Quebec drops both meetings with Ontario

Ontario 3 | Quebec 1

By Alex Di Pietro

As part of a series of friendly matches that saw the Quebec select soccer teams take on Ontario at Parc des Benevoles and Smiley Park in Kirkland, the U14 boys dropped a 3-1 decision on Sunday.

“It was a positive test for us,” said Quebec coach Philip Dos Santos. “It only takes two minutes where, if your team is not in it, a team like Ontario is going to make you pay and that’s what happened in the game.”

Sunday’s game was the second of the two-legged series, with Ontario also prevailing 3-0 the day before.

Ontario just shaded over Quebec in terms of possession at the start of the opening half and claimed the lead through forward Javon Brown in the 13th minute.

It didn’t take long for Quebec to equalize though, as Longueuil’s Alexandre Garceau blasted in a shot just inside the penalty area nine minutes later.

After chances went astray for bzoth teams, Quebec earned a free kick deep in the final third at the 34th-minute mark. Once again it was Garceau who flicked on Leonardo Kossaka’s low-outswinging cross from the right, however his attempt was not strong enough to beat the Ontario goalkeeper.

Kossaka delivered another free kick from long distance early in the second half that had to be tipped over the bar and Garceau was clearly brought down in the box by Ontario’s Scott Crichton in the 65th minute, but no penalty was awarded.

“I think that if we would have had that penalty and eventually scored it would have changed the momentum,” said Dos Santos.

Immediately following Quebec’s chance, Ontario’s Eric Soares put his team in front and midfielder Jordan Strowger capped the scoring at 3-1 in the 70th minute.

Dos Santos said it’s still early to tell how many changes will be made to his team in preparation for the Selections Championships to be held this summer.