Canada’s men’s national team arrives in Florida

OTTAWA (ONTARIO) – Canada’s men’s national team arrived in Florida today for an 11-day training camp with interim head coach Stephen Hart. Eighteen Canadian players will be in Fort Lauderdale, FL from Jan. 15-25.



“Many of the players invited into this camp are on Winter break or are presently between their playing season,” says Hart. “We view this camp as an ideal opportunity for us to have these players in a training camp environment for an extended period – before they return to their clubs.”



The camp includes nine players from Major League Soccer and three players from the United Soccer Leagues. Jim Brennan of Toronto FC is the most experienced player in the camp (43 caps). His four expansion teammates are Adam Braz, Chris Pozniak, Marco Reda and Greg Sutton. The other three Canadian MLS players are Dwayne de Rosario of MLS champions Houston Dynamo, Ante Jazic of the Los Angeles Galaxy, and Jack Stewart of Real Salt Lake. From the USL, Gabriel Gervais and Mesut Mert are both members of the Impact de Montréal while Srdjan Djekanovic is a member of the Vancouver Whitecaps. Djekanovic’s teammates Jeff Clarke and Martin Nash would have been in camp, too, but both cancelled because of illness.



Three of the other six players play on European teams while one plays in New Zealand. Andrew Hainault plays for FK Siad Most, Issey-Farran Nakajima plays for Vejle Boldklub, Dave Simpson plays for Sparta Praha, and Alen Marcina plays for the New Zealand Knights. The other two players, both unattached, are graduates of Canada’s Olympic U-23 team: Kevin Harmse and Johnny Sulentic.



While Brennan and de Rosario (36 caps) have plenty of international experience, only four other players have more than 10 caps: Braz (10), Gervais (10), Jazic (16) and Pozniak (17). Six players in this camp have never been capped with the full national team: goalkeeper Djekanovic, defender Stewart, midfielders Harmse and Mert, and forwards Marcina and Simpson.



In FIFA’s 2006 year-end world rankings, Canada was the eighth-ranked country in the CONCACAF conference. Canada will look to improve its standings this summer when it takes part in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States from June 6-24. The tournament will feature its biggest prize pool ever since CONCACAF has announced prizes have more than doubled for all winners and qualifiers in the 12-team tournament. From the tournament’s 16-year history (eight finals), Canada were Gold Cup champions in 2000.





NAME / Age / Hometown / Team / Pos.

NOM / Age / Ville natal / Équipe / Pos.

Adam Braz / 26 / St-Laurent, QC, Canada / Toronto FC / D

Jim Brennan / 30 / Newmarket, ON, Canada / Toronto FC / M

Dwayne de Rosario / 29 / Scarborough, ON, Canada / Houston Dynamo / F

Srdjan Djekanovic / 24 / Vancouver, BC, Canada / Vancouver Whitecaps / G

Gabriel Gervais / 30 / Brossard, QC, Canada / Impact de Montréal / D

Andrew Hainault / 21 / Hudson, QC, Canada / FK Siad Most / D

Kevin Harmse / 23 / Vancouver, BC, Canada / / M

Ante Jazic / 31 / Bedford, NS, Canada / Los Angeles Galaxy / D

Alen Marcina / 27 / Surrey, BC, Canada / New Zealand Knights / F

Mesut Mert / 29 / Halifax, NS, Canada / Impact de Montréal / M

Issey-Farran Nakajima / 23 / Calgary, AB, Canada / Vejle Boldklub / M

Chris Pozniak / 26 / Aurora, ON, Canada / Toronto FC / D

Marco Reda / 30 / Woodbridge, ON, Canada / Toronto FC / D

Adrian Serioux / 28 / Scarborough, ON, Canada / Dallas FC / M

Dave Simpson / 24 / Scarborough, ON, Canada / Sparta Praha / F

Jack Stewart / 24 / Torrance, CA, United States / Real Salt Lake / D

Johnny Sulentic / 27 / Vancouver, BC, Canada / / M

Greg Sutton / 30 / Montréal, QC, Canada / Toronto FC / G



G = Goalkeeper / Gardien. D = Defender / Défenseur. M = Midfielder / Milieu de terrain. F = Forward / Attaquant