The CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament is only a month or so away and the Canadian Men’s U23 main group rivals have begun their preparation in a serious manner, having named a 23-player squad for a 10 day training camp.

This camp will end with matches against Mexico’s U23 National Team and scrimmages against Major League Soccer side FC Dallas and North American Soccer League side San Antonio Scorpions.

The preliminary squad named by US Men’s U23 coach Caleb Porter signals their intent and shows exactly how they plan on playing. The notable players include Philadelphia Union forward/midfielder Freddy Adu, FC Dallas forward Brek Shea, New York Red Bulls forward Juan Agudelo and Sporting Kansas City forward Teal Bunbury.

Having these four players on the pitch at the same time alongside the much hyped midfielder Mix Diskerud from Belgian side Gent and bringing TSG Hoffenheim forward Joseph Gyau off the bench will make them extremely difficult to play against and will give them a big advantage on the counter attack. The Stars and Stripes have fired a warning shot to the rest of their competition that they are the team to beat and as hosts of the tournament just qualifying for the Olympic games just won’t do, they have full intentions of winning the entire tournament.

The ball is now in Canada’s court, however with the official squad yet to be named the question is what does Canada need to factor in before selection in order to combat the enemy?

#1 A Deep Laying Midfielder
The first thing that needs to be considered is a strong central midfield, as along with Diskerud, who is more of an attacking threat, the US has two MLS midfielders in Dilly Duka and Amobi Okugo of the Columbus Crew and Philadelphia Union respectively. In Duka the US squad has a player who played in 22 regular season matches, which was a major step up from his 3 games played the season prior, and he also stepped in admirably for the injured Tony Tchani during the MLS Playoffs. As for Okugo, while he wasn’t given the same amount of time on a much more talent-laden Union roster, he made his time count as a substitute and will prove to be a tough customer if given significant time.

Of the possible players called up for Canada, the midfield will likely consist in some mix of FC Edmonton midfielder Shaun Saiko, Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Russell Teibert, his ex-residency teammate Philippe Davies, Reading FC midfielder Ethan Gage and a slew of others plying their trade with NCAA programs. Unless Coach Tony Fonseca opts to either take some of the U20 players or plays a defender out of position, this could be a real problem as Canada is lacking that deep lying midfielder that has the combined ability to win the ball and start the attack.

#2 Fullback Pressure
Another element that must be a focal point when making final selections is having balanced fullbacks. This is especially important when dealing with the likes of Brek Shea and Juan Agudelo who have proven both in MLS and with the USA Senior Team that they have the speed and creative flair to torment most fullbacks in CONCACAF. 

The question here is whether or not Toronto FC would release Ashtone Morgan, who if selected would possibly miss the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League tie versus Los Angeles Galaxy and likely miss the first three matches of the MLS season. However, whether he’s selected or not there is still a problem at the right back position (deja vu with the Canadian Men’s Senior Team). The options here would likely be the two other TFC products in Matt Stinson and Doneil Henry who while both had some experience playing in this role it’s clearly not their best position and again brings up the issue of club vs. country. Another option would be Nana Attakora, who also has experience in this role, but in truth is probably preferred at central defense.

This is where Canada could be at a massive disadvantage against the US squad and subsequently where any of the options of Brek Shea, Juan Agudelo, Teal Bunbury or Joseph Gyau could have an absolute field day.

#3 Transition & Set Piece Defense
While the first two points are fairly self explanatory and could be masked from time to time with tactics and positioning, stopping this US freight train when in transition and avoiding free kick around the danger area should be the primary focus. 

This is where Coach Tony Fonseca really has to earn his money; while he’ll want his team to match the physicality of the US, he can’t get sucked into being lulled to sleep. It’s important to value possession of the ball, as cheap giveaways will result in goals. It’s a given that fouls will be committed in this match, however, with players like Freddy Adu and Mix Diskerud on the pitch, the USA have two excellent free kick takers and Canada has to make sure when they do foul that it’s in the middle of the pitch. 

Having not qualified for the Olympic Games since 1984, Canadian supports will know going in that this is a tough task. However, the above points combined with the fact some key European based players will likely not be released for this tournament just shows how difficult it will be.

That said, the group draw couldn’t have worked out better for Canada and although getting a good result against the US would be huge, it’s actually what the squad does against both Cuba and El Salvador and a likely Semifinal match up against Mexico that will determine our fate. ly

Kamal Hylton is Owner/Freelance Soccer Writer at Hylton Sports Media, 
he specializes in covering Youth Development in Canada and the 
CONCACAF Region as well as European leagues such as Bundesliga, Serie A and UEFA Champions League. In addition, Kamal also blogs for Sportfolioz. Follow him on Twitter to view all his work.