On Friday January 3rd, coach John Herdman said which players will participate in the friendlies against Barbados and Iceland. Eighteen players from the MLS franchises were selected; including teens Jayden Nelson and Noble Okello from Toronto FC. Six soccer players will play for the first time in the Canadian men's national team.
Canada will train at Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California. The match against Barbados will be on January 7th and January 10th. Then they meet Iceland on January 15th. All matches will be at the same stadium as the training sessions.
"It’s a great way to start the year with three international matches and the opportunity to work with 26 players, including players who are new to the Men’s National Team or have been on our radar in 2019. Outside of the FIFA window, it is a difficult period to assemble players due to club and off-season commitments, but this gives us the opportunity to introduce young players who we have monitored throughout 2019 and have continued to impress at the club or international level", commented John Herdman via press release.
See the complete roster of the soccer players called up:
Goalkeepers: Marco Carducci (Cavalry FC), Maxime Crepeau (Vancouver Whitecaps) and James Pantemis (Montreal Impact).
Defenders: Derek Cornelius (Vancouver Whitecaps), Amer Didic (FC Edmonton), Manjrekar James (FC Midtjylland), Kamal Miller (Orlando City), Sam Adekugbe (Valerenga), Zorhan Bassong (Cercle Brugge KSV), Marcus Godinho (FSV Zwickau), Richie Laryea (Toronto FC) and Ashtone Morgan (Toronto FC).
Midfielders: Tristan Borges (Forge FC), Jay Chapman (Inter Miami), Liam Fraser (Toronto FC), Noble Okello (Toronto FC), Samuel Piette (Montreal Impact), Shamit Shome (Montreal Impact) and Russell Teibert (Vancouver Whitecaps).
Forwards: Tesho Akindele (Orlando City), Theo Bair (Vancouver Whitecaps), Charles-Andreas Brym (Belenenses SAD U-23s), Jayden Nelson (Toronto FC), Tosaint Ricketts (Vancouver Whitecaps), Jacob Shaffelburg (Toronto FC).