With the Canadian Men's National Team needing only a single point in their final two second round group stage matches against St. Kitts and Nevis to clinch their group and move on to the next round of World Cup qualifying, Head Coach Stephen Hart is focused solely on Friday's fixture in St. Kitts.
"Everybody is quite upbeat. We had a good training session this morning. The pitch is grass but it's a bit bumpy and there has been quite a bit of rain. So it's either going to be very hard or, if it rains again, it could be very moist. Other than that, training went well. We have had two days of training and then a 45 minute session today. I think we are ready," said Hart today via conference call from St. Kitts.
With most pundits expecting that the earning of a single point in two back to back games against the 109th ranked team in the world to be pretty much a formality, Hart was asked if he would use the game in Toronto next week to experiment should the team clinch Group D with a win or draw on Friday.
"I have to be honest with you, I will wait and see how Friday goes. I haven't even thought that far ahead yet."
As if often the case when playing matches away in the CONCACAF region, Hart admitted that he does feel some trepidation concerning the quality of the pitch at Warner Park in St. Kitts.
"It's a grass pitch, but the ball is not rolling consistently. It's very bumpy. So for a lot of the practice today we tried to get the players to play shorter and quicker and to understand the playing conditions. They struggled in the opening fifteen minutes of practice."
And with that in mind, the Trinidad and Tobago born coach indicated that 63 times capped Dwayne De Rosario will once again captain the team and that he will be leaning on the veteran players he has at his dispoal while at the same time picking his spots with respect to playing some of the younger players on the team.
"We will continue with Dwayne being the Captain and he will wear the armband."
Hart also singled out the return of veteran midfielder Patrice Bernier as being an important development given the fact that a number of his veteran players are currently unavailable due to injury.
"Patrice has always been one of those players that always answers the call. He's great to have around the guys. Both on and off the field he brings a lot of experience. I saw two of his club games and spoke to their coaching staff and they were quite happy with him. With all the injuries we have to sort of leader type players, I thought it was sort of essential to get him in there."
When asked to comment on the play of young defenders Nana Attakora and Ashtone Morgan during training, Hart indicated that while won't hesitate to use them if needed, he is trying to provide both with a low pressure environment as they familiarize themselves with Canada's tactics and the Senior International soccer environment.
"Nana's done well. He's very very excited to be here of course. I told him to just relax and to try and work yourself in. He's been training right up until he came in here and he looks well. He's in a good frame of mind and we'll see how it goes."
When asked if Morgan has looked more confident in his second training camp with the Canadian Men's National Team, Hart pointed out that it has been a few weeks since the Toronto FC left back has played a competitive match.
"It's difficult to say because, to be fair to him, he's been off for a little while even though they have been training. It's been taking him a little while to settle down. I had a chat with him to tell him to relax. I don't expect a lot from him and I don't want to put any pressure on him. I told him if he comes in to just play like he has always been playing and to keep things as simple as possible. We'll see how the games go and, if I can get him in there, I will give him an opportunity again."
One young player that Hart did indicate that Canadian soccer fans will likely see on the pitch is defender Adam Straith. And while Straith was impressive playing as a central defender in Canada's previous two World Cup qualifiers against St. Lucia and Puerto Rico, the Canadian Head Coach did hint that Straith might take to the pitch at a different position this time out.
"I think you will see a subtle change in the opening game. We have been experimenting with Mike Klukowski as one of the centre backs and Adam (Straith) moving out to the right. We have trained that a little bit and either in this game or the next game, I'd like to see how that looks. When Adam has played on the right side for us in the past, he's done quite well and I'd like to get the opportunity, if I can, to see him in that position."
When asked to assess St. Kitts as an opponent, Hart stressed their upcoming opponent's pace as the main characteristic that Canada will need to be careful of.
"I think that physically they are quite quick in both wide positions and up front. So we have to be careful, especially on counter attack situations. We have done some work in dealing with the counter attack and that seems to be their biggest quality."
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