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Yallop Names Gold Cup Roster


David C.

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Men's World Cup Team

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Yallop Names Gold Cup Roster

Frank Yallop

Ottawa, Ontario – Canadian Men’s World Cup Team head coach Frank Yallop today named his 19-man roster for the Gold Cup training camp and international friendly against Honduras on July 2 at Swangard Stadium. He also released his official 23-man roster for the Gold Cup. Only players from the 23-man roster are eligible for the competition.

“These 19 players are the ones I plan to use during the tournament,” said Yallop. “If we have to make any changes then we can bring in another player from the 23-man roster. The camp will allow us to get some of our players who have not played in a while get closer to game shape. The game against Honduras will be a perfect warm up for us as it gives us another CONCACAF opponent.”

Yallop has selected two USL First Division goalkeepers in Montreal’s Greg Sutton and Vancouver’s Mike Franks as his two goalkeepers. Sutton earned a shutout against Northern Ireland in his last game on February 12, 2005. Franks marks his return to the senior squad for the first time since the 2001 Confederations Cup. He attended a development camp in Florida earlier this month.

The Impact have the largest contingent of players with no less than six players selected. Joining Sutton are defenders Adam Braz and Gabriel Gervais as well as midfielders Patrick Leduc and Sandro Grande and forward Ali Gerba.

Defender Kevin McKenna is one of the most senior members of the squad with 27 caps. McKenna signed with his old club Energie Cottbus in the off-season after several seasons with Hearts in Scotland.

Yallop has again selected a number of players with Scandinavian clubs with three players from Norway: defender Chris Pozniak (Haugesund) midfielder Patrice Bernier (Tromso) and forward Olivier Occean (Odd Grenland). Defender/midfielder Atiba Hutchinson has also been called in from Swedish club Helsingborg.

Tranmere Rovers’ forward Iain Hume has been selected along with Millwall midfielders Josh Simpson and Adrian Serioux. Veteran midfielder Jim Brennan (Norwich City) has also been called in and holds the most caps, with 38, among the players named.

Another newcomer is midfielder Rhian Dodds who recently re-signed with Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premier League. Dodds impressed at the training camp in June.

Midfielder Jaime Peters has returned from Holland where he competed for Canada at the World Youth Championships and has been selected along with San Jose Earthquake midfielder/forward Dwayne de Rosario.

The majority of the squad will assemble in Vancouver on June 27 for a week-long training camp. Some players, including the six Impact players will join up later in the week. Canada will face Honduras on July 2 at Swangard Stadium before traveling to Seattle on July 3.

The 23-man roster also includes defender Nevio Pizzolitto, Chicago Fire forward Will Johnson who competed at the FIFA World Youth Championship; New England Revolution midfielder Felix Brillant and Under-20 goalkeeper Josh Wagenaar who played in all three of Canada’s games at the World Youth Championship.

Canada opens the tournament against Costa Rica on July 7 at Qwest Field in Seattle.

Canadian Roster For International Friendly vs Honduras and Gold Cup

Name Pos Club DOB Caps Goals/Shutouts

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

Players also on the 23-man roster and eligible for the Gold Cup

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

Staff

Victor Montagliani Head of Delegation

Frank Yallop Head Coach

Stephen Hart Assistant Coach

Paul Dolan Goalkeeper Coach

Morgan Quarry Team Manager

Victor Mendes Equipment Manager

Dave Foley Physiotherapist

Ted Tilbury Physio/Massage Therapist

Earl Cochrane Press Officer

Ed Johnson Doctor

http://www.canadasoccer.com/eng/media/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=2232

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Will be nice to get these youngsters some experience. But realistically this team is weak and inexperienced defensively. Although this is a nice offensive minded team we're going to be spending alot of our time back-tracking and defending; especially against the US. Brennan out left, and Peters on the right will make for an interesting battle on the flanks against the US.

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quote:Originally posted by canso

Let me start by asking a dumb question: "Where's Tam Nsaliwa?"

The bigger question is: "Where's Rob Friend?"

Friend is one of the top ten goal scorers in Norway ? He's scored four league goals to OO's one.

What's more concerning is that we have not seen Friend for some time.

Is Friend in the doghouse ?

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No Tam, no Stamatopoulous, no Friend (though with OO, DeRo and Hume I can live with that). The rest were expected absesnses and I'm happy Hutch and Brennan are there. Still this is an experiment more than a team for a confed championship.

Well expectations will be awfully low (I hope we beat Cuba, but I can't see us winning either of the other games unless CR and US bring real experimental teams too), so hopefully we get a better feel for our depth and role players.

cheers,

matthew

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Guest Jeffery S.
quote:Originally posted by Winnipeg Fury

The bigger question is: "Where's Rob Friend?"

Friend is one of the top ten goal scorers in Norway ? He's scored four league goals to OO's one.

What's more concerning is that we have not seen Friend for some time.

Is Friend in the doghouse ?

What particularly intrigues me about that question is not only why he was not called, but if Occean will want to show given he seems to have possibilities of being transfered when the Norway window opens July 1. Not sure he'd want to be away from the country then, but who knows, maybe GC will help him get back on track.

I get the impression that Yallop just gets fixated on a player and calls him regardless of knowing how he plays for his club -he usually does not know this- or whether others might have come forward to warrant a call; I don't really see him constructing a team with a clear criteria about how to do so, damn bric-a-brac if you ask me.

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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.

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This roster gives lotuslanders a chance to see many different players, as only one Cap was invited. Looking forward to seeing Hutchison, Hume, Gerba, Peters, Pozniak and Serioux. Little disappointed not to be seeing Klukowski and De Guzman.

