Catavolo Brace Sees Canada Into Quarter-Finals

A brace from Matthew Catavolo helped Canada into the quarter-finals of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship with substitutes Lowell Wright and Mael Henry also on the scoresheet.

Head coach Mauro Biello made 4 changes from the 2-2 draw against USA on Monday with Alphonse coming in at centre-back, Assi came in on the right side of a midfield 5 with Kobe Franklin dropping into right-back alongside Catavolo while Mbongue started up front as the centre forward.

The opening chance came in the 8th minute with stand-in captain Reda Zouhir dragging the ball wide of the post from just inside the area before a deep kick-free would be flicked on by defender Morris with Stephen tipping the ball onto the crossbar.

Canada would take the lead in the 59th minute as a left-sided cross from Poku was headed goalwards by substitute Coimbra (moments after coming on as part of a triple-change) with Catavolo getting the final touch on the goalline under pressure from a defender before the midfielder would double the lead 6 minutes later as a curling effort from 25 yards out. The third came with 12 minutes left on the clock, a corner was cleared to sub Wright who fired past Stephen into the bottom corner before another sub would get on the scoresheet as Henry would flick in a cross from Assi.

Canada will play the runners-up in the group that contains Aruba, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama on Sunday afternoon.

Canada: Alexander; Franklin (Ferdinand 58), Alphonse, Campagna, Poku; Zouhir (c); Assi, Catavolo (Henry 76), Pellegrino (Smith 46), Habibullah (Wright 58); Mbongue (Coimbra 58)

Booked: Mbongue 33

St. Kitts & Nevis: Stephen; O. Liburd (Prentice 75), Morris, Myers, Chiuta, Mills; Garnette (Dorset 66), Jones (Dorsett 66), K. Liburd (c), Nisbett (Joseph 86); Burt (Browne 75)

Booked: n/a