Gold Cup 2011 Squad

[Sam]

Thought I'd just take a stab at naming a 23 man squad for Canada's Gold Cup run. See what everyone thinks - names that should/shouldn't be there?

Canada 2011 Gold Cup Squad

Keepers

1. Lars Hirschfeld

2. Josh Wagenaar

3. Milan Borjan

Defenders

4. Adam Straith

5. Dejan Jakovic

6. Kevin McKenna

7. Mike Klukowski

8. Nana Attakora

9. Andre Hainault

10. Jamie Peters

11. Marcel De Jong

Midfielders

12. Josh Simpson

13. Julian De Guzman

14. Atiba Hutchinson

15. Will Johnson

16. Patrice Bernier

17. Issey Nakajima-Farran

18. Dwayne De Rosario

Forwards

19. Simeon Jackson

20. Olivier Occean

21. Rob Friend

22. David Junior Hoilett

23. Ali Gerba

[gator]

A good list, just a couple of things I would add: Hume has to be in the squad IMO and don't hold your breath waiting for Hoilett!

[loyola]

Keepers:

I doubt Lars will be there, he'll be in season in Norway in June. I think Haidar might be there and as far as I know Josh isn't playing at the moment so unless he finds a club in 2011 I doubt he'll make the GC roster.

Defenders:

Looks good to me but I think Stalteri will still be around and will take Hainault or Peters place.

Mids:

That will be tricky because you have 3 MLS players and I'm not sure they'll be available for the whole tourney. If I'm SH, with the WCQ starting in September I wouldn't annoyed MLS coaches with the GC and prefer having the MLSers for later. You could add Dunfield in there as well but he's also in the MLS.

Forwards:

You need to include Hume with his current form. Unless Hoilett has commit I wouldn't include him in the roster. We might have a problem with getting Gerba but if he's still with MTL I would try to have him anyway.

[Lord Bob]

Keepers:

I doubt Lars will be there, he'll be in season in Norway in June. I think Haidar might be there and as far as I know Josh isn't playing at the moment so unless he finds a club in 2011 I doubt he'll make the GC roster.

Yeah, that would be like starting an unattached Greg Sutton in every game in 2009 or something crazy like that.

(Actually, that's a good point. Greg Sutton! Pencil my keepers as Borjan, Sutton, and al-Shaibani.)

[El Hombre]

We could use one spot at each position to bring in someone to cap tie them. For example, bring in JLL or Stillo instead of Wagenaar, someone else instead of Peters, a forward instead of Occean, something like that.

Who out there needs to be cap tied?

As for the other players, I would want to make sure that SH brings his starting eleven plus 6 that he plans to ride for WCQ, no matter if they are in mid-season or preseason.

[BearcatSA]

You could add Dunfield in there as well but he's also in the MLS.

I've got a feeling that this player may become more prominent in the mix then others may think.

[zeelaw]

Like it but gotta agree with Hume in, maybe for Olivier

[gator]

As for the other players, I would want to make sure that SH brings his starting eleven plus 6 that he plans to ride for WCQ, no matter if they are in mid-season or preseason.

Agree 100%! He's had a decent look at most players vying for spots in the WC squad! The GC MUST be used to prepare us for WCQ, he has to call who he thinks are his best players! As loyola pointed out there could be some complications from MLS, he has to get those players in to some matches!

[BearcatSA]

Defenders:

Looks good to me but I think Stalteri will still be around and will take Hainault or Peters place.

With Freeman signing with Houston I'm not sure how his 2011 season will pan out. However, he can be the younger version of Pozniak in that he can step into all four spots in the back four, so if nothing else he's a good guy to have on speed dial.

[Keegan]

That will be tricky because you have 3 MLS players and I'm not sure they'll be available for the whole tourney. If I'm SH, with the WCQ starting in September I wouldn't annoyed MLS coaches with the GC and prefer having the MLSers for later. You could add Dunfield in there as well but he's also in the MLS.

We shouldn't have any problems with MLS clubs, its WCQ they can't hold players (not like they would try anyways) back so it doesn't really matter and its not like we are going to call 3+ TFC players anymore. We'll have Johnson from RSL, Jakovic from DC, Hainault from Houston, De Guzman (and maybe one more) from TFC, Dunfield (and maybe one more, doubt it though) from Vancouver. Thats not really much to ask from any MLS club and RSL, DC and Houston have had a good relationship with our MNT in letting players go. I don't think we've ever had problems with those clubs, they actually told Will to go to Argentina and Houston has been great the past 5 years they've always had more than one canuck.

