The Canadian men’s national team announced it’s 23-player Gold Cup roster Tuesday morning, highlighted by the inclusion of 10 MLS players.
After a 15 year drought following the country’s first and only championship in the competition, head coach Benito Floro will be hoping his squad can make a deep run and challenge for this year's cup.
“The main aim in this Gold Cup for us is to get as far as possible. We want to get to the final and every game that we get in the tournament will increase our level of play,” Floro said in a statement through the Canadian Soccer Association.
Toronto FC leads the MLS sides with three players to represent the co-host nation. Reserve goalkeeper Quillan Roberts, defender Ashtone Morgan and midfielder Jonathan Osorio were all selected.
First overall pick of the 2015 MLS draft and forward for Orlando City Cyle Larin was also selected. The 20-year-old has made seven appearances for his senior national side, with three goals to his name and is viewed by many as the future for his country.
Kyle Bekker and Tesho Akindele from FC Dallas, Russell Teibert and Maxim Tissot from the Montreal Impact, Karl Ouimette of New York Red Bulls and Marcel de Jong of Sporting Kansas City are the other MLS players that will be donning the Red and White for a few weeks.
Canada is coming off recent back-to-back victories over Dominica in a home-away series for CONCACAF qualifying towards the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Overall, the program is on a four-game winning streak and a five-game unbeaten run, but that is through friendlies and facing lower ranked opposition in qualifiers.
The Canadian men understand they will be coming up against much tougher opposition in the Gold Cup, however.
“It is true that good results always help,” said stated. “But now we are going to play against three teams that are higher ranked than us so we need to show that we are growing and developing against those teams and show that we are doing things in the right way.”
Floro’s men open the tournament against El Salvador on July 8th, before taking on Jamaica three days later and rounding out group play against Costa Rica on July 14th in Toronto, the first-ever Gold Cup game to be played in Canada.
Notable exclusions from the roster include former Toronto FC defender Doneil Henry, Atiba Hutchinson, and Will Johnson, who is coming off a long injury layoff with the Portland Timbers.
Goalkeeper Milan Borjan will also be missing out due to commitments with his club Ludogorets that has Champions League qualifying games in July.
Canada’s complete Gold Cup roster:
Goalkeepers: Lars Hirschfeld (Valerenga/Norway), Kenny Stamatopoulos (AIK/Sweden), Quillan Roberts (Toronto FC)
Defenders: Andre Hainault (unattached), Dejan Jakovic (Shimizu S-Pulse/Japan), Nik Ledgerwood (Energie Cottbus/Germany), Ashtone Morgan (Toronto FC), Karl Ouimette (New York Red Bulls), Adam Straith (Fredrikstad/Norway), Marcel de Jong (Sporting Kansas City), David Edgar (Birmingham City/England).
Midfielders: Tesho Akindele (FC Dallas), Kyle Bekker (FC Dallas), Julian de Guzman (Ottawa Fury), Jonathan Osorio (Toronto FC), Pedro Pacheco (Santa Clara/Portugal), Samuel Piette (Deportivo La Coruña/Spain), Tosaint Ricketts (Hapoel Haifa/Israel), Russell Teibert (Vancouver Whitecaps), Maxim Tissot (Montreal Impact).
Forwards: Marcus Haber (Crewe Alexandra/England), Cyle Larin (Orlando City).