Yallop Announces Roster For Friendly vs Portugal

Ottawa, Ontario – Canadian Men’s World Cup Team head coach Frank Yallop today named his 16-player roster for the upcoming international friendly against Portugal on March 26. The game will be played in Barcelos, a town approximately 50 km north of Porto at 8:30 p.m. local time.



“This is a game that many of us have been eagerly looking forward to for some time,” said Yallop. “You always want to try to play the best countries in the World and to play last year’s finalists from the European Championships in their own country is a great challenge for us.”



Yallop has selected 13 of the 16 players who played in Canada’s 1-0 win over Northern Ireland in Belfast on February 9. Joining the team for the first time since World Cup Qualifying are midfielder Julian de Guzman, defender/midfielder Paul Stalteri and forward Tomasz Radzinski.



De Guzman is finishing up his season with Hannover 96 before moving to Deportivo La Coruna this summer. Stalteri, who featured regularly in Werder Bremen’s Champions League games this season, has not played for Canada since the first semi-final round game against Guatemala on August 18. Radzinski missed Canada’s final qualifier against Guatemala in November and the Northern Ireland game.



The squad will gather at a hotel outside Faro on Sunday, March 20 and will train there for four days before flying to Porto on March 24. The team will then train in Porto on Friday, March 25 before facing Portugal on Saturday, March 26 at 8:30 p.m.



Canadian Roster For International Friendly vs Portugal