Canadian under-23 side scores second straight win at Qatar tournament

DOHA, Qatar — Goals by Jordan Hamilton and Michael Petrasso gave Canada a 2-0 win over host Qatar on Tuesday at the Aspire U-23 soccer tournament.

Canada, with senior coach Octavio Zambrano in charge, finished 2-0-0 at the three-team international competition. The young Canadians opened Saturday with a 1-0 victory over Uzbekistan on a goal by Caniggia Elva.

Zambrano said the two matches had given him a good sense of the young talent.

“It is encouraging that there is a handful of them that get to a higher level and high enough to be with the first team,” he said in a statement.

Elva played provider Tuesday in the first half, sliding a pass over to Hamilton. The  21-year-old Toronto FC forward stroked the ball home with his left foot.

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Petrasso added to the lead with a sweet goal in the 65th minute, controlling a long free kick from New York City FC rookie midfielder Kwame Awuah with his right foot and then using his left to chip the goalkeeper.

“I just kind of made eye contact with Kwame and he played me in,” said Petrasso, a 21-year-old forward with England’s Queens Park Rangers.

Zambrano will hold a camp for the senior team ahead of a June 13 friendly against Curacao in Montreal prior to the Gold Cup.

“It is going to be interesting to see which players from both North America and Europe that we can put together to make a solid group,” he said. “We may also invite a couple of players from this group…We need to start integrating them into the men’s national team that, possibly in five years, could be back here for Qatar 2022 (World Cup).”

The Canadian Press