For keepers Lars isn't going to be there so I'd go with Borjan, Al Shaibani and Monsalve/Misciewcz/Stillo/Latendresse Lavesque. As others have said let a youngster take the 3rd keeper spot, let Borjan get the matches and if he goes down call up Sutton or Stamatopolous to start (I don't think any of those bench keepers are realistic to start right now). If we called up a combo of those three we'd have some young keepers, that should only help us down the road.

Keepers:

Borjan

Al Shaibani

(Young Keeper)

Defenders:

McKenna (Captain)

Stalteri

Jakovic

Straith

Klukowski

Hainault

Attakora

Mids:

De Guzman

Johnson

Dunfield

De Jong

Simpson

Hutchinson

Nakajima

Bernier

Forwards:

Friend

Gerba

Hume

Jackson

Hoilett (Please)

Lots of depth here its good to see that we'll have a ton of options

[loyola]

I've got a feeling that this player may become more prominent in the mix then others may think.

An intriguing player IMO. If he can transpose his good play at the MLS level he could very well be a strong candidate for defensive mid starting spot for the MNT.

[ESG Shawn]

No David Edgar? I know he hasn't been playing regular first team football lately, but has he really fallen that far on the depth chart? It would be nice to get him his first cap (finally).

[beachesl]

No more "Goodbye and thanks" appearances please. This is all about building a squad for the WCQ starting in early 2012. No Stalteri, tho he has been one of the players of the decade, but he will not help with WCQ. The gold cup has become a valueless trophy now, I do not care about winning the matches, just buiding for the WCQ.

This should be the motto: "It's all about the WCQ's, stupid!"

[Tuscan]

Players with * are majority starters (starting at least 2 of the 3 group stage games). Players with ^ will see at least 1 game in the tourney:

Keepers

1. Lars Hirschfeld*

2. Haidar Al-Shaibani^

3. Milan Borjan

Defenders

4. Adam Straith*

5. Dejan Jakovic^

6. Kevin McKenna*

7. Mike Klukowski*

8. Nana Attakora*

9. Andre Hainault

10. Marcel De Jong

11. David Edgar^

Midfielders

12. Josh Simpson*

13. Julian De Guzman*

14. Atiba Hutchinson*

15. Will Johnson*

16. Patrice Bernier^

17. Issey Nakajima-Farran^

18. Jaime Peters

19. Pedro Pacheco

Forwards

20. Simeon Jackson*

21. Olivier Occean^

22. Rob Friend^

23. David Junior Hoilett*

Hoilett is conditional on him actually accepting the call-up and not choosing Jamaica instead. I'm nervous... damn nervous about that prospect. Last thing we need is Jamaica getting yet another speedy striker to call upon. Without Hoilett I think we go with Hume for sure. I didn't include him in my list, as I think if Hoilett does take the call, he's a started guaranteed.

[Sam]

For me the Gold Cup is such an important prep period for WCQ, especially since WCQ starts a year early this year that all the starters for WCQ have to be at the Gold Cup. Hart should be straight up with them - you want to play in the qualifiers, I don't care about your MLS team right now you're playing at the Gold Cup. We need to start to get into that rhythm and keep it going into the qualifiers, we had it right after the 07 Gold Cup but lost it in the year after. If we go into WCQ on the same form as we had after the 07 Gold Cup I'll much more optimistic.

[Sam]

Defenders

4. Adam Straith*

5. Dejan Jakovic^

6. Kevin McKenna*

7. Mike Klukowski*

8. Nana Attakora*

9. Andre Hainault

10. Marcel De Jong

11. David Edgar^

I liked what Straith showed at RB against Honduras, and with Stalteri out your going to be playing with a makeshift right back whether it is Straith or Attakora, I feel much more comfortable with Straith. I don't think you can drop Dejan from the centre pairing he has with McKenna, those two playing together have a very good record.

