International Friendly Preview: Moldova v Canada

Having ended a goal drought that stretched back to March 2013, Canada hope to notch a rare win against Moldova on Tuesday.

Canada drew 1-1 with Bulgaria in Austria on Friday with Atiba Hutchinson scoring the equaliser for Benito Floro’s Canadians from the penalty spot, ending a run of 10 games without a goal.

Next for Canada will be another friendly in the small Austrian town of Ritzing – this time against Moldova – and with the eastern Europeans ranked just 11 spots ahead of Floro’s men, the North Americans will be aiming for their first victory since October 2012.

“The next step is obviously to get a win,” Hutchinson said after the draw with Bulgaria.

“We’re going to work hard at that.”

The Besiktas midfielder added: “A couple of us were talking about (the goal drought) after the game.

“It’s a little bit of a relief to get that over and done with.

“We had some good parts in the game, but overall we’re building to where we want to be, so it’s getting better and better.”

Canada last won in a World Cup qualifier against Cuba, prevailing 3-0, before a streak of 15 matches without a victory.

With the friendlies against Bulgaria and Moldova occurring outside FIFA-sanctioned international windows, head coach Floro has been unable to select the likes of MLS-based players Dwayne De Rosario (Toronto FC), Issey Nakajima-Farran (Montreal Impact) and Will Johnson (Portland Timbers).

But defender David Edgar, who plays for Burnley in England’s Championship and is one of only 9 players over the age of 25 in Floro’s squad, believes the absence of the likes of De Rosario has allowed Floro to test some of Canada’s promising youngsters.

“You can see with Benito and the players he’s bringing in — the younger players, the younger generation and they’re buying into it. We all have to buy into it,” Edgar said.

“It’s going to take time and today we were a credit to ourselves and to the manager and what he’s trying to do.”

Floro was thrilled with his team’s tactical performance against Bulgaria, who are ranked 37 spots ahead of Canada.

“For us, it has been a very good result — not only because we scored a goal and we tied the game. I liked our tactical behaviour,” the 61-year-old Spanish coach said.

“The team demonstrated the ability to change our strategy immediately and I am very happy because it is very important.

“Our players were tired because our players are at the end of their season. We don’t have many other experienced players to bring in. For that, the result and our tactical behaviour was very good.”