MIAMI: Canada surrendered an own-goal equaliser in the 94th minute on Tuesday to lift Guadeloupe into a 2-2 draw in a Group ‘D’ opening match at the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

In the night’s other match in the biennial North American regional showdown, Guatemala blanked Cuba 1-0 at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to seize the group lead.

At Toronto, the hosts looked to have grabbed a victory when Guadeloupe’s Thierry Ambrose, who opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, smashed a low cross that deflected into the goal off Canadian Jacen Russell-Rowe for the stoppage-time equaliser.

Canadian forward Lucas Cavallini, a striker for Tijuana of the Mexican League, brought the hosts level four minutes into the second half.

Canada grabbed the lead in the 70th minute off an own goal by Guadeloupe defender Meddy Lina and kept the edge until the dying seconds.

At Fort Lauderdale, the game was scoreless at half-time after Cuban goalkeeper Raiko Aroza­rena deflected a penalty shot by Guatemala’s Darwin Lom with his left hand off the left post in the seventh minute of stoppage time.

But Lom scored the ma­tch’s only goal from ins­­i­de the penalty area in the 48th minute, firing just ins­ide the bottom corner of the far left post with a one-touch right foot blast that went between a defender’s legs.

Group ‘D’ play continues Saturday at Houston when Canada plays Guatemala and Cuba meets Guadeloupe.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2023