MONTREAL \u2014 Liam Millar heard the questions about Canada\u2019s goal-scoring troubles.<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old winger from Brampton, Ont., helped quiet those concerns early Saturday.<\/p>\n
Millar contributed to both of Jacob Shaffelburg’s first-half goals that lifted the Canadian men\u2019s soccer team to a 2-0 win over Peru in its second friendly of the international break.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started the game very well, we were very aggressive, had a lot of the ball,\u201d Millar said pitch-side. \u201cWe always talk about trying to score more goals, and we got two goals quite early.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe took our chances much better today and I think it\u2019s a real positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaffelburg opened the scoring in the 19th minute and doubled the lead in the 35th as Canada cruised to victory in front of a sellout crowd of 19,619 on a sunny, 15 C afternoon at Montreal\u2019s Stade Saputo.<\/p>\n
Daniel Jebbison added an assist for the 30th-ranked Canadians, who opened a new four-year World Cup cycle last week with a 1-0 win over No. 49 Chile in Toronto.<\/p>\n
Canada held 61 per cent possession and outshot No. 50 Peru 17-4, including a 3-0 advantage in shots on target, to improve to 3-1-0 all-time against the South Americans in a dominant outing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re able to control matches and make teams look bad and make it look like they never have a chance in the match,\u201d head coach Jesse Marsch said. \u201cIt\u2019s a credit to the team and a credit to what we\u2019re establishing here that we can manage that, because that\u2019s a team that gave Mexico a very good match.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe made them look worse than they are because of how we perform.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marsch believed Canada could have scored more goals Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cShaf had two really good goals. He reminded me he doesn\u2019t score a lot with his head, so we were happy to see that,\u201d he said. \u201cI still think in reality, we should feel like we could have come away with even more.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll keep working on things. We\u2019ll keep trying to adjust. We\u2019ll keep trying to capitalize on moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
An awkward rendition of O Canada \u2014 with the anthem singer appearing to forget the words \u2014 made for a strange start to the afternoon.<\/p>\n
The home side nevertheless quickly energized the crowd when midfielder Nathan Saliba found Millar with a dangerous through ball in the first minute. Millar dribbled around the keeper but his shot was blocked by a defender.<\/p>\n
Shaffelburg broke through later in the half with a strike across goal after Jebbison redirected Millar\u2019s cross to the edge of the six-yard box.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old from Port Williams, N.S., added to his tally in the 35th minute. Shaffelburg headed home a Millar cross \u2014 that tipped off the fingers of Peru keeper Diego Romero \u2014 at the back post for his ninth goal with the national team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels really good,\u201d the Los Angeles FC winger said. \u201cI haven’t scored at all this year, so to get two goals is unbelievable for my confidence right now.”<\/p>\n
Marsch appeared more than comfortable with the lead by the 62nd minute, when he substituted nine players at once in a full line change. The coach opted for a young starting 11, with 22-year-old goalkeeper Owen Goodman making his senior national team debut.<\/p>\n
Several Canadian players were absent due to injury, including centre back Derek Cornelius, who dislocated his hip in training last week in Toronto. Fellow defenders Mo\u00efse Bombito and Alistair Johnston were also out, while captain Alphonso Davies was away on a honeymoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
World Cup goalkeeper Maxime Cr\u00e9peau attended the game, but was left off the roster after the death of his father. Veteran striker Cyle Larin also didn\u2019t play Saturday after tweaking his back in the weight room earlier in the week.<\/p>\n
Canada Soccer honoured longtime central midfielder and CF Montr\u00e9al captain Samuel Piette with a ceremony in front of his hometown crowd before kickoff. Once a national-team mainstay, Piette came on to loud applause as a substitute in the 66th minute for his 70th appearance with the senior men\u2019s side \u2014 and first since June 2024.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old from Le Gardeur, Que., hoped it won\u2019t be his last, saying he’s not planning to retire from international soccer.<\/p>\n
“I still have the legs, I’m still able to perform at the level of the national team,\u201d Piette said post-match. \u201cThe level and individual quality of each player here is getting higher and higher, the players play in big European clubs, players who perform very well also in MLS.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd to be able to compare myself a little bit to each training this week, but also in the match against a good team like Peru \u2026 Personally, I felt good.”<\/p>\n
The Canadians conclude their three-match window Tuesday against the United States in St. Paul, Minn. They\u2019ll return to action during November’s international break with a two-legged Nations League quarterfinal against an opponent to be determined. The second game is Nov. 16 in Toronto.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL \u2014 Liam Millar heard the questions about Canada\u2019s goal-scoring troubles. The 27-year-old winger from Brampton, Ont., helped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":919582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-919581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}