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A war of words between Canadian men's national team coach Dale Mitchell and Toronto FC captain Jim Brennan escalated yesterday ahead of Canada's crucial World Cup qualifying match Saturday.
In a media question-and-answer session, Mitchell responded to the 31-year-old left fullback's controversial comments earlier in the week about the direction of the national program after he was dropped from the squad.
Mitchell gave a flat "No" in response to the question of whether he would ever select Brennan again for Canada's national team as long as he was coaching.
"I wouldn't think if someone has turned down three call-ups [to the national team] in the past 18 months you would get a big song and dance when he doesn't make the selection," Mitchell said. "It was clear to me in selecting the team that our left side has been strong and I have had several conversations with Jim about the situation here and I felt we weren't getting anywhere. I don't think the timing of his comments helped either but that was Jimmy's decision."
In announcing his lineups last Thursday for Canada's upcoming games, Mitchell left the Toronto native out of the roster for Canada's away game to Honduras Saturday and next Wednesday's game in Edmonton against Mexico.
Canada has struggled in the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying round, earning just one point from three matches. They will likely need to win their final three matches in order to finish second in their group, which also includes Jamaica, and advance to the final round of qualifying later next year.
Earlier in the week, Brennan, who has represented Canada 49 times, indicated that he would never play for Canada again as long as Mitchell was in charge of the team.
"I wasn't getting on with a few of the people on the staff," Brennan told Rogers Sportsnet on Tuesday. "I don't see eye to eye with them....For the most part there's a lot of people not happy with the national team and that's including the players that are playing right now, and I'm sure you'll hear a lot more when the campaign's over."
Canada will also be without three of its top players for the match on Saturday in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
Houston Dynamo midfielder Dwayne De Rosario and FC Dallas midfielder Adrian Serioux are suspended for the match due to accumulation of yellow cards while midfielder Julian DeGuzman has sustained a thigh injury and his club Deportivo La Coruna in Spain have refused to release him for the game.
