Canada vs Northern Ireland U-17 (R)

[loyola]

I didn't know we had a warm up game before the tournament start, but we manage to beat the host country in a friendly.

Men’s U-17 Team

Friday, April 21, 2006

Rago Goal Lifts Canada over N. Ireland in Ballymena Warm-up Match

Ottawa, Ontario – Canada’s U-17 National Team defeated Northern Ireland 1-0 this afternoon in a tune-up ahead of Monday’s start to the Ballymena International Tournament.

Edmonton’s Antonio Rago netted the only goal of the match in the 8th minute courtesy of a pin-point cross off the boot of Montreal’s Colin Parenteau Michon.

Canada opens the tournament on Monday, April 24 against Scotland.

The Canadians have been placed in a difficult group with Scotland, Czech Republic, and Belgium while Switzerland, USA, Finland, and Northern Ireland make up the second group of teams.

This will mark Canada’s second appearance at the prestigious Ballymena Tournament. In 2004, the Canadians finished with a loss to Finland (2:1) and draws against Northern Ireland (1:1) and Switzerland (1:1) before losing to Belgium in penalties after a 0:0 stalemate in the 4th Place match.

Hart is preparing his squad for the CONCACAF U-17 Qualifying Tournament, which is scheduled to take place in April 2007 in Honduras and Jamaica. Both countries will host a group of four teams with the top two teams receiving automatic berths to the FIFA U-17 World Cup in South Korea in 2007, and the two third-placed teams playing a home and away series to determine CONCACAF’s fifth spot.

More details to follow…

[Gian-Luca]

Any chance he's related to Carmelo Rago?

[clamlinguine]

I can't remember if Carmelo is his dads name or his brother, but his brother was in South America playing not too long ago.

[bmac]

Gianluca/clamlinguine:

Yes to both inquiries.

Younger brother of Carmelo Jr. and son of Carmelo Sr.