New faces aplenty in the squad for Canada Jamaica WCQ Wednesday
The roster has finally been released for Canada’s final World Cup (non) qualifying game against Jamaica. This is a vastly different team than we have seen for the past 2 years with a lot of youth getting the call. Not surprising since we really have nothing left to play for, except pride, and many key players of the squad are out due to injury (Patrice Bernier, Julian de Guzman, Adrian Serioux and Iain Hume) or suspension (Michael Klukowski and Tomasz Radzinski). Oh and then there are Friend, Brennan and DeRosario…oh, wait a sec. Yeah. Guess they won’t be showing up.
Montreal Impact midfielder Sandro Grande gets a deserved cap after a great season with the Impact. And Simeon Jackson gets his first cap, appropriately against Jamaica where his parents and grandparents are from. Last time I saw Jackson play was against the Brazilian U20 team in both Edmonton and Victoria. The Edmonton game was particularly memorable as we beat Brazil 2-1.
Another player I saw in those games that got the call is Will Johnson, although there is a catch. If his MLS side, Real Salt Lake beat the New York Red Bulls tomorrow in their MLS semi-final match then Johnson will be staying behind to help prep for the MLS final.
No Gerba in the lineup has Joe Ross at The Score speculating Mitchell is trying to protect his status as Canada’s #1 international goal scorer. Gerba has 11 in 23 caps to Mitchell’s 19 in 55. Hmmm, Joe maybe onto something. Is this the real reason DeRo didn’t get the call as well, despite the fact that Houston has been dumped from the MLS playoffs. He is sitting at 15.
Atiba Hutchinson looks to be sitting this one out.
All right, so it has been a craptacular qualifying round. But I am still looking forward to the tilt Wednesday night, at least to see some of the young guns in action who may finally break the curse for us in 2014.
Nothing from Sportsnet on whether it will be broadcast, but I won’t hold my breath. Watch the V’s board for internet feeds.
At the very least, I will be looking forward to the end of the night at which point I will raise both my glass and middle finger and salute Dale Mitchell, wishing him adieu and best of luck in the future. Let’s all hope that, come Thursday morning, we are finally done with Dale.
Full Lineup
Asmir Begovic | G | Edmonton, AB | ENG / Portsmouth
Lars Hirschfeld | G | Edmonton, AB | ROM / CFR Cluj
Adrian Cann | D | Thornhill, ON | DEN / Esbjerg fB
Marcel de Jong | D/M | Newmarket, ON | NED / Roda JC
David Edgar | D | Kitchener, ON | ENG / Newcastle United FC
Charles Gbeke | F | Montréal, QC | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Sandro Grande | M | Montréal, QC | CAN / Impact de Montréal
André Hainault | D | Hudson, QC | CZE / FK SIAD Most
Kevin Harmse | D | Vancouver, BC | CAN / Toronto FC
Simeon Jackson | M | Mississauga, ON | ENG / Gillingham FC
Dejan Jakovic | D | Etobicoke, ON | CRO / Red Star Belgrade
Will Johnson | M/F | Toronto, ON | USA / Real Salt Lake
Nik Ledgerwood | M | Lethbridge, AB | GER / TSV 1860 München
Issey Nakajima-Farran | M | Calgary, AB | DEN / FC Nordsjælland
Andrzej Ornoch | M/F | Scarborough, ON | DEN / Esbjerg Fb
Chris Pozniak | D/M | Aurora, ON | SCO / Dundee FC
Paul Stalteri | D/M | Brampton, ON | ENG / Tottenham Hotspur
Chris Williams | M | Toronto, ON | USA / Charleston Battery
I wish the reggae boyz all the best and hope that they will make to the world cup to represent jamaica boldly.