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.
