The Footie Fool

The CSA released the roster for the next 2 Canadian WCQ games against Honduras (Saturday, October 11 in Honduras) and Mexico (in Edmonton Wednesday, October 15) and there are changes aplenty with 7 new names on the roster, and a few familiar ones missing.

First, the lose of 2 starters, Dwayne DeRosario and Adrian Serioux (arguably one of the better players for Canada in this brutal qualifying campaign) due to suspension for the Honduras game has affected Dale Mitchell’s roster. Both have still been called, but won’t play a part in the Honduras game. Issey Nakajima-Farran, another starter lately for Mitchell, is injured and will also miss out.

Backing up Hirschfeld will be the young Josh Wagenaar (Yeovil Town FC). No Pat Onstad or Greg Sutton.

With Onstad, it sounds like he has taken his gaff against Jamaica pretty hard and pulled his name out of contention, according to Mitchell.

“It wasn’t really my decision. … The reaction that he had, to be honest with you, from a lot of people within the country I think has made him think that at the moment he’d like to just step back a little bit from the national team,” Mitchell said. “It’s not a retirement. But at the moment’s he’s not going to be involved for the next little while.”

“It was a big game,” the coach added of the 1-1 tie with Jamaica, the opening game of the round. “Certainly I would never have blamed the result on one person. But he got a fair bit of criticism over the goal.”

Let’s face it, we fans have been riding him hard. The reception he got in Toronto when Houston rolled into town for their MLS date last week apparently pretty rough, more than the usual abuse a visiting keeper gets.

Sure, the goal was horrendous and hurt us. I think in all our bluster and “analysis”, we fans out here in the cheap and easy seats sometime forget these are not robots, but real people. I have no doubt that Onstad was, and still is, gutted about that goal and has yet to make peace with the fact that because of it, he may never get a chance to play in a World Cup. As much as we the fans want to get there, I have no doubt that the players want it more than we will ever know.

Sutton and wife have just had a baby so it’s understandable why he isn’t getting the call. There is also the TFC factor with Sutton. John Carver is getting tired of losing key players for international duty who end up riding the pine. If the MLS honoured international dates, like virtually every other major soccer league around the world, then we wouldn’t have to worry about pissing off MLS teams when we call up players. But that is another post completely.

I am sure there is also some MLS - factor in the fact that Jim Brennan hasn’t been called. There is the fact that Klukowski has a lock on the LB slot. But there are some rumblings around the interwebs suggest there is more to Brennan’s story. Fall out with Mitchell? Pissed off at the CSA? Not sure, but there is enough smoke on this story to suggest a fire.

Along the back expect to see Hainault or McKenna fill in for Serioux.

As for the rest of the lineup, I am with OTT:

I have a hard time getting too worked up about these selections. The dream is dead, or close to it, and there is no reason to believe Canada will play any worse with Poz, Harmse, and de Jong on the bench than when Imhof, Occean and Brennan were riding pine.

I don’t believe the dream is dead just yet, but it doesn’t matter what I think. Right now I am wondering about the players - do they believe it is dead. That is the question that we will find out the answer to next Saturday.

TV Coverage

Apparently Sportsnet’s Gerry Dobson said on their BPL coverage this morning that the game will be a 6:30 PST start time live on Sportsnet Pacific and West, if you have the full digital Sportsnet package. Watch the Sportsnet website for details.

Roster

• Lars Hirschfeld | G | Edmonton, AB | ROM / CFR Cluj
• Chris Pozniak | D/M | Aurora, ON | SCO / Dundee F.C.
• Mike Klukowski | D | Oshawa, ON | BEL / Club Brugge KV
• Kevin McKenna | D | Calgary, AB | GER / 1. FC Köln
• André Hainault | D | Hudson, QC | CZE / FK SIAD Most
• Julian de Guzman | M | Scarborough, ON | ESP / Deportivo La Coruna
• Paul Stalteri | D/M | Brampton, ON | ENG / Tottenham Hotspur
• Kevin Harmse | D/M | Vancouver, BC | CAN / Toronto FC
• Tomasz Radzinski | M/F | Toronto, ON | BEL / K. Lierse S.K.
• Ali Gerba | F | Montréal, QC | ENG / Milton Keynes Dons FC
• Richard Hastings | D | Vancouver, BC | SCO / Inverness CT
• Dejan Jakovic | D | Etobicoke, ON | SRB / Red Star Belgrade
• Atiba Hutchinson | M | Brampton, ON | DEN / F.C. København
• Marcel de Jong | D/M | Newmarket, ON | NED / Roda JC
• Patrice Bernier | M | Brossard, QC | DEN / FC Nordsjælland
• Rob Friend | F | Kelowna, BC | GER / Borussia Mönchengladbach
• Iain Hume | F | Brampton, ON | ENG / Barnsley FC
• Joshua Wagenaar | G | Grimsby, ON | ENG / Yeovil Town FC
• Dwayne De Rosario | M/F | Scarborough, ON | USA / Houston Dynamo
• Adrian Serioux | D/M| Scarborough, ON | USA / FC Dallas