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Posted by
Steve Bottjer,
June 25, 2013 |
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Twitter @BottjerRNO |
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Canadian Men’s National Team Interim Head Coach Colin Miller has announced his 22-player roster for the team's training camp in Oxnard, California ahead of the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup – the confederation’s biennial championship – which is set to kick-off in the United States on July 7th.
The Canadian roster offers a blend of youth and experience featuring 13 players that featured in the recent FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 Qualifiers campaign, as well as eight players that have yet to make their senior competitive debuts for the Men’s National Team.
Canada will announce its final Gold Cup roster (up to 23 players) on Friday June 28th in conjunction with CONCACAF's announcement of rosters for all 12 teams in the tournament. Players will begin arriving into camp in Oxnard on Wednesday June 26th.
“My thoughts were to try and find a mixture and a blend of youth and one or two senior players in the group, which I think we have managed to find,” Miller said via conference call on Tuesday. “I’m excited to work with the guys and I can’t wait to get going.”
19-year-old midfielder and former TFC Academy player Keven Aleman, who recently signed his first professional contract with Real Valladolid in Spain’s La Liga, has earned his first call-up to the Men’s National Team.
As part of the larger youth movement - Russell Teibert, Simon Thomas, Kyle Bekker, Doneil Henry and Jonathan Osorio have all earned call-ups to the Gold Cup squad after making debuts for the national team during the last calendar year. All five players play their club football domestically in Canada with either Vancouver Whitecaps FC or Toronto FC.
Miller indicated that all of the young players on Canada’s roster will likely have an opportunity to play when the Gold Cup commences next month.
“I think there is a terrific chance that these younger players will play,” Miller said. “Obviously they have to impress during the training sessions as well. During the time that I have been involved this year alone, we have given a number of players their first opportunity at the senior national team level and I think now is a fantastic opportunity to build on the experience these young players have had. Other than the Denmark performance, they haven’t let us down, so we’ve got to continue to give these guys a chance and opportunity to play at this level of football. The more we can do that, the better our national team program will be.”
In many ways, Canada’s roster was characterized as much by the players who won’t represent Canada at the Gold Cup as those players who were called up, with a number of key veterans bowing out due to injury or based on the fact that they are between professional contracts.
“Not having Atiba (Hutchinson) is a big loss, but he is currently in a situation (being without a club),” Miller said. “I was fortunate to be able to play in three Gold Cups as a player, but it’s not an easy time for the Europe-based players, especially if you are out of contract at this time. Atiba is gutted about not coming in, but he is in a situation where he is out of contract and has a chance at a move, which could help him financially for the rest of his career. That’s the sole reason why Atiba is not joining us.”
“Andre (Hainault) would have definitely been on the team (if not for his contract situation) and he is gutted about not coming in as well,” added Miller, who also explained that D.C. United defender Dejan Jakovic will miss the Gold Cup due to injury.
In addition to a number of veteran players who are unavailable for the Gold Cup, young forward Lucas Cavallini was a surprise omission from the Gold Cup squad.
“Lucas was invited and we had been working on it for about three weeks, trying to get him involved, but at this moment he has chosen to stay with his club for a number of reasons,” Miller stated. “It’s unfortunate because I was really looking forward to working with Lucas, but at this moment he has chosen to stay with his club, which is disappointing. We worked very hard trying to get him in and he was not left out by any stretch of the imagination.”
Another young player who Miller spoke about at length was Russell Teibert, who will leave a surging Vancouver Whitecaps squad to represent his country once again.
“I’m sort of hoping he can have the same impact that he has been having for the Whitecaps,” Miller said. “I spoke to Martin Rennie last week and he is obviously very excited about his form and he is disappointed to be losing him of course. I think Russell brings a great deal of enthusiasm. The fact that he has been training regularly and has been healthy for so long, it was just a matter of time before he got into the Whitecaps first team. It’s exciting to see Russell creating chances and getting goals himself and I’m hoping he can bring that sort of form to the national team.”
While allowing young players who will likely be part of future World Cup qualifying campaigns to gain more experience in matches that matter at the International level is a priority, Miller was quick to state that Canada is going to the Gold Cup with the goal of winning.
“We’ve aren’t going there to make up the numbers,” Miller said. “Our seeding and FIFA ranking become really important now for the next qualifying and so on. So the guys know how important these results are. We’re going there to win, not for damage limitation. We definitely have the toughest group in the Gold Cup, but there is no question that we are going there to get results.”
With 22 players named to his roster, Miller admitted that he will likely add one more player to Canada’s roster before the training camp kicks off.
“We are working behind the scenes and rather than rushing into naming that 23rd player, we have one or two irons in the fire, so I’d rather be assured with that final selection rather than rushing into something,” Miller stated. “There will be one more player added to the squad.”
The team will gather in Oxnard for a 10-day training camp ahead of the tournament beginning on June 26th. Canada will then kick-off the Gold Cup on July 7th against Martinique in Pasadena, CA followed by a match on July 11th against Mexico. Canada will then close-out the group stage with a match against Panama in Denver on July 14th.
The top two teams from each group; as well as the two highest-seeded third-place finishers will advance to the knock-out stages.
CANADA
GK- Milan Borjan | TUR / Sivasspor
GK- Lars Hirschfeld | NOR / Vålerenga Fotball
GK- Simon Thomas | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
D- Marcel de Jong | GER / FC Augsburg
D- David Edgar | ENG / Burnley FC
D- Doneil Henry | CAN / Toronto FC
D- Ashtone Morgan | CAN / Toronto FC
D- Adam Straith | Unattached / sans club
D/M- Nik Ledgerwood | SWE / Hammarby Fotboll
M- Keven Aleman | ESP / Real Valladolid
M- Kyle Bekker | CAN / Toronto FC
M - Julian de Guzman | Unattached / sans club
M- Will Johnson | USA / Portland Timbers
M- Issey Nakajima-Farran | CYP / Alki Larnaca
M- Jonathan Osorio | CAN / Toronto FC
M- Pedro Pacheco | POR / C.D. Santa Clara
M- Samuel Piette | GER / Fortuna Düsseldorf
M- Russell Teibert | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
M/F- Randy Edwini-Bonsu | Unattached / sans club
F- Marcus Haber | ENG / Stevenage FC
F- Simeon Jackson | Unattached / sans club
F- Tosaint Ricketts | NOR / Sandnes Ulf
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