NASL FC Edmonton

FCE Academy Players Receive Invitation to U-18 Camp

April 16, 2015 - North American Soccer League (NASL)
FC Edmonton News Release


EDMONTON, AB (April 16, 2015) - Fresh off a stint in Florida with FC Edmonton's first team, Academy players Shamit Shome and Thomas Shores will now practice with Canada's U-18 squad in Europe beginning on Thursday. Canada will then kick-off in tournament action against host Slovakia on Monday, April 20.

"I think that Thomas and Shamit have both earned this opportunity," said FC Edmonton Academy technical director Jeff Paulus. "I think that both players epitomize the goals Dave and Tom Fath had when they started the Academy. Both Thomas and Shamit have developed to an elite level technically and tactically while maintaining their grades in school and earning honours."

It will be the first taste of international competition for Shores and the second experience for Shome, who participated with Team Canada in France last October.

"I think having had both players competing with our first team in Florida this past month will allow them to represent our club well with the CSA in the camp and tournament," added Paulus. "Both players are technically very good and tactically even better. They both have a great understanding of the game."

With the camp and tournament in Slovakia about to start, a new cycle is underway for 18 players hoping to become members of Canada's Men's U-20 Team competing in 2017.

The group of players in this iteration of Canada's Men's U-18 Team, under the guidance of head coach Rob Gale, arrive in Europe Thursday before getting three days of training prior to tournament action.

"This camp is a chance for us to build on a very successful and competitive tournament in France last October with the core of the squad returning," said Gale. "Plus it's a chance to re-look at some of the 1997 players from the last 18 months as we continue to scour and look for talent far and wide."

That first game will come against the hosts from Slovakia before the team heads back into action the next day against China PR.

Canada will get one day off before their final group stage game on Thursday 23 April against Austria and depending on results, will play a final game for either the championship or third place on Friday, 24 April.

"These are an important part of our youth programming to get our players tournament expertise and become used to high level competition in a short congested intense period of time," said Gale. "Especially having now experienced the new qualifying format in CONCACAF, later in the year we will look to expose them into the tough CONCACAF environments."

CANADA

GK- Marvis Kreitling | GER / Niendorfer TSV U-19

GK- Dayne St. Clair | CAN / Vaughan SC

D- Eric Davies | USA / FC Dallas Academy

D- Marcus Godinho | CAN / Toronto FC Academy

D- Mackenzie Harrington | USA / Sacramento United

D- Aaron Hidalgo-Mazzei | USA Real Salt Lake - AZ Academy

D- Thomas Meilleur-Giguere | CAN / Académie Impact de Montréal

D- Mateo Restrepo | CAN / Toronto FC Academy

M- Vana Markarian | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency

M- Shamit Shome | CAN / FC Edmonton Academy

M- Thomas Shores | CAN / FC Edmonton Academy

M- Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla | CAN / Académie Impact de Montréal

M- Luca Uccello | CAN / Toronto FC II

M- Patrice Walker | CAN / Toronto FC Academy

F- Gloire Amanda | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency

F- Aymar Sigue | USA / University of Tulsa

F- Rahim Thorpe | CAN / Toronto FC Academy

F- Dario Zanatta | unattched / sans club

Check out the FC Edmonton Statistics



North American Soccer League Stories from April 16, 2015


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central