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HAVANA, Cuba -- Stephen Hart expects the pitch at Havanas Estadio Pedro Marrero to be as tough an opponent as the Cuban side his team is facing. In fact, the head coach of the Canadian mens soccer team says the field will be the "biggest thing to overcome" for his players when they take on Cuba in World Cup qualifying Friday. "The heat, theres nothing you can do about that just like theres nothing you can do about the pitch," Hart said Thursday on a conference call. "You just have to be mentally strong, you have to adapt, you have to endure and overcome it." Hart described the grass at the multi-purpose Cuban stadium as "very thick, very heavy and very long" and unlikely to be trimmed before the afternoon match. "Its the traditional grass of the Caribbean. Nothing that we didnt expect," Hart said. "Every single country presents a different challenge in that respect." The two countries have only once appeared in the World Cup finals -- Canada in 1986 and Cuba in 1938. Canada comes into its first semifinal game with a string of victories over several Caribbean squads. It won 3-0 over Puerto Rico, 7-0 against St. Lucia and 4-0 versus St. Kitts and Nevis. Canada is also coming off a friendly against the U.S., the heavyweights in CONCACAF, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean. They played to a 0-0 draw Sunday at BMO Field in Canadas only game with its full side this year. Despite the lack of scoring in the match, Hart isnt about to change his tactics. "You have to ask if throwing on more attackers is going to give you goals," said Hart. "I dont think throwing on a bunch of attackers will make a difference. In football, everything is about the balance." The match pits the two lowest-ranked teams in Group C against each other, so both sides see it as a chance to win. Panama and Honduras are also in the group. Cuba arrived directly at the semifinals without having to play in preliminary rounds. "Were playing at home against the team that seems to be the weakest in the group," said Cuban forward Alain Cervantes. "We have to take advantage and open with a victory if we want to reach what every football player dreams of." The 145th-ranked Cuba is at the bottom of the CONCACAFs Group C over the qualifiers. Canada is 77th in the FIFA rankings. Canada will be looking for strong performance from forward Dwayne De Rosario of MLS club DC United, defender Kevin McKenna and the 17-year-old newcomer Samuel Piette. Atiba Hutchinson, who is suffering from a knee injury, travelled to Cuba with the team but Hart wouldnt commit to using the midlfielder. "(Hutchinson) has looked good in training but match fitness is a big question mark," said Hart. He added that Fridays roster will show very little change from the team who played against the Americans. Cuba and Canada played four times before during the World Cup qualifying in 1998 and 2002. Canada has three wins and Cuba has none. One of their previous meetings ended in a draw. The four teams in Group C that includes Panama and Honduras play each other home and away during round-robin qualifying. Wholesale Jerseys Cheap . -- Carson Palmer walked off the field at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday, where the Raiders had just won for the sixth straight time, and looked just like he did at the start. Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping . -- Scott Stallings trudged back to the clubhouse after making par on the 10th hole, his third round suspended because of the darkness that enveloped Annandale Golf Club. http://pavansukhdev.org/wholesalejerseys.html ." The Blue Jays came through with an impressive solution in the final game of the series. Brett Lawrie and Colby Rasmus each homered and drove in three runs and Toronto rallied from an early four-run deficit to beat Atlanta 12-4 on Sunday. TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Johnny Football and Southeastern Conference newbies Texas A&M took down the biggest bully in their new neighbourhood and left No. 1 Alabama with badly bruised national championship hopes. Johnny Manziel, better known around Texas as Johnny Football, staked the 15th-ranked Aggies to a three-touchdown lead in the first quarter, and Texas A&M held on to beat the Crimson Tide 29-24 on Saturday. The Aggies (8-2, 5-2), playing in the SEC for the first season after ditching the Big 12, also might have ended the leagues run of BCS titles at six years. The defending national champion Crimson Tide (9-1, 6-1), who have been No. 1 almost all season, didnt go quietly. AJ McCarron nearly pulled off a second straight scintillating