Canada, winner of the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2000, won its group stage in this year's event with a 2-0 victory over Haiti on Monday night at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida.
Dwayne De Rosario scored both goals in a three-minute sequence in the first half as Canada finished Group A with six points, two ahead of second-place Costa Rica.
"This is a big tournament for us," De Rosario said. "Unfortunately we don't have the luxury of playing a lot of friendlies to prepare for World Cup qualifiers. So we take this tournament very seriously."
Canada will play a quarter-final match on Saturday in Foxboro, Massachusetts, against the second place finisher from Group B.
De Rosario gave Canada a 1-0 lead with his first goal in the 32nd minute. Paul Stalteri's pass from the right wing found an open De Rosario near the end line of the far post. From a difficult angle, De Rosario found enough spacing to beat Haiti goalkeeper Gabart Fenelon with a shot which landed in the far post.
"My game is to create and score goals and when I get a chance at that in the box. My main objective is to see if I can score," De Rosario said. "The goalie came off the post anticipating the cross. I just hit it low as hard as I could and fortunately it went in the net."
Three minutes later, De Rosario converted on a penalty kick after Pierre-Richard Bruny fouled Issey Nakajima-Farran inside the penalty area. Fenelon guessed correctly but it still couldn't stop De Rosario's shot, which landed low inside the left post.
"That put us in a favorable position," Canada head coach Stephen Hart said. "All we had to do after that was be disciplined not rush the game. And we got the result."
Haiti had limited scoring opportunities on Canada goalkeeper Patrick Onstad, who missed Canada's 2-1 loss against Guadeloupe because of an MLS commitment on Sunday. Onstad's slide and save off Alexandre Boucicauts 5m shot in the 38th minute was Haiti's best scoring threat of the match.
Onstad overcame a violent collision with Haiti's Ricardo Pierre-Louis in the 54th minute. Onstad hit his head on the turf after colliding with Pierre-Louis when both chased a loose ball in the Canada penalty area. Onstad remained on the field and was attended to for nearly 10 minutes before resuming play.
"Luckily Pat is made of some tough stuff," Hart said. "He stood in there."
Haiti's frustrations boiled over in the 81st minute, when referee Marco Rodriguez ejected Bruny for his elbow to the head of Canada's Kevin Harmse.
"I take responsibility for Haiti not advancing to the second round," Haiti coach Luis Garcia said. "We came to play, but we were not at the same level as our adversaries."
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