Music: {allcanada} Canada ready for attacking Armenia

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European clubs might not see the value of releasing their players to compete in international friendlies, but Canadian coach Stephen Hart sure does.

Hart struggled to put together an 18-man roster for Wednesday's exhibition match versus Armenia, as he had to deal with pro teams in Europe that didn't want to release their Canadian players for duty.

International friendlies: Watch England-Netherlands live on Sportsnet, Germany-France live on Sportsnet World and Italy-USA live on Sportsnet ONE starting at 2:30pm ET on February 29.

Those that did comply hardly did so in the spirit of co-operation. Hart received so much resistance that some teams badgered him to find out the exact time of the Canada-Armenia match -- FIFA rules stipulate that clubs are required to release their players for international duty 48 hours before the match kicks off.

The club vs. country debate rages on, but for Hart there is great value in Canada playing these friendlies, especially with the next round of World Cup qualification scheduled to kick off in June.

"It's important to play. It's important to get the players together," Hart said Tuesday. "We spoke about a few things we will try to achieve in the game and hopefully the players will go out and do their best under the circumstances. The most important thing is to play the game and play against some good opposition and just get familiar with each other."

Wednesday's game takes place in Limassol, Cyprus, and falls on the first FIFA International Date of the 2012 calendar year. The neutral site match will be the first meeting between the two nations.

Although it failed to earn a tournament berth, Armenia posted an impressive 5-2-3 record in Euro 2012 qualifying, finishing third in its group behind Russia and Ireland. Impressively, they scored 22 goals, the most in their group.

Armenia currently sits 41st in the FIFA world rankings, 30 spots ahead of Canada.

Hart expects Canada's defence to be tested by an attacking Armenian side.

"They play the ball on the ground a lot; they're not a very direct team. They play very quickly, a lot of combinations, very similar to a Latin style," Hart stated.

Wednesday's match will be Armenia's second in 48 hours -- they dropped a 2-0 decision to Serbia Tuesday in another exhibition encounter in Cyprus. Armenia brought 31 players to camp for the pair of games.

Hart watched the Serbia match, and said Armenia fielded a starting line-up of mostly under-21 and under-23 players. He expects Armenia's "A-team" to take to the field Wednesday.

Hart revealed veteran defender Kevin McKenna will serve as captain. He also said he will try to use all 18 members of his roster at some point during the match, including both goalkeepers Milan Borjan, Kenny Stamatopoulos, and Samuel Piette, a 17-year-old midfielder who has been called up to the senior national team for the first time.

"He's come in and he hasn't shown any fear. He's mixed it up and I like his attitude," Hart said of Piette.

Hart's Canadian side played three friendlies last year: a 1-0 loss to Greece (Feb. 9), a 1-0 win over Belarus (March 9), and a 2-2 draw with Ecuador in Toronto (June 1).

Canada has made it through to third round of the CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The Reds will compete in a round-robin group with Cuba, Honduras and Panama where the top two teams will advance to the final round of CONCACAF qualification.

Programming alert: Watch Canada vs Armenia live on Sportsnet, starting with our pre-game show at 11:30 am ET on February 29.

Canada's first match is on the road against Cuba on June 8, followed by a game against Honduras on June 12 in Toronto.

The Reds play the United States in Toronto in a qualifying tune-up match on June 3. Hart previously said he hopes to gather his squad together in a training camp once the European club season is over and organize another exhibition match in late May or early June in preparation for the Cuba match.

News broke Wednesday that the European Club Association, an organization representing soccer clubs in Europe, successfully lobbied UEFA to reduce the number of yearly international dates to nine from 12.

FIFA still has to approve, but if the ECA gets its way and there are fewer international dates, Hart's job will become that more difficult.

"It's funny because I told my staff a few months ago that this was coming down the pipeline," Hart said. "Clubs are becoming more and more powerful, (and) club football is becoming more and more powerful. And I should stress European club football."

Canada's only previous World Cup appearance came in 1986 in Mexico where it bowed out in the first round after suffering three shutout losses.