Canada MNT announces roster for Jamaica match

As the build-up for next year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup begins, Benito Floro, Head Coach of Canada’s Men’s National Team, has named the 23-man squad that will host Jamaica in a Men’s International Friendly on Tuesday 9 September (kickoff 19.30 local time) at BMO Field in Toronto, ON.

This will be the first time Canada will be playing at home in Floro’s tenure and it’s a squad that will provide a healthy mix of players that play at home and abroad.

“As you can imagine for me, this is a very special game because it’s a chance to correspond with the supporters,” said Floro. “So I would like a very good game—not only to pick up a win but to also get a good performance.”

The team will start to assemble on 31 August at the Nottawasaga Inn Resort in Alliston, ON. After a few days of training north of Toronto, the team will make the trip down to Toronto on 6 September.

The squad features many familiar names as well as some younger players who have caught the eye recently. This camp and game mark the start of the second phase of development of the team under Floro.

The goal from here out is to prepare the squad so that it can peak and put on a solid display at the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup. That preparation involves the first of two games scheduled for this fall against CONCACAF opponents against a strong Jamaican team.

“We’ve seen several Jamaican games and we consider them to be physically good team,” said Floro. “This means that technically and tactically it is a very good test for us. It’s good for us because we need to test ourselves in Toronto and show that we are progressing and moving up.”

The Jamaica game is the start of Canada’s fall calendar. The team has a second friendly scheduled against another CONCACAF team, Panama, in Panama City on 18 November.

Tickets for the Canada-Jamaica match are still available for purchase online at ticketmaster.ca, by phone at 1-855-985-5000 or in person at all Ticketmaster outlets starting as low as $20 (plus applicable fees). Group discounts are also available at a reduced rate of up to 30% off regular price (based on volume). For complete ticket information for the match visit migmultidev-canada-soccer.pantheonsite.io/canMNTvJAM.

CANADA
GK- Kenny Stamatopoulos | SWE / AIK
GK- Milan Borjan | unattached / sans club
GK- Quillan Roberts | CAN / Toronto FC
D- Nik Ledgerwood | GER / Energie Cottbus
D- Andre Hainault | GER / VfR Aalen
D- Doneil Henry | CAN / Toronto FC
D- Dejan Jakovic | JPN / Shimizu S-Pulse
D- Adam Straith | unattached / sans club
D- Karl W. Ouimette | CAN / Impact de Montréal
D- Jeremy Gagnon-Laparé | CAN / Impact de Montréal
D- David Edgar | ENG / Birmingham City FC
M- Ashtone Morgan | CAN / Toronto FC
M- Julian de Guzman | unattached / sans club
M- Pedro Pacheco | POR / Santa Clara
M- Kyle Bekker | CAN / Toronto FC
M- Atiba Hutchinson | TUR / Besiktas
M- Marcel de Jong | GER / Augsburg
M- Issey Nakajima-Farran | CAN / Impact de Montréal
M- Patrice Bernier | CAN / Impact de Montréal
F-Tosaint Ricketts | ISR / Hapoel Haifa
F- Simeon Jackson | ENG / Coventry City
F- Marcus Haber | ENG / Crewe Alexandra
F- Randy Edwini-Bonsu | GER / Stuttgarter Kickers
F- Dwayne De Rosario | CAN / Toronto FC