Hart Selects Jamaica Roster

Canada’s men’s national soccer team announced its roster for the upcoming camp in USA and Jamaica. The camp runs January 18 through February 1 and includes the international friendly match against Jamaica on January 31. Coach Stephen Hart has selected 17 players for this first camp of the 2010 season.

“We brought in many young players for a number of reasons,” said head coach Stephen Hart. “We want them to experience an international senior camp and become familiar with our methods. We also want to observe them in an international match.”

Canada’s lineup features players whose clubs are currently on a winter break. A number of players were not available for selection because of ongoing club seasons in Europe as well as winter tournaments during the break. Canada is expected to add another goalkeeper to its lineup before the start of camp.

Of those 17 players selected, six of them come from Canadian clubs – five from Toronto FC of MLS and one from the Impact de Montréal of the newly-formed USSF-2 NASL division. Beyond the 11 players on North American clubs, there are five players from European clubs and one player from a South American club.

Of note, four players have received their first call to the full national team: goalkeeper David Monsalve of FC Inter Turku, defender Nana Attakora of Toronto FC, midfielder Carlo Rivas of Club Deportivo Universidad de Concepción, and midfielder Massih Wassey of FC Schalke 04 II.

Canada’s national team will be in Ft. Lauderdale, FL from January 18-29 and then in Kingston from January 29 to February 1. Coach Hart hopes to see as many players as possible in the January 31 match against Jamaica .

“Jamaica at home is very strong, as it demonstrated two years ago in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers,” said coach Hart. “The opportunity to view our players in such a match is ideal.”

In 2008, Jamaica won all three of its home matches in the semi-final stage of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, including a 3:0 win over Canada. Like Canada, Jamaica did not advance beyond the so-called CONCACAF “Group of Death”. In 2009, Canada and Jamaica again faced each other as group opponents, this time at the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup in Carson, CA . Canada won that match 1:0 on a goal by Ali Gerba. This time, Canada advanced to the quarter-final stage while Jamaica failed to advance beyond the group phase.