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Posted by
Steve Bottjer,
January 10, 2013 |
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Email Steve Bottjer
Twitter @BottjerRNO |
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Canada will take on Japan in a Men’s International Friendly on March 22nd at the Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar. The friendly will be Canada’s third match of the 2013 season following a pair of January fixtures against Denmark (26 January, Tucson, AZ) and USA (29 January, Houston, TX).
The match will be part of Canada’s continued preparations for the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup to be hosted in USA from July 7 to July 28th.
With Canada recently eliminated from World Cup qualifying for Brazil 2014, the fact that the Canadian Soccer Association has already scheduled three games for the Senior Canadian squad can only be seen as a positive and as a sign of the CSA’s continued commitment to having the Men’s National Team playing regular matches. There has been a fear among some pundits and Canadian soccer supporters that the Canadian Men’s National Team would take something of a back seat in 2013 to the Canadian Women’s National Team, who will host the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
With matches now lined up against three quality opponents in Denmark, the United States and Japan, it will be interesting to see if the Canadian Soccer Association will endeavor to line up future friendlies against more CONCACAF style opponents as the kickoff to the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup approaches.
Now that the Japan fixture has been announced, it will also be interesting to watch the picture with respect to the currently vacant full-time Head Coach position for the Canadian National Team.
Colin Miller was recently announced as the interim head coach for the January fixtures against Denmark and the United States and confirmed that the interim tag only lasts for the January matches and that he has not signed on as head coach until a full-time head coach has been found.
Will Miller be coaxed back for the March match? Will another coach such as a Nick Dasovic take over for that game? Or will the replacement for Stephen Hart be in place in time for the Japan fixture?
Regardless of who takes the helm of the squad for the match against Japan, it is encouraging to see that the Canadian Men’s National Team now has three matches scheduled over the course of the first three months of the 2013 calendar.
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