Stephen Hart has selected an interesting squad for the upcoming exhibition game versus Jamaica.
It’s a good balance of available experienced players, along with some untested youngsters who will now get the chance to showcase their talents. David Monsalve, Nana Attakora, Carlos Rivas, and Massih Wassey are all embarking on their first senior team experience which is a positive development.
Meanwhile, Dwayne DeRosario’s inclusion after being eliminated from Dale Mitchell’s World Cup squad, for overt public criticism, is the correct move. The slate is now clean as a new era begins. It will certainly be positive for the younger players to have the talented, experienced veteran around. Even though Dwayne is now 31 there should be no reason why he will not compete through the next World Cup qualifying campaign. His high fitness standards and healthy lifestyle will serve him well as he enters the latter stages of his very impressive career.
TFC will also benefit, finally reaping some of the benefits of having good Canadian players on their squad. While international experience develops a players technical and tactical abilities, it can also develop confidence. Young players in particular can be extremely fragile. That’s why exposing them to this environment – early in the process of qualifying for a World Cup – is so important.
One aspect of the squad that is quite interesting is the apparent regional disparity between Ontario and British Columbia. Not one player selected is listed as emanating from British Columbia. There is no reason to suspect the problem is with Stephen Hart in regards to any kind of bias. Coaching at the national team level is hard enough without all the obstacles you have to overcome. Just to get eleven reasonable players on the field at anyone time is often a challenge. Being biased to any one area is just not in the equation. An ideological approach may lead to a few differences in selections, but generally most coaches in Stephen’s position would select the same group of players.
In the past there has always been a fair representation of players from B.C. on national team squads. Not one representative on this current squad is disconcerting and has to point to some development issues within B.C. that should be addressed. Certainly the Whitecaps inclusion into the MLS will help, but provincially there are some questions that have to be asked.
