SB Nation - Marco Bustos

Canada U17 MNT prepares for AGS Cup in Spain

Dave Rowaan — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 03:41:51 -0000

Come the end of the month Canada will be sending their under 17 side off to Spain to take place in the AGS Cup that will put them up against some very tough opposition. Canada is one of eight teams taking part in the tournament this year and will be in a group with reigning champions Mexico, Russia, and Morocco. The Canadians will almost certainly be looked at as long shots to do anything in this group but if they can build on their performance at the Torneo delle Nazioni back in April they might shock a few teams.

When they went to Italy back in April they claimed a 1-1 draw against Mexico in a warmup friendly before losing 1-0 to Israel, 2-0 to Italy and wrapping up the tournament with a 2-0 win over Slovenia. It was not quite the success that head coach Sean Fleming would have been hoping for but Canada proved that they were at least able to stick around with some of the stronger sides in UEFA as well as the top side in CONCACAF.

Taking part in the AGS Cup will be the next step in Canada's preparations for the upcoming U17 World Cup. Canada will need to continue to improve as they move towards the CONCACAF U17 championships in Panama next April. If they are succesful there it will mean a trip to the United Arab Emirates and a return to the U17 World Cup. Last time out Canada collected their first point in the event since 1987 thanks to a memorable strike by goal keeper Quillan Roberts against the English. They ended the tournament with a defeat and a pair of draws but that was not enough to reach the knockout round.

Now in Spain, Fleming will be focused on continuing the improvement. His sides have struggled to find the back of the net in recent tournaments so he will be hoping to find someone to step up and address that concern. Many will have their eyes on one of Toronto FC's top academy prospects to do just that for the team. In the spring Jordan Hamilton netted against Mexico in the draw and continues to impress having been a member of the U17 side for close to three years already. Hamilton will be just one of the TFC players involved but it is unlikely that any of the others will be as important to Canada's chances of success.

The AGS tournament will kick off on September 29th in L'Alfàs del Pi on Spain's Mediterranean coast and run until October 6th. With only one week to fit in all the matches it means that the teams will be looking at a very busy schedule. The group stage matches will be played on the 29th, 30th, and 1st with a playoff match to follow on the 3rd or 4th and then the placement matches on the 6th. That could be five matches in a single week for the teams which makes it crucial that the coaches ensure they rotate their rosters and keep players fresh.

The Canadian Soccer Association has yet to release the kick off times for any of Canada's matches or the order in which they will play their group opponents but thanks to US Soccer we know that Canada is in Group A with Mexico, Morocco, and Russia while Group B will include the United States, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and United Arab Emirates.

We can also piece together some of the roster thanks to the magic of twitter where some players have confirmed a handful of members of the squad. Toronto FC will be represented by the aforementioned Jordan Hamilton along with Eli Roubos, Kevon Black and Derrick Sequeira who are all members of the club's U17 academy side. It seems that they will be joined by Marco Bustos, Jordan Haynes, Marco Carducci, and Kianz Froese of the Vancouver Whitecaps residency program.

Canada will depart on the 26th giving them time to train as a group for a couple days and adjust to the time change before kicking off tournament play. Canada are not the favourites to win but if they can put in a good showing against a team like Mexico it will give them a major boost heading into the CONCACAF Championship.

Vancouver Whitecaps Residency Prepare for 2012-13

Benjamin Massey — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 21:30:08 -0000

It's hard to believe we're so close to another Vancouver Whitecaps Residency winter campaign. Over the past two weeks players have been filtering back to Vancouver from their summer vacations and today, the Whitecaps released the first rosters for the U-18 and U-16 squads for the United States Soccer Development Academy season.

The 2012-13 season kicks off for Vancouver on September 8 against old rivals Pateadores in California; the first game within driving distance is on October 20 against Crossfire Premier at Redmond High School and the first home match is not until December 15, against the Portland Timbers at Simon Fraser University. It's a long wait for a home game, but the good news is that so far every scheduled match is a weekend kickoff.