comeback. He threw one touchdown pass and motored the ball downfield before Deshazor Everett stepped in front of his fourth-down pass at the goal line with 1:36 left. Manziel passed for 253 yards and rushed for 92 and led the Aggies to a 20-0 first quarter lead. "No moment is too big for him," coach Kevin Sumlin said of his remarkable redshirt freshman. The Aggies had been 1-10 against top-ranked teams with the only previous win coming 30-26 over Oklahoma in 2002, but Manziel and Sumlin have entered the SEC with speed and swagger -- and fit right in. Alabama managed a second-shot national title after losing to LSU just over a year ago in the regular season but seems a longshot to do it again. Alabama would have secured a spot in the SEC championship game with a victory and only Western Carolina and Auburn remaining. "Two of the three national championship teams that I coached lost a game," Tide coach Nick Saban said, counting one at LSU. "This team still has an opportunity to win the West and go to the SEC championship game and win a championship. Theres still a lot for this team to play for." Now, the Tide will have to beat the Tigers to clinch the West and get into the SEC title game. As for the national title, Alabama will have to hope for another shakeup in the form of losses by Kansas State, Oregon and Notre Dame. If the Tide wins out, and two of those teams go down, a third national championship in four seasons is still in play -- along with a seventh straight for the SEC. For now though, the SEC is on the outside looking in at the BCS title race. Alabama kept coming back, but never caught up with Manziel and Texas A&M. The nations top scoring defence, forced a punt with less than a minute left, but A&M never had to kick it away. The Tide was penalized for offisides, giving Texas A&M a first down and a chance to kneel out the clock. McCarron breathed life into Alabama with a 54-yard touchdowwn pass down the left sideline to freshman Amari Cooper to make it 29-24 with 4:29 left.dddddddddddd A quick three-and-out by the Aggies put the ball in McCarrons hands again. He opened at the 40 with a 54-yarder to speedster Kenny Bell down to the 6. Two scrambles and an Eddy Lacy run left one final shot from the 2 against a Texas A&M defence often overshadowed by its potent offence. He had some time on third down, rolling left but finding Lacy well covered and having to try running it, a la Manziel, before Dustin Harris stopped him at the 2. McCarron had rescued the Tides national title hopes with a 28-yard screen pass in the final minute for a 21-17 win over No. 9 LSU. The Aggies, nearly two-touchdown underdogs, didnt let him do it again. Everett made the play on a pass toward the front corner of the end zone. McCarron completed 21 of 34 passes for 309 yard but also was intercepted twice, ending his streak without getting picked off at 291 passes. Eddie Lacy had 16 carries for 92 yards for Auburn and added 35 yards on four catches. Cooper had six catches for 136 yards a week after missing much the second half of the LSU game with an ankle injury, and failing to make a reception. The Aggies had already lost to top-10 teams LSU and Florida by a combined eight points, proving theyre already challengers in the powerhouse SEC. Manziel completed 24 of 31 passes with two touchdowns and ran 18 times, including four sacks. He kept finding Ryan Swope. They hooked up 11 times for 111 yards and a 10-yard touchdown where Manziel bobbled the ball as defenders swarmed him, reversed field and spotted Swope alone in the back of the end zone. Manziel led three first-quarter touchdown drives for a 20-0 lead to stun the Bryant-Denny Stadium crowd of 101,821. Christine Michael had a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs in the quarter along with Swopes catch. The rest of the game was an emotional roller-coaster ride for fans who might have thought LSU was the toughest test on the road to another championship. Then Alabama flexed its own muscle to counter Manziels speed, sticking with power runs to set up 2-yard touchdown runs by T.J. Yeldon and Lacy. McCarron also converted a fourth-and-4 with a pass to Lacy to set up the first score. Alabama marched back down the field after C.J. Mosley pushed Manziel out of bounds a yard shy on fourth-and-6. The Tide ran out all but 19 seconds with a methodical drive right back into the game. It was still the first time Alabama had trailed at halftime since a loss at South Carolina in 2010. Jeremy Shelley kicked a 28-yard field goal with 4:49 in the third quarter to cut it to 20-17 and Taylor Bertolet answered with a short one to start the fourth. ' ' '