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Posted by
Steve Bottjer,
February 5, 2013 |
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Email Steve Bottjer
Twitter @BottjerRNO |
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U-20 Canadian National Team Head Coach Nick Dasovic announced his 23-player roster today for a training camp in Mexico City, Mexico which will run from February 11th to February 16th ahead of the 2013 CONCACAF U-20 Championship in Puebla, Mexico which will kick off on February 18th.
To qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, Canada will need to finish in either first or second place in Group B that also includes Cuba and Nicaragua. If the Canadians are successful in qualifying for the knock-out stages they will feature in a quarter-final match-up against a team from Group A with a spot at Turkey 2013 on the line.
On a conference call with the media on Tuesday, Dasovic indicated that he was able to call up his first choice squad and that there are currently no issues with respect to player injuries or players declining due to club commitments or conflicts.
“There are still nine days before we all meet up together and things like injuries could happen. But as of right now we have the players that we want to bring to the camp. All of the club teams have been very cooperative with us,” said Dasovic.
Asked if it was a positive for the Canadian team that a few of the players on the Canadian roster will be coming into the qualifying process having earned plaudits for their performances at the most recent U17 World Cup, the Canadian Head Coach indicated that his current team was made up of players who will be bringing a wide breadth of experience to the squad.
“They have had the experience of what means to not just go into a World Cup, but also the process of having gotten to a World Cup, which is often more grueling. We also have a few returning players from the last U20 team that didn’t go to the World Cup but who went through the qualifying process. Any type of experience like that is only going to benefit the players.”
Dasovic was also asked specifically about the quality of players that the Canadian MLS clubs are now producing for Canada’s youth national teams.
“If look back ten years ago when Dale (Mitchell) was the coach and we had a group of players in the United Arab Emirates and I was part of that. Although that was a very special group, the difference now is that we are getting players that come to us at camps that are more polished and defined and with a readiness to become a professional. So with a lot of the things around how to act on and off the field that we had to implement in our coaching structure (in 2003), we are now getting players with whom we don’t have to deal with things like making sure they are in bed on time. They are very professional and the environments that they are in now (at the club level) have been key in that regard.”
In terms of the big picture, Head Coach Dasovic was asked how the current camp and qualification fits within the context of the rebuilding process that is now occurring with the Canadian Men’s National Team.
“(The tournament) is basically going to give the players a platform to get International experience. We are guaranteed two games in Mexico for the qualifiers and we’re hoping to stretch that to three, then four and five. Every time we get an extra game at the International level it is automatically a learning process for those players that are involved. It’s important for us to get as many games as we can. And if you get to the World Cup, you will have an extra three, four or five games, as well as friendlies against other countries. We are looking at getting these kids as many games as we can, so when they get to the Olympic level and then the senior level they will have already had ten, twenty or thirty International games under their belts. And that stems all the way up from the U-15s to the World Cup team.”
While he expressed confidence in the quality and character of the players on his team, Dasovic was also quick to highlight his belief Nicaragua and Cuba will not be easy opponents to defeat when Group play kicks off.
“I feel that we are getting stronger as a country and our pool of players is growing. At the same time, so are other countries. So we have to always be cognizant of the fact that we have to keep developing. I watched Nicaragua play in a tournament in Honduras where they beat Honduras, so they are no slouches. They are a legitimate team. They are coached by a Spaniard and they are very motivated. The same principles apply to Cuba. We will be playing against countries that will be very motivated to get to the World Cup stage.”
Dasovic will need to trim three players from his roster at the commencement of his training camp in order to get down to the 20 man roster limit for the CONCACAF U-20 Championship and he admitted that he will likely have several difficult decisions to make ahead of the World Cup qualifying tournament.
“They are always hard decisions. Basically, we always talk about the chemistry of the team. A lot of times when you go through selection processes at the International level in particular, you try to pick players that are on form. So even if a player has been around for two or three camps, if they come in slightly off form for whatever reason – they could have been nursing an injury or they might not have been playing with their club teams – that allows somebody else who is playing at a better standard to take that position and go with it. It really comes down to the current form of the players. The other thing will be what we need at that particular time in terms of positions and depth. It’s going to be a process that will be very difficult and that is a testament to the quality of the players that we have both in camp and outside of camp. We have a group of 43 players that we tested and to get down to this current group was very difficult. It is a testament to the progress we have made as a country and to how many good young players we actually have.”
CANADA
1- GK- Ricky Gomes | POR / Sport Clube de Mirandela
2- FB- Jon Dollery | ENG / Crawley Town FC
3- FB- Marco Lapenna | GER / FC Erzgebirge Aue
4- CB- Doneil Henry | CAN / Toronto FC
5- CB- Daniel Stanese | GER / FC Nürnberg Reserve
6- M- Samuel Piette | GER / Fortuna Düsseldorf
7- M- Ben Fisk | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-23
8- M - Bryce Alderson | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
9- F- Caleb Clarke | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
10- M- Keven Aleman | ESP / Real Valladolid
11- M- Michael Petrasso | ENG / Queens Park Rangers
12- M- Dylan Carreiro | ENG / Queens Park Rangers
13- M- Alessandro Riggi | ESP / Celta de Vigo
14- F- Yassin Essa | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
15- CB- Manjrekar James | HUN / PMFC-MATIAS
16- M- Mauro Eustáquio | POR / Sporting Clube de Pombal
17- F- Anthony Jackson-Hamel | CAN / Académie Impact Montréal
18- GK- Maxime Crépeau | CAN / Académie Impact Montréal
19- FB- Jordan Murrell | USA / Syracuse University
20- M- Zakaria Messoudi | CAN / Académie Impact Montréal
21- M- Ben McKendry | USA / University of New Mexico
22- F- Stefan Vukovic | Unattached / sans club
23- FB- Allan Zebie | CAN / Edmonton FC Reserve
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