This will be the Residency's second season in the USSDA league, and by now most of the opposition should be familiar. The California Development Academy has withdrawn, replaced by San Juan Soccer Club out of Mather Soccer Complex in California. And of course our old friends the Portland Timbers are making their USSDA debut, with their home games to be played at the Timbers training facility in Beaverton.

The release of the rosters doesn't determine too much, as players will move between U-14, U-16, and U-18 all season as demand and their own talent indicates. According to the Whitecaps even the coaching assignments aren't yet finalized, with Craig Dalrymple having run both the U-18 and U-16 teams last year. But the time remains ripe to look at those departing and those yet to come.

Many big U-18 names have graduated. Caleb Clarke and Bryce Alderson are off to Major League Soccer, although as a 1994-born player Alderson is still young enough for U-18. Tim Hickson is with FC Edmonton. Alex Rowley and Jason Van Blerk will spend the year at Simon Fraser University, while a plethora of other ex-Residency players are in NCAA programs around the United States. Some 1994 players are also leaving: left back Adam Polakiewicz has been passed in the depth charts by young Sam Adekugbe and has been given his walking papers, Wesley Cain is with the University of Northwestern Ohio with his brother Travis, and central defender Daniel Stanese surprised pretty much everyone by moving to college in Florida a year early.

There are few surprises among the 1995-born players graduating to the U-18 team. Defenders Sam Adekugbe, Quinton Duncan, and Jackson Farmer were all leading lights on last year's U-16 squad, with Farmer wearing the armband; right back Matthew Van Der Eyden played less than some of the others but got into more games as the season wore along and certainly earned his chance.

Leading U-16 scorer Brody Huitema moves on to the U-18s, of course, as does attacking midfielder/forward Titouan Chopin. 1995-born forward Carlos Patino also graduates, but given that he played semi-regularly for the U-18 team at the end of last season I'm not sure he counts. Other graduates to the U-18 program include late-arriving Halifax midfielder Liam Elbourne, attacking midfielder/withdrawn forward Mitch Piraux, and of course goalkeeper Nolan Wirth, who played 137 U-18 minutes and played at the USL PDL level this past summer. Wirth will presumably split keeping time with returning U-18 and USL PDL veteran Sean Melvin, giving the Whitecaps an all-Vancouver-Island tandem in their U-18 goal.

The biggest name missing from the list is forward Sadi Jalali. Jalali joined the Whitecaps U-16s at the end of March and was a considerable force up top for them, even seeing spot action and chipping in a goal for the U-18 team at the USSDA playoffs. He was a Canadian U-17 international at the World Cup and came with considerable promise, as well as not a little bitterness as FC Edmonton had a verbal agreement with Jalali's agent. But he also had well-established interest in a European career with North America as a clear second choice.

The opposite of Jalali is a surprising name present on the U-18 roster: 1996-born Ontario winger Jordan Haynes. I say surprising because of Haynes's youth, not because of his quality: arriving mid-season with the U-16 team last year he immediately became one of their strongest players. He didn't get a shot at the U-18 level last season but certainly has the quality to step in a year early.

Despite losing Caleb Clarke and Ben Fisk, the U-18s should have plenty of goalscoring punch. Indeed, the return of Yassin Essa means the Whitecaps are bringing forward a 20-goal scorer who averaged more than a goal every 90 minutes during the regular season; not bad for a '94! Left winger Spencer Deboice is also back after a great improvement in the last half of 2011-12 that saw him score in four regular-season matches from March onward. Eight-goal forward Carlos Marquez is also back, the oldest man on the roster.

Most of the 1996-born U-16 players return. Elijah Adekugbe, younger brother of Sam, is gone but his departure is not news. Parker Ellis joined the U-16 team midway through last season and saw some time but is not listed on this year's roster; they are the only 1996-born players from last year who are missing. The roster is heavy with 1997s, eleven in all, of whom ten are from British Columbia and the other (diminutive but highly talented midfielder Francesco Saporito) is from Edmonton.

