Canada To Play Czech Republic and Republic of Ireland

Ottawa, Canada – The Canadian Soccer Association today announced its Men’s World Cup Team will play international “A” friendlies against two of the top 15 teams in the World when they face the Czech Republic and the Republic of Ireland on November 15 and 18, respectively.



Canada will face the Czech Republic in Teplice, Czech Republic on Saturday, November 15. The Czechs, who won their European Championship Qualifying group with a record of seven wins and one draw, are ranked No. 11 in the FIFA World Rankings.



Canada will then fly to Dublin on Sunday, November 16 to face the Republic of Ireland at Lansdowne Road in Dublin on November 18 at 7:30 p.m. local time. The Republic, No. 15 in the FIFA rankings, was eliminated last month in the European Championship qualifying round and was looking for a fixture during the international break for the playoff games.



Colin Miller will again be the head coach of the squad after taking over on an interim basis for the friendly against Finland on October 11.



“These are two huge games for us,” said Miller. “I was pleased with how we ended against Finland and we were eager to play more games before the end of the year. As we get closer to World Cup Qualifying early in 2004, it’s very important for us to be able to play together as often as possible. It doesn’t get much better than facing the Czech Republic and the Republic of Ireland and we are very excited and pleased to be able to play such well respected teams and we look forward to the challenge they represent.”



Miller will announce his selection for the two games on November 10 and will not choose players selected by Men’s Olympic Team head coach Bruce Twamley for the Olympic qualifying series against El Salvador on November 15 and 19.



Canada has never played either country at the senior level.