The Footie Fool

6 days to go til the next round of 2010 World Cup Qualifying begins in CONCACAF with Canada taking on Jamaica at BMO in Toronto. Yesterday Dale Mitchell named the squad that will open the third round of qualifying for Canada and he is pretty well sticking to the core. And why not? They have been more than getting the job done recently.

The roster does pose a couple of interesting conundrums for Mitchell, who is in the nice position to be able to pick a tactical lineup with numerous players of quality available to fill key roles.

In goal, who do you start? Onstad seems to be the guy that Mitchell has been going with lately, but BMO is Sutton’s home field. Interesting that Lars Hirshfeld has kind of fallen off the goalkeeping radar. Perhaps the move from Rosenborg to Cluj, where he isn’t getting much playing time, wasn’t such a good one.

Across the back, hard to argue with Klukowski and Stalteri as the FB’s, but in the middle it’s a toss up between Hastings, McKenna and Sieroux. Any combination would work for me. Brennan may also be a wildcard here, being the hometown boy.

In the middle, Hutch and JDG will anchor. I like the idea of Imhof in a holding role just behind providing some defensive support to free them up a bit to attack. Throw Radz and DeRo in the midfield as attackers and Rob Friend up front and you’ve got a pretty strong lineup with options aplenty on the bench.

It’s nice to see Iain Hume back in the lineup. His speed and tenacity comng off the bench make him a great sub. If you need some flair in the attack when the legs of Radz start giving out, Hume and/or Issy coming on the field will give an injection of speed into the side that will cause the opposition trouble.

Some talk in the Voyageurs forum about Gerba getting called ahead of Olivier Occean, but hard to argue with Gerba and his record for Canada in the past year and a half. He socres a whack of goals for us. And, nice to see him finally sign with a club, MK Dons of England’s League One (who, as an aside, had a surprise win over Championship side Norwich earlier this week.)

TV Coverage

• Sportsnet will be carrying the game on all their networks. Check the listings for your area.

Media coverage of the game

• Men’s team readies for next World Cup qualifier – CBC Sports
• Canada squad for Jamaica Released – The Score
• No lack of mettle here – Sportsnet
• Home games key to Canada’s World Cup hopes – Globe and Mail

Other Notes

• Jamaica is managed by Brazilian Rene Simoes, who was in the running for the Canadian MNT post last year. Simoes took the Reggae Boyz to the 1998 World Cup.
• Looks like a sellout at BMO Field – and probably a very pro-Canada crowd (as strange as that seems, that hasn’t always been the case with WCQ at home). Nice work! Hopefully we can follow suit in Montreal and Edmonton against Honduras and Mexico later this fall.
• The Score Footy podcast posted today is all about Canada, WCQ and the game next week. Check it out.

Roster

Goalkeepers Greg Sutton, Hamilton, Toronto FC (MLS) Pat Onstad, Vancouver, Houston Dynamo (MLS)

Defenders Mike Klukowski, Oshawa, Ont., Club Brugge KV (Belgium) Kevin McKenna, Calgary, FC Koeln (Germany) Jim Brennan, Toronto, Toronto FC (MLS) Richard Hastings, Vancouver, Inverness Caledonian Thistle (Scotland)

Defender-Midfielders Daniel Imhof, Smithers, B.C., VfL Bochum (Germany) Adrian Serioux, Toronto, FC Dallas (MLS) Paul Stalteri (capt.), Brampton, Ont., Tottenham (England)

Midfielder Julian de Guzman, Toronto, Deportivo La Coruna (Spain) Issey Nakajima-Farran, Calgary, FC Nordsjlland (Denmark) Atiba Hutchinson, Brampton, Ont., FC Copenhagen (Denmark) Patrice Bernier, Brossard, Que., FC Nordsjlland (Denmark)

Midfielder-Forwards Tomasz Radzinski, Toronto, Skoda Xanthi (Greece) Dwayne De Rosario, Toronto, Houston Dynamo (MLS)

Forwards Ali Gerba, Montreal, Milton Keynes Dons (England) Rob Friend, Kelowna, B.C., Borussia Moenchengladbach (Germany) Iain Hume, Brampton, Ont., Barnsley FC (England).