With a berth in this summer’s FIFA Under-20 World Cup hanging in the balance, some of Canada’s top young players have a very busy – and very important – few weeks ahead of them.
And as the Canadian team prepares for its first match of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship on Saturday, head coach Rob Gale is clear about his team’s goal at the tournament.
“We want to qualify for the World Cup,” Gale told reporters on a conference call from Jamaica on Friday. “How we do it and how we get there will be irrelevant. With the talent level and the quality in the group, that’s our goal.”
Canada is in a group with Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Cuba and Haiti. The group winner will directly qualify for New Zealand 2015, while the second- and third-place teams will enter a one-game playoff for a World Cup berth.
But a grueling schedule – five games in 13 days, plus that possible playoff – will make World Cup qualification a war of attrition for all teams involved.
“It’s going to be our strength in depth that gets us through,” said Gale. “Players won’t be able to last that many games, just physically and mentally. We’re already preparing scenarios two and three games in advance of what might be best suited for the opposition and making sure we’re fresh for every game.”
Another key factor for the Canadian side, according to Gale, is the sense of camaraderie that exists amongst his players, nearly all of whom are either current or former members of an MLS academy.
“If we looked at previous years when it was maybe just province-based, there wasn’t so much of a connection,” said Gale. “One characteristic I’ve had with this group in the three years I’ve had them is how well the spirit on and off the field has been. It’s a good group for that.”
While his squad isn’t at absolute full strength – Fraser Aird and Dylan Carreiro weren’t released by their clubs for the tournament, while Hanson Boakai is nursing an injury he picked up last month – it still features plenty of promising talent.
Defender Luca Gasparotto, who has established himself as a regular with Airdrieonians in Scotland’s League One, will wear the captain’s armband. Striker Cyle Larin – widely predicted to be the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming MLS SuperDraft – will be providing lots of scoring danger for the Canadian side.
“He’s got great feet and can finish – the tools are there,” Gale said of Larin. “But he’s going to continue to be tested. These next couple of years are going to be a great test for the lad. We’re not putting any additional pressure on him here.”
Whether or not Gale means to put pressure on his players, hopes are running high amongst Canadian supporters after the U-20 team rattled off an impressive series of results in November (a draw with England, followed by wins over Russia and the US). Fans are hoping this collection of players can send Canada to the U-20 World Cup for the first time since they appeared as hosts in 2007.
But Gale stressed that Canada won’t have an easy path in this tournament, going up against teams whose players are earning regular first-team minutes at their clubs. With Canada set to add three new USL PRO teams in 2015, however, Gale feels youth development in the country is set to receive a big boost.
“It’s absolutely vital for the U-20 program, especially,” he said of the new teams in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. “The academies are very good, and we’re starting to develop players. But for those boys that are not quite cracking the first team … we need them playing regularly.”
While the addition of those sides perhaps won’t start to pay dividends for Canada until at least the 2017 U-20 World Cup, Gale remains confident with the group that he’s assembled ahead of the 2015 competition.
“The boys are raring to go, and it’s been a preparation camp," Gale said. "It’s nice to have the squad finalized and settled, and it’s business time. We’re ready.”
