Sept joueurs de l'Impact à la Gold Cup

[Bxl Boy]

1 Greg Sutton GK Montreal Impact, USL First Division 4/19/77 2 2
33 Mike Franks GK Vancouver Whitecaps, USL First Division 4/27/77 0 0
2 Adam Braz D Montreal Impact, USL First Division 6/7/81 1 0
3 Chris Pozniak D Haugesund, Norwegian Second Division 1/10/81 12 0
4 Kevin McKenna D Energie Cottbus, German Bundesliga 2 1/21/80 27 8
5 Gabriel Gervais D Montreal Impact, USL First Division 9/18/76 4 0
6 Patrice Bernier M Tromso, Norwegian Premier 9/23/79 8 0
7 Iain Hume M/F Tranmere Rovers, League One 10/20/83 11 0
8 Adrian Serioux M Millwall, English League Championship 5/12/79 5 0
9 Ali Gerba F Montreal Impact, USL First Division 7/27/82 0 0
10 Olivier Occean F Odd Grenland, Norwegian Premier 10/23/81 9 1
11 Jim Brennan M Norwich City, League Championship 5/8/77 38 5
12 Sandro Grande M Montreal Impact, USL First Division 9/9/77 4 0
13 Atiba Hutchinson D/M Helsingborg, Swedish Premier 2/8/83 12 1
14 Dwayne de Rosario M/F San Jose Earthquakes, MLS 5/15/78 29 7
15 Josh Simpson D/M Millwall, League Championship 5/15/83 7 0
16 Patrick Leduc M Montreal Impact, USL First Division 12/26/77 0 0
17 Jaime Peters M Ipswich Town, League Championship 5/4/87 7 0
18 Rhian Dodds M Kilmarnock, Scottish Premier 10/3/79 0 0

19 Nevio Pizzolitto D Montreal Impact, USL First Division 8/26/76 9 0
20 Will Johnson F Chicago Fire, MLS 1/21/87 0 0
21 Felix Brillant M/F New England Revolution, MLS 9/9/80 0 0
22 Josh Wagenaar GK Hartwick College, NCAA 2/26/85 0 0

Les 4 derniers seront à la Gold Cup mais pas au match amical contre le Honduras

[Corbin]

En fait, Yallop dit dans le communiqué qu'il pigera dans les réservistes s'il a besoin de faire des changements à sa formation. "...then, we can bring in another player from the 23-man roster."

Donc, Pizzolitto ne devrait partir qu'en cas de blessure.

[kurosawa]

Quelques paroles douces à l'oreille:

Canadian coach looks to youth as he assembles Gold Cup soccer squad




(CP) - Canadian coach Frank Yallop continues to look to the future as he prepares for next month's Gold Cup.

Yallop also focused on the Montreal Impact in choosing his roster for the CONCACAF soccer championship, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean. Six members of his Gold Cup lineup are from the defending United Soccer League champion, with another a member of a four-man taxi squad waiting in the wings in case of injury.

Impact players on the travelling 19-man roster are goalkeeper Greg Sutton, defenders Adam Braz and Gabriel Gervais, midfielders Patrick Leduc and Sandro Grande and forward Ali Gerba.

Impact defender Nevio Pizzolitto is one of four reserves eligible if needed for the U.S. tournament.

"They have been absolutely first-class," Yallop said of the Impact. "I'm taking half their team, but they said they'd never stand in anybody's way playing for the national team and I really, really appreciate Nick (coach Nick DeSantis) and (president) Joey Saputo sticking to that and giving us a chance to compete."

Yallop also paid tribute to the Impact players, saying they are "100 per cent committed, well-behaved, good-mannered, love the game, trained well.

"All the things you want in a professional player. Montreal produces that."

Yallop's 19-man roster has just 176 caps, with 94 of those belonging to defender Kevin McKenna (27), midfielder Jim Brennan (38) and forward Dwayne DeRosario (29). Another 23 come from defender-midfielder Atiba Hutchinson (12) and forward Iain Hume (11), who were playing for the under-20 team as recently as 2003.

