoot-out was full of drama. Cyril Larin saw his effort saved for Canada before Jose Pinto missed. de Fougerolles, who had missed a paneka earlier this summer, went for power this time but his spot-kick cannoned off the crossbar, allowing Pinto to make history.
Luc is a really nice young man. However, having watched all of Canada’s games, I have to be brutally honest and say that, apart from the experience of playing several international games, Luc has looked out of his depth at this level.
He lacks pace, unfortunately, and his aerial ability leaves a lot to be desired.
Caught out wide left in the Guatemala game, he failed to prevent the cross for their equaliser.
A similar error occurred in the previous round with a one on one duel where Luc claimed that he had been fouled, allowing the opposition player to break free. Having watched the replay several times, I failed to see any foul.
Having missed a penalty in an earlier game, I was hoping that Luc would not be exposed again but, as the game was not decided by the initial five penalty takers, eventually Luc was called upon and, determined to smash the ball home, his shot hit the crossbar.
I feel for him.
He has had an injury plagued season so, hopefully, the club will see fit to loan him out to a lower league team where he can pick up much needed regular playing time. But, currently, he is far from being a first team squad regular.
Charles – I think you’d be surprised by the reaction to Luc’s performances and his penalty miss here in Canada.
Most of us recognise that he is nineteen years old and has barely played any football over the past domestic season due to a serious knee injury. It was something of a surprise that he was fast-tracked into the national team set-up when he was and I certainly didn’t expect him to start every game of the Gold Cup tournament.
Whilst you’ve highlighted his mistakes, there have been plenty of positives. Firstly, just getting through the games without a recurrence of his injury problems. Secondly, how comfortable he looks on the ball and the character he showed to volunteer to take a penalty having missed one relatively recently.
You are right that Luc is not ready to play regular Premier League football, something he himself has freely admitted, and needs more game time. I hope that will come at Fulham in due course and a loan would be the right move for him, although picking the right destination will be crucial. That isn’t the Whitecaps and needs to be in the Championship or a top-tier European league where he can test himself against the best.
Luc might not be battle hardened enough for the Fulham first team just yet but he has tremendous potential. As someone born in west London with Canadian roots, I’m delighted to see him in the team as we get closer to the World Cup. That’s something we should celebrate – especially as the Fulham academy has played a pivotal part in getting him this far.
On balance, I think your brutal honesty is badly misplaced.