Though many European leagues are winding down for another summer, players who have international duty will have to wait for some rest. Following Jurgen Klinsmann’s 16-man announcement earlier Tuesday, Canadian head coach Stephen Hart will announce his squad for a busy month of June on Thursday and there are some who could be entering camp high on confidence.
Simeon Jackson (above)will be heading into an important month for Canada on a hot streak after scoring his fifth league goal of the season as Norwich finished their return to the Premier League with a 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday. Jackson made 25 appearances for the Canaries, who finished 12th in the EPL with 47 points.
Goalkeeper Milan Borjan is another player who could be entering a Canadian camp in a rich vein of form. In Romania, Borjan’s loan with Vaslui from Turkey’s Sivasspor is turning out to be a brilliant move for the 24-year old.
On Thurday, Vaslui picked up a 2-1 win over Panduril Targu Jiu and followed that up on Saturday when Borjan kept his third clean sheet with Vaslui as they won their ninth game in a row with a 1-0 result over Sportul Studentesc.
That run of good results has moved Vaslui to second place in the Liga 1, just three points back of CFR Cluj. With just two games left in the season, second place would get Vaslui into next season’s Champions League qualifiers.
In Switzerland, BSC Young Boys are on course for a top-three finish in the Super League and a spot in next season’s Europa League. Midfielder Josh Simpson played 66 minutes in his club’s 2-2 draw with Thun on Sunday.
Young Boys are in third place with 45 points with two games remaining in the Super League season.
Midfielder Pedro Pacheco and his club, Santa Clara, will keep their spot in Portugal’s Liga de Honra, the country's second division.
Despite getting flattened 5-1 by Naval 1 De Maio in their final game of the season, other results went their way and Santa Clara finished the league in 12th place on 34 points — just two points above the drop zone.
While most of Europe’s leagues are winding down, the Scandinavian tours are still in their early days — and it wasn’t a good week for the two Canadian goalkeepers there.
In Norway, Lars Hirschfeld was part of the Valerenga side that lost 3-1 to Tromso. Valerenga are in sixth place after eight games with 13 points.
Meanwhile, Tomer Chencinski’s horrible start with Örebro continued as they dropped a 3-0 decision to Norrkoping on Sunday. Nine games in, Örebro are still looking for their first point of the season.
In Finland, Mason Trafford once again played a full game for Mariehamn as they defeated FC Lahti 2-0 on Sunday. Six games into the Veikkausliiga season, Mariehamn have 11 points and sit in sixth place in the 12 team league.
In Singapore, Sherif El-Masri added to his goal tally in the S-League. On Thursday, El-Masri scored both goals as Courts Young Lions knocked off Hougang United and fellow Canadian Jordan Webb 2-0.
El-Masri also started on Sunday but was taken off after 63 minutes as the Young Lions lost 3-1 to Home United.
Both Young Lions and Hougang United have 11 points and are in 10th and 11th place, respectively, in the 13-team league.
