Canada picks players for FIFA World Cup Qualifiers against Belize

Canada will see an experienced side head into the third round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ as Head Coach Benito Floro has selected 22 players that will take on Belize in a home-and-away series.

The team begins training on Monday 31 August in advance of the Friday 4 September match at BMO Field in Toronto. Tickets to the match, presented by BMO, are available via Ticketmaster.ca starting at just $20. The match will also be broadcast across the country on migmultidev-canada-soccer.pantheonsite.io.

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“I think that Belize is going to try to play a counterattacking style,” said Floro. “We need to have a good level over the two games against them.”

Following the home leg, Canada will then travel down to Belize for the second leg that takes place at FFB Field in the country’s capital of Belmopan on Tuesday 8 September.

The winner of the series moves into the fourth round that gets underway in November. That will be a four-team group that includes Mexico, Honduras, and the winner of another third round tie between El Salvador and Curaçao.

“We need to maintain our concentration against Belize,” said Floro. “It is very important to score goals and continue our strong play at the back. We consider that this is a good team and we must treat them with respect because in eliminatory games like this there are no small teams.”

The two teams haven’t met since June 2004 when they faced each other in another FIFA World Cup Qualifier. Canada won the two-game series with an 8-0 aggregate win with both matches taking place in Kingston, as Belize didn’t have a suitable facility to host a game at the time.

Canada advanced to this round of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers after eliminating Dominica in June 2015. Belize advanced after eliminating Dominican Republic.

CANADA
GK- Milan Borjan | BUL / PFK Ludogorets Razgrad
GK- Maxime Crépeau | CAN / Impact Montréal
GK- Kenny Stamatopoulos | SWE / AIK Fotbol
CB- David Edgar | ENG / Sheffield United
CB- Luca Gasparotto | SCO / Greenock Morton FC
CB- Manjrekar James | HUN / Diósgyöri VTK
FB- Samuel Adekugbe | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
FB- Marcel de Jong | USA / Sporting Kansas City
FB- Nik Ledgerwood | GER / Energie Cottbus
FB- Karl W. Ouimette | USA / New York Red Bulls
M- Tesho Akindele | USA / FC Dallas
M- Kyle Bekker | CAN / Impact Montréal
M- Atiba Hutchinson | TUR / Beşiktaş JK
M- Will Johnson | USA / Portland Timbers FC
M- Issey Nakajima-Farran | MAS / Terengganu FA
M- Michael Petrasso | ENG / Queens Park Rangers
M- Samuel Piette | ESP / Racing Ferrol
M- Adam Straith | NOR / Fredrikstad FK
M- Russell Teibert | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
F- Marcus Haber | ENG / Crewe Alexandra
F- Cyle Larin | USA / Orlando City SC
F- Tosaint Ricketts | TUR / Boluspor FC

CANADA A-Z (Hometown & First Club)
Adekugbe, Samuel | 1995 | Calgary, AB, CAN | Manchester United Grassroots
Akindele, Tesho | 1992 | Thronton, CO, USA |
Bekker, Kyle | 1990 | Oakville, ON, CAN | Oakville SC
Borjan, Milan | 1987 | Hamilton, ON, CAN | Radnicki JP
Crépeau, Maxime | 1994 | Candiac, QC, CAN | Ligue de soccer pour enfants de Candiac
de Jong, Marcel | 1986 | Toronto, ON, CAN |
Edgar, David | 1987 | Kitchener, ON, CAN |
Gasparotto, Luca | 1995 | Ajax, ON, CAN | Ajax SC
Haber, Marcus | 1989 | Vancouver, BC, CAN | Dunbar SA
Hutchinson, Atiba | 1983 | Brampton, ON, CAN | Brampton
James, Manjrekar | 1993 | North York, ON, CAN | North York Azzuri
Johnson, Will | 1987 | Toronto, ON, CAN & Chicago, IL, USA |
Larin, Cyle | 1995 | Brampton, ON, CAN | Brampton SC
Ledgerwood, Nik | 1985 | Lethbridge, AB, CAN | Lethbridge Cosmos
Nakajima-Farran, Issey | 1984 | Tokyo, JPN & London, ENG |
Ouimette, Karl W. | 1992 | Terrebonne, QC, CAN |
Petrasso, Michael | 1995 | Woodbridge, ON, CAN | Kleinburg SC
Piette, Samuel | 1994 | Le Gardeur, QC, CAN | Lionceaux de le Gardeur
Ricketts, Tosaint | 1987 | Edmonton, AB, CAN | Edmonton Juventus
Stamatopoulos, Kenny | 1979 | Markham, ON, CAN | Markham Lightning
Straith, Adam | 1990 | Victoria, BC, CAN | Bays United SC
Teibert, Russell | 1992 | Niagara Falls, ON, CAN | Niagara Falls SC