The U-16s will need to get offense from different places with Huitema, Cabrera, and Patino all graduating. Attacking midfielder Marco Bustos out of Winnipeg returns and great things will be expected. Late-season acquisition Matthew Chow also showed some nice offensive chops after his arrival splitting time between forward and the wing.

The good news is that the U-16s have great returning talent on defense and in goal: Marco Carducci was excellent last year splitting duties with Nolan Wirth and returns this season, as does solid centre back Alex Comsia. However, Comsia is the only veteran on the back four, meaning there may be some growing pains for the '97s.

The '97s are said to show promise, although I have only seen them play in U-16 matches. The oft-repeated assertion is that last year's U-18s were good, the U-16s were better, and the U-14s were even better than that: as you went down the pyramid, you saw players who'd spent more time in professional environments and it was showing on the pitch.

Of the 1997 players, I'm most interested in Saporito, who showed a boatload of talent and ambition in his U-16 cameos last year, and centre back Evan Libke, a startlingly tall player who has unusual pace and intelligence for a player of his size and age. Both will be counted upon to fill holes in attack and defense, and neither looked at all out of place when they stepped briefly into the U-16 team last year.

Canada U17's Prepare for Torneo della Nazioni

Dave Rowaan — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:56:14 -0000

Quietly Canada has called together it's under 17 team and prepared to head over to Italy for the Torneo della Nazioni. The 8 team international tournament is set to take place in Trieste, Italy from April 25th to the 29th. The tournament has a bit of a gruelling format with teams playing in a possible five matches over the five days if they reach the final.

The tournament, which translates to "Tournament of Nations", will consist of a group stage involving two groups of four teams each followed by cross-over semi finals and then the final. Group A will be made up of Croatia, Finland, Mexico and Montenegro and Group B will be Canada, Israel, Slovenia and Italy. It is a good level of opposition for the young Canadian players to be going up against and should provide them with a good bit of international experience.

Prior to the kickoff of the tournament Canadian coach Sean Fleming will have his 18 man roster take part in a training camp. That camp will also take place in Italy with the team training in Verona from the 18th until the 24th when they will move to Trieste to get ready for the run of matches. Canada has also announced that they will be playing a friendly match against the Mexican U17 side in a friendly on the 21st.

For Canada this tournament is just the first step towards trying to get back to the FIFA Under 17 World Cup. Having qualified from the last cycle Canada will now be looking to do so again next April. The CONCACAF qualifiers are scheduled for April 6-19, 2013 when they will take place at the Estadio Rommel Fernández and Estadio Agustin Muquita Sánchez in Panama. A success in Panama would see Canada earn a birth to the 2013 U17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates. To make it Canada will have to finish top four in that 12 team tournament.

The event in Italy will be a very good tune up for Canada and give them a sense of where they stand going into the next qualifying cycle. The friendly against Mexico plus a potential meeting in the knockout rounds will serve as a very good gauge of where Canada stands. The Mexican youth sides remain right at the top of CONCACAF so if Canada is able to give them a good run for their money or even get a positive result it would set them up nicely for next spring.

Canada's group games will all present them with different challenges and should all provide them with good opposition. There are no real slouches in Canada's group so facing Italy, Slovenia, and Isreal will be a very good test for the young players. Those are three nations in Europe's upper ranks most times and that is reflected by the quality of the youth sides.

The squad that Sean Fleming has called up for the camp and the tournament is one with a lot of previous youth international experience. Of the 18 players involved 14 of them have been involved in past national team youth squads. That list includes Toronto FC prospect Jordan Hamilton who was with the U17 squad last World Cup qualifying cycle despite being only 14 at the time.

For the most part Fleming has gone with Canadian based players in his squad with only 3 European based players (Mikaël Cantave, Billy Bitihene, and Kianz Gonzales-Froese) being involved. Among the Canada based players there are 4 Whitecaps residency players, 1 TFC academy player, and 7 other players from Ontario based clubs. The squad also features 3 players who were born in 1997 in Billy Bitihene, Andrew Gordon, and Matteo Restrepo.

Full squad called up is as follows: