17-year-old Jordan Hamilton (#9) was called up to Canada's first national team camp of 2014, which is currently being held in Sunrise, Florida, USA. (Photo: Mexsport)
SUNRISE, Florida – Canada opened its first camp of the new year on Sunday with a youthful roster that has an eye on the future. In fact, 12 of the 23 participating players will be age-eligible to at the 2016 Olympic Football Tournament in Rio de Janeiro.
Goalkeepers Lars Hirschfeld and Kenny Stamatopoulos, 35- and 34-years-old, respectively, provide the main veteran presence during the team’s stay in Florida.
“In this camp we can only call the North American players, as well as European players out of season like Hirschfeld, Stamatopoulos, and Adam Straith,” said head coach Benito Floro. “At the same time I filled out the roster with young players.”
Entering his first full year in charge, Floro is committed to the development of Canada’s younger players, as well as overall depth in the program.
“My thought is always the same in every camp,” expressed Floro. “(It’s) to teach and train players to improve our capacity defensively and offensively around the complete system of play.
“(I want to) take advantage of the qualities of the Canadian footballer, who have good physical and technical qualities but need to be more competitive, this means to make hard presses and develop very good combined attack."
The camp will conclude on January 22.
CANADA ROSTER
(Training Camp: January 12-22, 2014, in Sunrise, Florida)
GOALKEEPERS: Lars Hirschfeld (Valerenga/Norway), Kenny Stamatopoulos (AIK/Sweden), Maxime Crépeau (Impact de Montreal)
DEFENDERS: Samuel Adekugbe (Vancouver Whitecaps), Nana Attakora (D.C. United/USA), Jackson Farmer (Vancouver Whitecaps), Andres Fresenga (Ottawa Fury), Luca Gasparotto (Rangers/Scotland), Doneil Henry (Toronto FC), Ashtone Morgan (Toronto FC), Karl Ouimette (Impact de Montreal), Elias Roubos (Toronto FC)
MIDFIELDERS: Manuel Aparicio (Toronto FC), Kyle Bekker (Toronto FC), Ben Fisk (Vancouver Whitecaps), Kianz Froese (Vancouver Whitecaps), Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé (Impact de Montréal) Jonathan Osorio (Toronto FC), Adam Straith (Wehen Wiesbaden)
FORWARDS: Jordan Hamilton (Toronto FC), Frank Jonke (FC Edmonton), Cyle Larin (University of Connecticut/USA), Kyle Porter (D.C. United/USA)
