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Just one point away from advancing, Canada’s soccer team took to the pitch in their one training session at Warner Park Thursday morning.
Under humid, muggy conditions, the team kept their session light as the day before the game is really meant to get a feel for the pitch.
One of the players who’s just happy to be playing again is Patrice Bernier, who’s back in the squad for the first time in a year. After some injury setbacks and the issue of finding a new club, Bernier’s found a place with Lyngby in Denmark and earned a spot in the squad by playing for his club side on a regular basis.
On this edition of The Royal Westminster, Gavin Day goes over everything happening in St. Kitts, how the CMNT looks and what they are up against.
“I will admit that the second injury was a downfall pretty much and brought a lot of doubt,” Bernier said after the session. “But I saw it as a motivation because when you’re over 30 and you get injured, most people think you’re done but it was a motivation to get back here and find a club and just start playing.”
Getting regular minutes with one’s club has been Stephen Hart’s policy for inclusion in the national team for some time now and one player who’s finding it difficult to find regular playing time is Simeon Jackson.
Ashtone Morgan
Playing with Norwich City of the English Premier League, Jackson has been down on the pecking order behind other in form strikers as Norwich has started the season better than expected. Jackson’s been limited recently to a handful of appearances off the bench.
“You have to do your bit in training and stay mentally sharp and I’ve been getting some minutes in the reserves so it does help and it’s going to help me in this game tomorrow,” Jackson said.
Simeon Jackson
That said, after a hat-trick against St. Lucia last month, Jackson’s showed his continued importance to the Canadian team and is likely to feature up front in at least one of the games.
Another storyline in Friday’s game is Dwayne De Rosario’s continued quest to break Dale Mitchell’s goal scoring record.
Nana Attakora
De Rosario’s been stuck on 18 since the Gold Cup and needs just one to tie the record but it’s not something De Rosario spends much time fretting over.
“No, not really,” De Rosario said when asked whether he thinks about the record. “It’s something that I would like to achieve but it’ll come. It’s not something that I’ll run out there. It’ll come just like other goals. My chance will come and hopefully I’ll capitalize on those chances.”
Dwayne De Rosario
Before the team had assembled, Assistant Coach Tony Fonseca had said that they had wanted to keep as much consistency in the squad as possible but there still were a few notable changes.
Out of the roster are the likes of Terry Dunfield and Iain Hume and included were younger players Matt Stinson (since replaced due to injury by Nana Attakora) and Ashtone Morgan (in his second straight camp for Canada).
Patrice Bernier
“We have a lot of injuries, it’s no secret. I felt I didn’t want too many players that have not been playing for a couple of weeks,” said Hart. He also added that the message last game against Puerto Rico was to “get it over with,” referring to qualification.
He said that as a result, there were a few nerves which altered how Canada played. He says the message this time will just to “go out and do what we need to do and the results should come on the back of a good performance.”
Stephen Hart
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