The gold Cup should be decent soccer, much better than USL. I don't expect to see Canada win anything, expect for the hearts of some fans.

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So Nsaliwa is out of the picture. Less than half the team has any real chance of being significant in the next qualifying cycle and Yallop wants to get the younger players about 20 caps before the next cycle. The question is, which young players, and why Klukowski, Imhoff and Deguzman can elect to stay with their clubs but Nsaliwa's election means he won't likely be called again. I don't mind the not begging for players to show up part, but I do mind decision to stop calling any player in the future because of decisions today.

Well, I'll be cheering for the boys as always, but I have no expectations. I don't see any real purpose to this roster.

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An enlightening piece by Neil Davidson:

I am glad that FY has finally come to his senses and left Lars off the field. This kid's professional career hangs by a thread at this point, and FY should leave him to straighten out his club status. All the best to Lars, I'm sure we will see him again soon, but right now he needs to start playing at a competitive club level ('playing' being the key word).

No mention of Pesch, Devos or Onstad, so I guess they are now all but officially gone.

Too bad there is no mention of Rob Friend. He remains the one glaring question. Was Ademolu contacted (which by the way, he scored today) ?

Tough to speculate exactly what is going on with Nsaliwa. The bottom line is the player was asked and refused.

I think the 'youth movement' has more to do with many of the veteran players simply opting to remain with their club team, as opposed to FY ignoring many of these veteran players.

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Pretty good article covering almost every players called and missing and the reason for their absense. We now know why Reda, Nsaliwa and Lars are missing. Weird that Nsaliwa refuse the invitation. Good to see some of the U-20's being consider.

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quote:Originally posted by Gordon

So Nsaliwa is out of the picture. Less than half the team has any real chance of being significant in the next qualifying cycle and Yallop wants to get the younger players about 20 caps before the next cycle. The question is, which young players, and why Klukowski, Imhoff and Deguzman can elect to stay with their clubs but Nsaliwa's election means he won't likely be called again. I don't mind the not begging for players to show up part, but I do mind decision to stop calling any player in the future because of decisions today.

Well, I'll be cheering for the boys as always, but I have no expectations. I don't see any real purpose to this roster.

All those guys are with new clubs, Nsaliwa isn't. They have been in the National program for quite a while (except Kluka, but he's been impressive since he's back).

But I agree and I'm not a fan of the "we won't call him again". We don't know what FY and TN said to each other in the last 2 months but maybe something happened and it was enough for the coach.

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There is a story for some agressive journalist. Nsaliwa accepts the invitation to attend a camp and then turns down the invitation to participate in the Gold Cup. Why? There has to be something more than what we are being told.

And then to have the Coach say that he will not likely be invited again? Let's see if that remains the case if Nsaliwa reaches the top level?

Then add Friend and a few others who are not there and the strangeness increases.

I am not necessarily disappointed that certain players are not participating nor am I all that disappointed by the players who are attending. I am disappointed with the explanations.

If this was Hockey, we would know the answers already.

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That's some roster alright.[|)]

The good news is that there's some cohesion with a strong Montreal

Impact content.I think with Sandro Grande at mid, with Brennan and/

or even Simpson at wing, it'll be an interesting and capable team.

Wasn't it Simpson who crossed to Occean for the score against

N. Ireland? I know it's disappointing without Stalteri and De

Guzman. It's also surprising that Rob Friend wasn't called or that

Tam refused. But we need players that also played together and this seems to be an alternative (to playing a ton of expensive friendlies

as a team).

This roster is certainly another test for Voyageurs who call themselves "supporters" ... ;)

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Rhian Dodds attending is a plus. He's obviously keen to break into the national team (what a pleasant change !).

Jazic is another omission, but he's probably still battling injuries.

It would be nice to know the staus of Friend, Ademolu, and Stamatopolous. Where they asked, and what happened.

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All you armchair critics joining FY and Neil Davidson ****ting on Tam for refusing the invite might be less critical if you realized he is out of contract this month. He had a one year deal with Saarbruecken and it has yet to be extended.

As far as I am concerned, his career is much more important than this rather meaningless (this year) Gold Cup.

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quote:Originally posted by Winnipeg Fury

Notes: Defender Marco Reda was a possible selection but he's getting married on July 2.

Well, it's good to know that I'm not the only one who is having a wedding interfere with the Gold Cup. Amazingly, the kickoff of my wedding coincides with the kickoff of Canada-USA. At least if it was during the reception, we could have a TV on - but I don't think I'll be able to bring a TV outside...

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quote:Originally posted by Ed

All you armchair critics joining FY and Neil Davidson ****ting on Tam for refusing the invite might be less critical if you realized he is out of contract this month. He had a one year deal with Saarbruecken and it has yet to be extended.

As far as I am concerned, his career is much more important than this rather meaningless (this year) Gold Cup.

Who are the armchair critics?

I haven't read anyone joining FY and saying that TN shouldn't be call again.

If Nsaliwa refuse to play the GC for the reason you mention in your post, FY should understand that!

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Well Loyola, no offense, but a number of posters have made a point of him turning down the invite, despite the same actions by half the usual team. Unless someone can prove that Tam has no reason not to go, he should be treated like Hirschfeld, Stalteri, de Guzman and the rest. There has been no word out of Saarbruecken lately on Tam; I believe his contract expires June 30th, 2005.

Mind you, I would rather see Yallop gone anyway, so no big deal.

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quote:Originally posted by BrennanFan

actually that amazing cross came off the foot of Jim Brennan.

Yeah you're right. (My bad.) Hopefully he'll be there, crossing

to Otto or Pwamme or, long shot, off McKenna's noggin.[^]

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