February 26, 2020...Abzi, Ongaro highlight preliminary Canada squad for Olympic qualifiers (from canpl.ca website)
Abzi, Ongaro highlight preliminary Canada squad for Olympic qualifiers 2020-02-26 by CanPL.ca Staff CanMNT Canada Soccer on Wednesday announced its 50-player provisional roster for next month’s Concacaf Men’s Olympic Qualifying tournament, and a number of Canadian Premier League players are on the list. The eight current CPLers named to the provisional squad are: Pacific FC’s Terran Campbell, Kadin Chung, Thomas Meilleur-Giguère, and Noah Verhoeven; FC Edmonton’s Easton Ongaro; York9 FC’s Diyaeddine Abzi; HFX Wanderers’ Daniel Kinumbe, and Valour FC’s Yohan Le Bourhis. Joining them are the likes of reigning CPL player of the year Tristan Borges (now with Belgian club OH Leuven), and 2019 Pacific FC players Émile Legault and David Norman Jr. The squad also features recent senior national team contributors Liam Fraser, Derek Cornelius, and Kamal Miller, among others. Charles-Andreas Brym and Zorhan Bassong, who impressed at Canada’s January camp, are also included. Canada’s 50-man roster will be pared down to 20 players a week before the tournament, which kicks off on March 20. Tournament rules stipulate that all players must be born in or after 1997, although the actual Olympic tournament allows for three overage players. Canada kicks off Group B play at the Olympic qualifiers on March 21 when they take on El Salvador. Their group also includes Haiti and Honduras, with all games to take place in Guadalajara, Mexico. Group A consists of Mexico, the United States, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. Canada must finish in the top two of its group to advance to the semifinals on March 30, with only the two tournament finalists earning qualification for this summer’s Tokyo Olympics. Canada has not qualified for the Olympics since 1984. This Concacaf tournament overlaps with the Canadian senior national team’s scheduled friendlies against Trinidad and Tobago at Westhills Stadium, which is likely why names such as Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David do not appear on this list. The U-23 tournament does also stretch outside the FIFA international window, meaning several players will not be available due to club commitments. Canada’s pre-tournament camp will open March 13, with the final roster to come out a few days before on March 11. Canada is coached by Mauro Biello, an assistant to senior team coach John Herdman. List of players chosen for Canadian squad for Olympic qualifiers:
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