Tosaint Ricketts (red jersey) was named to the Canada roster for a September 9, 2014, friendly against visiting Jamaica in Toronto. (Photo: Mexsport)
OTTAWA – With next year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup in mind, Canada head coach Benito Floro has named a 23-man squad to face visiting Jamaica in an international friendly on September 9 at BMO Field in Toronto.
It will be Floro’s first home match since being named manager more than a year ago.
“As you can imagine for me, this is a very special game because it’s a chance to correspond with the supporters,” said Floro. “So I would like a very good game—not only to pick up a win but to also get a good performance.”
The team will start to assemble for training in Alliston, Ontario, on Sunday, before heading to Toronto on September 6 for final preparations.
“We’ve seen several Jamaican games and we consider them to be physically good team,” said Floro. “This means that technically and tactically it is a very good test for us. It’s good for us because we need to test ourselves in Toronto and show that we are progressing and moving up.”
Canada has been idle since playing Moldova to a 1-1 on May 27, 2014, in Austria.
CANADA ROSTER
(International friendly: September 9, 2014, home v Jamaica; BMO Field – Toronto, Canada)
GOALKEEPERS: Milan Borjan (no club), Quillan Roberts (Toronto FC), Kenny Stamatopoulos (AIK/Sweden)
DEFENDERS: David Edgar (Birmingham City/England), Jeremy Gagnon-Laparé (Impact de Montreal), Andre Hainault (VfR Aalen/Germany), Doneil Henry (Toronto FC), Dejan Jakovic (Shimizu S-Pulse/Japan), Nik Ledgerwood (Energie Cottbus), Karl W. Ouimette (Impact de Montréal), Adam Straith (no club)
MIDFIELDERS: Kyle Bekker (Toronto FC), Patrice Bernier (Impact de Montréal), Julian de Guzman (no club), Marcel de Jong (Augsburg/Germany), Atiba Hutchinson (Besiktas/Turkey), Ashtone Morgan (Toronto FC), Issey Nakajima-Farran (Impact de Montréal), Pedro Pacheco (Santa Clara/Portugal)
FORWARDS: Dwayne De Rosario (Toronto FC), Randy Edwini-Bonsu (Stuttgart Kickers), Marcus Haber (Crewe Alexandra/England), Simeon Jackson (Coventry City/England), Tosaint Ricketts (Hapoel Haifa/Israel)
