Canada confident heading into match against St. Vincent and the Grenadines

[TheGift]

MONTREAL - The lush grass pitch at the new Saputo Stadium proved more than acceptable for Paul Stalteri, captain of Canada’s national soccer team.

“It’s fantastic,” the veteran defender for English club Fulham said Wednesday after his team’s first workout at the host stadium for their World Cup qualifying match against St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

“I can’t remember the last time I’ve been on a pitch in Canada that’s so nice and flush and flat and smooth. It’s up there with the best in Europe.”

Canada hopes to use the Saputo surface, at the wide end of regulation size, to dazzle the Caribbean islanders for a second match in a row when they meet on Friday night. The Canadians emerged from the first leg of the two-game total-goals series with a 3-0 victory in St. Vincent on Sunday.

A win would put Canada into Stage 3 of qualifying in the CONCACAF zone, which will be a round robin tournament against Mexico, Honduras and Jamaica beginning in August.

The top two from that group reach the final qualifying stage, a six-team round robin in which the top three go to the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. The fourth-place team also has a chance, but must beat the fifth-place side from South America.

To read the rest, go here: Canada confident heading into match against St. Vincent and the Grenadines - World Soccer - Yahoo! Sports

[TheGift]

Reminder: This game is today (Friday June 20,2008) It will be shown LIVE on GolTV starting at 7:30 PM ET (United States Time)