Four CF Montreal players have been selected by the Canadian men’s soccer team, which will face Trinidad and Tobago in a play-off match for the Copa América on March 23 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.
Goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois, defender Joel Waterman, as well as midfielders Mathieu Choinière and Samuel Piette were selected by the interim head coach of the Canadian team, Mauro Biello. With a total of four players, CF Montreal has the highest number of players called up by Canada during this international window.
The CONCACAF Nations League served as a qualifying tournament for CONCACAF teams for the Copa América tournament. The winners of the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinals (USA, Jamaica, Panama and Mexico) qualified directly for the prestigious South American tournament, while the losers (Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Honduras) participate in a knockout qualifying phase.
This will be a first-ever national team camp for Sirois, who was previously included in Canada’s preliminary roster for the CONCACAF Nations League final in May 2023.
Waterman will make a return to the maple leaf for the first time since his call-up to the World Cup in Qatar in 2022. The player from Langley, B.C., has two caps and 109 minutes of play with Canada.
For his part, Choinière will participate in his third camp with the national team. The 25-year-old midfielder got his first minutes with Canada on his last call-up, during a 4-1 defeat against Japan in Niigata on October 13.
Piette did not play during his last recall, watching from the bench Canada’s elimination during the Nations League quarter-final home-and-away series against Jamaica. The Quebecer, who has 67 caps with Canada since his debut in 2012, played 61 minutes in the defeat against Japan.
Elsewhere, Alphonso Davies, who required dental treatment after being kicked in the face this weekend in a Bayern Munich match, is part of Biello’s 23-man squad.
Davies, playing in his first match since suffering a serious knee injury, played for 14 minutes on Saturday before being hit in the face by the boot of Swiss defender Silvan Widmer during an aerial duel in the one-sided victory Bayern’s 8-1 win over Mainz in the Bundesliga.
In addition to Davies, the Canadian contingent playing in Europe includes defender Alistair Johnston (Celtic, Scotland), midfielder Stephen Eustaquio (Porto), winger/full back Tajon Buchanan (Inter Milan, Italy) as well as attackers Jonathan David (Lille, France) and Cyle Larin (Mallorca, Spain).
“The team is full of young talent who are in good shape. “It’s a chance for guys to come in with a new attitude to create a new culture,” Biello said in a statement.
Soccer Canada points out that this is the youngest men’s team since 2019, since all the players – except Toronto FC midfielder Jonathan Osorio, at 31 – are aged 30 or younger. Six of them are 23 years old or younger.
On the other hand, Canada (50e in the world rankings) will face Mexico (15e) in a friendly match in September.
The game will take place on September 10 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the home of the Dallas Cowboys.
This is Canada’s second major friendly match to be announced recently. The representatives of the maple leaf will face the Netherlands (6e) in Rotterdam on June 6.
With Neil Davidson