[loyola]

We shouldn't have any problems with MLS clubs, its WCQ they can't hold players (not like they would try anyways) back so it doesn't really matter and its not like we are going to call 3+ TFC players anymore. We'll have Johnson from RSL, Jakovic from DC, Hainault from Houston, De Guzman (and maybe one more) from TFC, Dunfield (and maybe one more, doubt it though) from Vancouver. Thats not really much to ask from any MLS club and RSL, DC and Houston have had a good relationship with our MNT in letting players go. I don't think we've ever had problems with those clubs, they actually told Will to go to Argentina and Houston has been great the past 5 years they've always had more than one canuck.

I know we won't have problems with MLS clubs for the WCQ part of the schedule but if you know TFC or Vancouver is going to play 4 games on the 6 FIFA dates in the fall, you might want to avoid having a player from those teams missing 3-4 additionnal club games during the GC. This is just a question of keeping good relations considering the situation.

[shawn_strat]

I hate the MLS schedule!!!

[TFCRegina]

My alternative squad:

Players with * are majority starters (starting at least 2 of the 3 group stage games). Players with ^ will see at least 1 game in the tourney:

Keepers

1. Milan Borjan*

2. Lars Hirschfeld^

3. Robert Stillo

Defenders

4. Adam Straith*

5. Dejan Jakovic^

6. Kevin McKenna*

7. Mike Klukowski*

8. Nana Attakora*

9. Andre Hainault

10. Marcel De Jong

11. David Edgar^

Midfielders

12. Josh Simpson*

13. Julian De Guzman*

14. Atiba Hutchinson*

15. Will Johnson*

16. Patrice Bernier^

17. Issey Nakajima-Farran^

18. Jaime Peters

19. Andrew Ornoch

Forwards

20. Simeon Jackson*

21. Olivier Occean^

22. Iain Hume^

23. David Junior Hoilett*

[El Hombre]

I know we won't have problems with MLS clubs for the WCQ part of the schedule but if you know TFC or Vancouver is going to play 4 games on the 6 FIFA dates in the fall, you might want to avoid having a player from those teams missing 3-4 additionnal club games during the GC. This is just a question of keeping good relations considering the situation.

If this wasn't a WCQ year, I would agree with you. However, these guys need to be playing with the NT now and it's precisely at this point that we cash in on all our goodwill from leaving guys with their teams in the past.

If a player wants to stay with their MLS team, then they don't play during WCQ.

[BearcatSA]

We might have a problem with getting Gerba but if he's still with MTL I would try to have him anyway.

You know, if he's healthy and sharp during his league season I'd have him in the starting line up and see what he can do getting service from Simpson, Jackson, and Hutchinson.

[loyola]

If this wasn't a WCQ year, I would agree with you. However, these guys need to be playing with the NT now and it's precisely at this point that we cash in on all our goodwill from leaving guys with their teams in the past.

If a player wants to stay with their MLS team, then they don't play during WCQ.

I agree with you, it's just that I doubt it will happen like that. I just think SH will be asked by the clubs (4 starters at TFC are potential MNT players) if he can accept some sort of arrangement to avoid loosing 4 starters for 3 weeks in a row (potentially more since some players might also be called by others CONCACAF teams). I doubt SH will play hardball with them on such a complex issue (where no one is at fault except for MLS), so I see some kind of compromise being made for the GC. Of course, for us, the best case scenario is having everybody we want and couldn't care much about their clubs feelings about it.

[Toronto MB]

My picks FWIW (only players who have declared themselves eligible for Canada):

18-Man Roster:

GK:

Lars Hirschfeld

Milan Borjan

D:

Stalteri

McKenna

Jakovic

Klukowski

De Jong

Straith

M:

De Guzman

Bernier

Hutchinson

Johnson

F:

Jackson

Simpson

Gerba

Hume

Occean

Nakajima-Farran

23-Man Roster Extras:

Edgar

Dunfield

Friend

Uccello

De Rosario

[BearcatSA]

In recent speculative roster threads here and elsewhere I haven't read a mention of Tam Nsaliwa. Is his situation considered a "case closed" amongst this forum's contributors?

[jpg75]

In recent speculative roster threads here and elsewhere I haven't read a mention of Tam Nsaliwa. Is his situation considered a "case closed" amongst this forum's contributors?

Tam wouldn't even be eligible for the GC...as for friendlies, I wouldn't mind calling him up as long as there's atleast a slim chance he gets his citizenship back.