Canada, currently ranked 85th in the world, has been placed with No. 24 Costa Rica, No. 70 Cuba and No.10 U.S. in Group B at the 12-team competition. The Canadians open in Seattle, with games July 7 against Costa Rica and July 9 against the U.S. before heading to the Boston area to take on Cuba on July 12.

"Any time you play against good calibre teams, it's tough for Canada," Yallop said Friday from Vancouver, when asked about his young squad.

"We're trying to get to the point when our young guys, come World Cup qualifying time, have got 20 caps under their belt."

Former coach Holger Osieck managed to do just that in large part, but failed to take Canada to the next level.

But Yallop likes his youth and, despite the absense of some senior players, sees the glass half-full.

"This is a good tournament to blood some youngsters and give them a chance," he said. "Yes, I want to win the tournament and no, I'm not going to worry about it if we don't. I just want to perform well, get some good games in, try and get as far as we can in the competition.

"It's going to be tough but I would say Costa Rica and Cuba are saying the same thing: 'it's going to be tough group."'

Still Yallop acknowledges "a few injuries and you're right, we could have a few inexperienced players at the same time on the field and that's maybe my one worry."

Most of Yallop's squad will gather in Vancouver next Monday. An exhibition game against Honduras is planned for July 2 before the team heads to Seattle the next day.

Some high-profile players are missing from Yallop's roster.

Fullback Paul Stalteri, who recently transferred to England's Tottenham, has an ankle injury. Midfielders Julian de Guzman (Deportivo La Coruna, Spain), Daniel Imhof (Bochum, Germany) and Mike Klukowski (Club Bruges, Belgium) are healthy but elected to stay with their clubs.

De Guzman and Imhof are settling in with new teams while Klukowski has been pencilled in to start at left fullback with his club and is looking to solidify his position. When all three indicated the Gold Cup was not on their radar, Yallop looked elsewhere.

"I don't want to start begging players," the coach said. "We've got to get past that.

"If we select them and they say no, that's fair enough. And all three of those guys were going to be selected."

Yallop had said earlier that star striker Tomasz Radzinski would be allowed to rest this summer.

Midfielder Tam Nsaliwa (Saarbrucken, Germany) was picked for the roster but turned down the invitation. It's a somewhat puzzling decision given he attended a Canadian camp in Florida earlier this month, after a lengthy absense from the national team program and several other rejections of offers to play for his country.

It's unlikely he will be asked again.

The goalkeepers are Sutton and Mike Franks of the Vancouver Whitecaps. Yallop is keeping his fingers crossed that Sutton recovers from a mild concussion suffered last week.

Goalie Lars Hirschfeld, who shot to prominence at the 2002 Gold Cup, was not summoned because he is currently without a club.

"He just needs to get playing games," Yallop said. "That's the one position that you can't just have a couple of weeks off and then just jump in and start playing."

Uncapped midfielder Rhian Dodds (Kilmarnock, Scotland) gets a call-up after impressing at the Florida camp.

Midfielder Jaime Peters, who has seven caps with the senior team, returns to Yallop's squad from the under-20 team that went 0-2-1 at the World Youth Championship. Teammates Will Johnson, a striker, and Josh Wagenaar, a goalkeeper, join Pizzolitto and New England Revolution midfielder-forward Felix Brillant as the four reserves.

Wagenaar's selection is a vote of confidence in the young 'keeper, who rebounded well after an unfortunate goal against Syria at the World Youth Championship.

Notes: Defender Marco Reda was a possible selection but he's getting married on July 2. Former Olympic team midfielder Rocco Placentino was also considered and will probably get a call-up in the future, Yallop said.

[Y]

Quelques paroles douces à l'oreille: ...

C'est un texte !


1. Braz devant Piz ?

2. Un seul joueur de Vancouver ?

3. Jordan n'est pas sélectionné ?

4. Yallop also paid tribute to the Impact players, saying they are "100 per cent committed, well-behaved, good-mannered, love the game, trained well. Euh, ça veut dire quoi ça ? Est-ce qu'il y a un lien avec les points 2 et 3 ?