Hume's love for Canada goes to his head

[moonturk]

http://www.thewhig.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?catname=Local+Sports&catmainname=Inside+Today

Hume's love for Canada goes to his head

By Doug Graham

Tuesday, June 15, 2004 - 07:00

Local Sports - He was born in Scotland and plays professional soccer in England but make no mistake, Iain Hume is into donning the Canadian colours for international play.

The 20-year-old Hume, who signed a pro contract with England’s Tranmere Rovers at age 16, is from Brampton. He has played for Canada’s under-17 and under-20 teams and is now with the senior national team.

Hume is sporting a Canadian Maple Leaf shaved into his hair with a diagonal swath of blond hair flowing over his scalp.

The five-foot-seven, 155-pound Hume, who was born in Edinburgh, plays both midfield and wing when he’s with Tranmere. When he comes back to Canada, he quite often finds himself on the right wing with the responsibility of advancing the attack and getting the ball into the middle to strikers like Tomasz Radzinski and Paul Peschisolido.

“Normally when I come back to Canada I’m used to playing out wide right. If I get on the team, I have no complaint where I’m playing,” Hume said.

“They are all very versatile players,” said head coach Frank Yallop, who has a number of choices where to play people such as Hume.

“He’s a good player like the others,” Yallop said. “You tell them what you’re going to do and they know how to do it. They are all very, very good professionals.”

Hume has played at the FIFA World Youth Championship in Argentina and also in international matches in Australia, the Czech Republic, Chile and Trinidad and Tobago, but infrequently in Canada.

What he’s enjoying the most about the two-game World Cup qualifying series against Belize is playing in Canada. Sunday’s game, with a crowd of 8,245 wearing Canadian red-and-white colours at Richardson Stadium, caught his attention.

“The crowd was for us all the way,” Hume said. “We wanted to put on a show for them. That’s what we will want to do again [tomorrow].”

Hume, who will play his sixth international game tomorrow, hasn’t scored a goal for the national team but had 10 with the junior national teams. He was the leading scorer for Canada at the 2003 World Youth Championship scoring twice, including one in a 2-1 quarter-final loss to Spain.

Hume may also get to play for Canada at the Olympics, where countries can only field a lineup of players age 23 and younger. He’s a member of the Canadian Olympic team player pool.

Right now, however, helping Canada have success in the World Cup is what feeds Hume’s soccer appetite.

“The boys are gelling quickly. I’m just hoping it continues that way,” Hume said.

“We hit the crossbar in the first minute [in Sunday’s game] or we might have got more goals earlier. Four goals was a good result but we will be looking for more.”

[BC supporter]

Gee, I'm thinking Mr Hume won't get to play for Canada at the Olympics -- SINCE WE DIDN'T QUALIFY. But it's a small point.

Y'know, one of the nice things about these Kingston games is it gives the families of our players from Ontario a chance to see them play in Canada. Good to see T-Rad, Pesch and Brennan score in front of their friends and families. Hopefully Hume'll be doing the same for his relatives on Wednesday.