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Canada put belief in young players
Livingston Scott
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Canada's football team captain Paul Stalteri (fore ground), of English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur, turns away from midfielder Marcel de Jong during Canada's first training session at the Edward Seaga Sports Complex yesterday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)
DEspite having four uncapped players in their squad to face the Reggae Boyz in their crucial Concacaf World Cup semi-final game at the National Stadium tomorrow night, Canada remain confident that their young players can compete against the Boyz and come away with a result.
According to captain and the team's most capped player with 73 international appearance, Paul Stalteri of English club Tottenham Hotspur, the team is young but it has some experienced players as well so they are expecting to give a good performance.
Jamaican-born striker Simeon Jackson of Gillingham, defender David Edgar of Newcastle, and goalkeeper Asmir Begovic of Portsmouth - all English clubs - and Montreal Impact's (Canada) Sandro Grande are the players looking to make their debuts, while 30-year-old Montreal forward Charles Gbeke is looking to make his second appearance.
But Stalteri was quick to point out that: "Sometimes young players want to go out and show what they can do and prove themselves for future games, so this is a good experience for the young players when they come in. But with the mix of experienced players that we have here, I think we have a competitive team to put out there for sure."
Stalteri, goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld and midfielder Issey Nakajima-Farran of Danish club Nordsjaelland are the team's most experienced players.
But Stalteri feels the young players have enough experience at the youth level to take on this encounter.
He said that although they are the only team not playing for anything in the group they still want to be as competitive as possible.
"It's a game away from home and we have nothing to play for in terms of qualifying from the group," said Stalteri. "But the other three teams (in group) all have something to play for right now but this is still going to be a competitive game. "Like against Mexico we face a similar scenario a month ago and we gave a good performance, one of the better ones in our group stage and we came away with a draw. So hopefully, we can do that again here on Wednesday against Jamaica."
The veteran player admitted that he would not mind seeing the Reggae Boyz go on to the next round but insisted that it would not be sportsmanlike to allow them an easy passage.
"Yeah, I would like to see Jamaica go through, but in this situation we can't go out and not give our best," he said. "It's not how sports is played. We have to go out and give our best and if Jamaica beat us, all credit to them, and if they don't, then credit to the two teams that were better than the other two teams that weren't able to get enough points."
He added that it was unfortunate that four of the region's top teams ended up in one group.
"With the other three teams in the group, we knew how difficult this group was, probably four of the six best teams in Concacaf were all bunched into one group, which was a bit unfortunate for all four teams, because all four should be in the final round and not in same preliminary group," he said.
"So we were a bit unlucky with that, along with who doesn't go through, but we are not making excuses, we just didn't do enough in our early games at home to put enough points up to be a force," he said.
He noted that the Boyz have shown good form in their last two outings and should be highly motivated for this match.
"They are in good form right now, they won their last two home games. Maybe they were unlucky to play three away games in a row," he said.
"But now they have their three home games and they've won their first two, so they are in good form with two wins and seven points, so it will be a tough game without a doubt. Plus, they have a much better side than the one we played in August, with a lot more experience and some pace up front."
Fifteen members of the 18-man squad participated in yesterday's training session at the Edward Seaga Sport Complex.
Adrian Cann and Andrzej Ornoch of Danish club Esberg were expected to arrive last night, while goalkeeper Hirschfeld is expected in today.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...NG_PLAYERS.asp
Livingston Scott
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Canada's football team captain Paul Stalteri (fore ground), of English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur, turns away from midfielder Marcel de Jong during Canada's first training session at the Edward Seaga Sports Complex yesterday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)DEspite having four uncapped players in their squad to face the Reggae Boyz in their crucial Concacaf World Cup semi-final game at the National Stadium tomorrow night, Canada remain confident that their young players can compete against the Boyz and come away with a result.
According to captain and the team's most capped player with 73 international appearance, Paul Stalteri of English club Tottenham Hotspur, the team is young but it has some experienced players as well so they are expecting to give a good performance.
Jamaican-born striker Simeon Jackson of Gillingham, defender David Edgar of Newcastle, and goalkeeper Asmir Begovic of Portsmouth - all English clubs - and Montreal Impact's (Canada) Sandro Grande are the players looking to make their debuts, while 30-year-old Montreal forward Charles Gbeke is looking to make his second appearance.
But Stalteri was quick to point out that: "Sometimes young players want to go out and show what they can do and prove themselves for future games, so this is a good experience for the young players when they come in. But with the mix of experienced players that we have here, I think we have a competitive team to put out there for sure."
Stalteri, goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld and midfielder Issey Nakajima-Farran of Danish club Nordsjaelland are the team's most experienced players.
But Stalteri feels the young players have enough experience at the youth level to take on this encounter.
He said that although they are the only team not playing for anything in the group they still want to be as competitive as possible.
"It's a game away from home and we have nothing to play for in terms of qualifying from the group," said Stalteri. "But the other three teams (in group) all have something to play for right now but this is still going to be a competitive game. "Like against Mexico we face a similar scenario a month ago and we gave a good performance, one of the better ones in our group stage and we came away with a draw. So hopefully, we can do that again here on Wednesday against Jamaica."
The veteran player admitted that he would not mind seeing the Reggae Boyz go on to the next round but insisted that it would not be sportsmanlike to allow them an easy passage.
"Yeah, I would like to see Jamaica go through, but in this situation we can't go out and not give our best," he said. "It's not how sports is played. We have to go out and give our best and if Jamaica beat us, all credit to them, and if they don't, then credit to the two teams that were better than the other two teams that weren't able to get enough points."
He added that it was unfortunate that four of the region's top teams ended up in one group.
"With the other three teams in the group, we knew how difficult this group was, probably four of the six best teams in Concacaf were all bunched into one group, which was a bit unfortunate for all four teams, because all four should be in the final round and not in same preliminary group," he said.
"So we were a bit unlucky with that, along with who doesn't go through, but we are not making excuses, we just didn't do enough in our early games at home to put enough points up to be a force," he said.
He noted that the Boyz have shown good form in their last two outings and should be highly motivated for this match.
"They are in good form right now, they won their last two home games. Maybe they were unlucky to play three away games in a row," he said.
"But now they have their three home games and they've won their first two, so they are in good form with two wins and seven points, so it will be a tough game without a doubt. Plus, they have a much better side than the one we played in August, with a lot more experience and some pace up front."
Fifteen members of the 18-man squad participated in yesterday's training session at the Edward Seaga Sport Complex.
Adrian Cann and Andrzej Ornoch of Danish club Esberg were expected to arrive last night, while goalkeeper Hirschfeld is expected in today.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...NG_PLAYERS.asp