Competition starts Wednesday 2 May in Montréal and Edmonton
Canada’s four professional clubs have submitted their rosters for the 2012 Amway Canadian Championship. Clubs can submit up to 30 names for the competition, with condensed 23-player lists to be submitted 48 hours in advance of each match. Clubs can dress 18 players for each match, of which 11 will start and three can enter as substitutions.
From 2-23 May, the four Canadian teams will participate in the 2012 Amway Canadian Championship. The tournament runs on four consecutive Wednesday nights, with the home-and-away semi-final legs on 2 and 9 May (Edmonton against Vancouver and Montréal against Toronto) followed by the home-and-away championship legs on 16 and 23 May. The winner not only emerges as Canada’s champion, but also stands to represent Canada in 2012-13 CONCACAF Champions League.
At the onset of the competition, three teams have posted rosters with 25 players (Vancouver Whitecaps FC, FC Edmonton and Toronto FC) while one team has posted a complete roster of 30 players (Impact Montréal). The three teams that submitted fewer than 30 players can later add up to five new players until they have filled their 30 roster spots. A player must appear on the club roster to be eligible to compete in the Amway Canadian Championship. After featuring in a match with one club, a player may not appear for any other club for the duration of that season’s Amway Canadian Championship.
2012 Amway Canadian Championship
Once again, there are more Canadians that any other nationality in the Amway Canadian Championship, with nearly 30% included on the four professional club rosters (31 of 105). Not included in the tally of 31 domestics are Canadian-born Alain Rochat and landed Canadian Eduardo Sebrango. Of the 31 Canadians, 15 are new to the Amway Canadian Championship, including Bryce Alderson of Vancouver Whitecaps FC, David Monsalve of FC Edmonton, Ashtone Morgan of Toronto FC, and Patrice Bernier of Impact Montréal. FC Edmonton includes the most Canadians of all four clubs (17 of 25 players).
Twenty-three of the 31 Canadians have international experience at either the national “A” or youth level. The seven full internationals are Monsalve of FC Edmonton (one appearance), Julian de Guzman (53), Adrian Cann (9), Terry Dunfield (9) and Ashtone Morgan (2) of Toronto FC, and Bernier (46) and Greg Sutton (16) of Impact Montréal. The group of 16 players with youth experience includes recent U-23 call-ups Alderson and Russell Teibert of Whitecaps FC, Michal Misiewicz, Shaun Saiko and Kyle Porter of FC Edmonton, Doneil Henry and Matt Stinson of Toronto FC, and Evan James or Impact Montréal.
In all, 68 of the 105 footballers are new to the Away Canadian Championship. The Impact feature the most new players (26 of 30), which is explained by their admission into a new league this 2012 calendar year (they are an expansion team in Major League Soccer). Three-time defending champion Toronto FC features the most returning players of any club, although their returning tally (12 of 25) does not include “new” players such as Ryan Johnson, Danny Koevermans and Torsten Frings (players that joined Toronto FC last season, but after the 2011 Canadian Championship).
Three players in the Amway Canadian Championship have FIFA World Cup experience: USA’s Jay DeMerit of Whitecaps FC (2010), Korea Republic’s Young-Pyo Lee of Whitecaps FC (2002, 2006 and 2010), and Germany’s Frings of Toronto FC (2002 and 2006).
Recently-signed backup goalkeeper Quillan Roberts of Toronto FC is the youngest player in the competition at just 17 years of age. The seven other teenagers are Alderson, Teibert and Omar Salgado of Whitecaps FC, Michael Cox of FC Edmonton, Henry, Stinson and Oscar Cordon of Toronto FC, and Karl Ouimette of Impact Montréal. The oldest player in the competition is Impact striker Sebrango (39), who also happens to be the competition’s leader amongst returning players in appearances (nine) and goals scored (two). Sebrango is one of six masters aged 35 or older, along with Lee and Joe Cannon of Whitecaps FC, Frings of Toronto FC, and Sutton and Bernardo Corradi of Impact Montréal. The average age of all 105 players is approximately 25 years and six months.
