La sélection pour Belfast

[Bxl Boy]

Canadian Men’s National Team head coach Frank Yallop today named his 16-player roster for the upcoming international friendly against Northern Ireland in Belfast on February 9. The game will be played at Windsor Park with an 8:00 p.m. local time kick-off.

“This is our first international friendly since the Wales game last year and it will be good to get a quality game under our belts,” said Yallop. “The Gold Cup this summer is an important event for us and this is part of the preparation process as we gear up for the tournament.”

Eleven of the players selected played in Canada’s 1-0 win over Guatemala on November 17, 2004. Yallop has also chosen defender Marco Reda, who is now playing with Aalborg in Denmark, along with midfielder Mike Klukowski who recently signed with FC Brugge in Belgium.

Iain Hume and Daniel Imhof return to the squad after missing the Guatemala game while Norwich City midfielder Jim Brennan has also been called in for the first time since the Belize series.

Lars Hirschfeld, who last week signed with Leicester City of the League Championship and the Montreal Impact’s Greg Sutton are the two keepers chosen.

Joining Reda in defence are left back Josh Simpson from Millwall, Kevin McKenna of Hearts, Gabriel Gervais of the Impact and Atiba Hutchinson of Sweden’s Helsingborg.

Rounding out the midfield is Jaime Peters, fresh off the success of last week’s CONCACAF qualifying tournament in Honduras for the FIFA World Youth Championship, along with Patrice Bernier from Tromso in Norway and Millwall’s Adrian Serioux.

Up front, Yallop has also selected Odd Grenland’s Olivier Occean along with Dwayne de Rosario who is currently on trial with FC Aarhus in Denmark.

The squad will gather in Belfast on February 6 and train there for two days before the friendly. The team will then gather in the Algarve on March 20 in preparation for their friendly against Portugal in Barcelos on March 26.

Canadian Roster For International Friendly vs Northern Ireland


Name Pos Club DOB Caps Goals/Shutouts

33 Lars Hirschfeld GK Leicester City, League Championship 10/17/78 17 5

1 Greg Sutton GK Montreal Impact, USL First Division 4/19/77 1 1

3 Gabriel Gervais D Montreal Impact, USL First Division 9/18/76 3 0

13 Atiba Hutchinson M Helsingborg, Swedish Premier 3/8/83 11 1

14 Dwayne de Rosario F Aarhus, Danish First Division 5/15/78 27 7

15 Josh Simpson D Millwall, League Championship 5/15/83 6 0

7 Jaime Peters M Ipswich Town, League Championship 5/4/87 5 0

9 Olivier Occean F Odd Grenland, Norwegian Premier 10/23/81 7 0

10 Patrice Bernier M Tromso, Norwegian Premier 9/23/79 6 0

4 Kevin McKenna D Hearts, Scottish Premier 1/21/80 25 7

12 Mike Klukowski D/M FC Brugge, Belgian First Division 5/27/81 3 0

6 Adrian Serioux M Millwall, English League Championship 5/12/79 2 0

8 Daniel Imhof M St. Gallen, Swiss First Division 11/22/77 29 0

16 Iain Hume F Tranmere Rovers, English League One 10/20/83 10 0

11 Jim Brennan M Norwich City, English Premier 5/8/77 34 3

5 Marco Reda D Aalborg, Danish First Division 6/22/77 0 0

[Daniel]

3 Québécois, dont un de l'Impact et un ancien.

2 joueurs de l'Impact.

Sutton, Gervais, Bernier, Occéan. On peut s'attendre à les voir dans le XI de départ.

[Bxl Boy]

Grande serait blessé, problèmes d'estomac

[Y]

Grande est assurément indisponible, autrement il y serait.

[Vicenç]

Il n'y a aucun joueur basé en Allemagne, ce qui est plutot surprenant!
Jazic n'est pas la non plus... ca l'est un peu moins.
Est-ce que l'on va "revoir" Radz et Devos un jour?

[Bxl Boy]

Oui, surtout qu'il n'y a ni de championnat ni de coupe d'Allemagne ce jour-là...

[kurosawa]

J'espère simplement que Yallop va partager les départs pour les gardiens, je verrais bien Sutton contre l'Irlande et Hirschfield contre le Portugal.