11 USL players on Canadian Olympic Qualifying squad
Published on January 30, 2004 under USL First Division (USL-1) News Release
OTTAWA, ON -- Canadian Men's Olympic (U-23) Team head coach Bruce Twamley today released his 20-player roster for the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico from February 2-12, 2004. The roster features 11 current or former USL players.
Seven players on the squad have A-League experience and five have played in the Premier Development League. The Montreal Impact have the most representatives on the squad at five - goalkeeper Andrew Olivieri, Adam Braz, Rocco Placentino (2001-02), Sita-Taty Matondo and Chris Williams. Former Toronto Lynx players Chris Pozniak (1999-01) and Atiba Hutchinson (2002) are also on the team.
The PDL's Vermont Voltage have two players from last season on the roster with Olivieri and Mathieu Savaria. Rob Friend (1998) and Justin Thompson (2000) were former members of the Abbotsford 86ers Select and Winston Marshall played for the Dayton Gemini (2002).
Canada will compete in Group A with Honduras, Panama, and the United States. Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, and Costa Rica are competing in Group B. The two finalists will qualify for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
Canada's opening game of the tournament is against Honduras on Tuesday, February 3rd. Their next opponent is the United States on Thursday, February 5th and finally Panama on Saturday, February 7th to end their group play in the tournament.
"We're going to give it a great effort," said Twamley. "We have to get the results to advance and we will have to use the entire squad for this condensed tournament."
The roster includes seven players from the Youth team that recently made the quarter-finals at the 2003 FIFA Word Youth Championship in the UAE; Elliott Godfrey, Kevin Hamse, Alim Karim, Winston Marshall, Sita-Taty Matondo, and Josh Simpson. Brampton native, Atiba Hutchinson who was recently named to the FIFA all-star team at the World Youth Championship will be available for the tournament.
New to the roster is Windsor-native Stephen Ademolu who plays for Cleveland State University in Ohio. Ademolu, who was named the 2003 Horizon Conference (NCAA) Player of Year, made his debut for Canada in the 1-1 draw with Martinique in Fort de France on December 29, 2003.
Unable to join Canada in Guadalajara due to club commitments are Terry Dunfield who plays for Bury in the English Third Division, Iain Hume of Tranmere Rovers in the English Second Division, and Mike Klukowski of La Louviere in the Belgian First Division. Julian de Guzman who plays for Hannover 96 in the German Bundesliga will join the Canadian squad after his Sunday match against Hamburg. Following the match against Honduras, de Guzman will return to Hannover for his club's February 8th showdown with Bayern Munich.
"It is unfortunate that we weren't able to get all our European players. We will have to compensate with the other players," added Twamley.
USL First Division Stories from January 30, 2004
- 11 USL players on Canadian Olympic Qualifying squad - USL-1
- Charlotte Eagles Third Annual Golf Outing - Charlotte Eagles
- A-League's Testo Named to Final Roster for Olympic Qualifying - Richmond Kickers
- US Open Cup format announced - USL-1
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