Along with Sebrango, other returning players that have scored in this competition are Eric Hassli and Camilo Sanvezzo of Whitecaps FC and Dunfield, Ty Harden and Joao Plata of Toronto FC. Plata leads all returning players with three assists while Toronto FC centreback Adrian Cann leads all returning players with 540 minutes played (Sebrango is second with 521 minutes). Amongst goalkeepers, both Sutton and Milos Kočić (Toronto FC) have posted a clean sheet in this competition.
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC
# POS GOALKEEPERS
1 GK Cannon, Joe
18 GK Knighton, Brad
# POS DEFENDERS
2 CB Boxall, Michael
3 FB Harvey, Jordan
4 FB Rochat, Alain
6 CB DeMerit, Jay
12 FB Lee, Young-Pyo
15 CB Bonjour, Martín
19 CB Mitchell, Carlyle
32 FB Klazura, Greg
# POS MIDFIELD / FORWARD
7 F/M Le Toux, Sébastien
9 M/F Harris, Atiba
11 M Thorrington, John
13 M Nanchoff, Michael
16 M Watson, Matt
17 F Salgado, Omar
20 M/F Chiumiento, Davide
23 F Tan, Long
26 M Franks, Floyd
27 M Davidson, Jun Marques
28 M Koffie, Gershon
29 F Hassli, Eric
31 M Teibert, Russell
36 M Alderson, Bryce
37 F Sanvezzo, Camilo
FC EDMONTON
# POS GOALKEEPERS
1 GK Parker, Lance
22 GK Monsalve, David
23 GK Smits, John
25 GK Misiewiscz, Michal
# POS DEFENDERS
3 FB West, Adam
5 CB Hatchi, Kévin
13 CB Joseph-Augustin, Jonathan
18 FB Hamilton,Paul
24 FB Rago, Antonio
26 FB Lassonde, Fabrice
27 FB Vorbe, Fabien
# POS MIDFIELD / FORWARD
4 M Barthélémy, Sérisay
6 M Saiko, Shaun
7 M Semenets, Alex
8 M Van Leerdam, Ilja
9 F Cox, Michael
10 F Yamada, Kyle
11 M Lam, Matt
14 F Craig, Paul
16 M Caceros, Kenny
17 F Gigolaj, Elvir
19 F Porter, Kyle
20 M Kooy, Chris
21 M Oppong, Dominic
29 F Pinto, Yashir
TORONTO FC
# POS GOALKEEPERS
30 GK Kocic, Milos
40 GK Roberts, Quillan
# POS DEFENDERS
2 CB Emory, Logan
3 CB Aceval, Miguel
4 CB Henry, Doneil
5 FB Morgan, Ashtone
12 CB Cann, Adrian
20 CB Harden, Ty
21 CB Maund, Aaron
25 FB Hall, Jeremy
27 FB Eckersley, Richard
31 CB Williams, Dicoy
# POS MIDFIELD / FORWARD
7 F Plata, Joao
6 M de Guzman, Julian
8 M Avila, Eric
9 F Johnson, Ryan
11 M Silva, Luis
14 F Koevermans, Danny
15 M Stinson, Matt
16 M Cordon, Oscar
18 F Soolsma, Nick
19 F Lambe, Reggie
22 M Frings, Torsten
23 M Dunfield, Terry
33 M Burgos, Junior
IMPACT MONTRÉAL
# POS GOALKEEPERS
1 GK Ricketts, Donovan
24 GK Sutton, Greg
30 GK Bush, Evan
# POS DEFENDERS
2 CB Rivas, Nelson
3 CB Thomas, Shavar
5 FB Wahl, Tyson
6 CB Camara, Hassoun
13 CB Ferrari, Matteo
15 FB Brovsky, Jeb
19 FB Valentin, Zarek
29 FB Mallace, Calum
31 FB Gardner, Josh
38 FB García, Gienir
52 CB Ouimette, Karl
# POS MIDFIELD / FORWARD
7 M Martins, Felipe
8 M Bernier, Patrice
11 F Nyassi, Sanna
16 F Sebrango, Eduardo
17 F Braun, Justin
18 M Warner, Collen
21 M Mapp, Justin
22 M Arnaud, Davy
23 F Corradi, Bernardo
25 M Neagle, Lamar
27 M Arguez, Bryan
28 M Ubiparipovic, Sinisa
32 F Montaño, Miguel
33 F Wenger, Andrew
36 M James, Evan
55 M Lefevre, Wandrille