Reigning Major League Soccer MVP Dwayne De Rosario headlines Canada's squad for a pair of crucial World Cup qualifying matches in September.
Canada takes on Panama in back-to-back matches on Sept. 7 in Toronto, and four days later in Panama City.
Canadian coach Stephen Hart revealed his 21-player roster on Thursday, highlighted by De Rosario, who scored his 100th career MLS goal earlier this week while on duty with D.C. United.
De Rosario is tied with Dale Mitchell as Canada's all-time leading scorer, with 19 goals in 68 appearances. Still, De Rosario has come in for some media criticism for not being nearly as prolific for his country as he has been his MLS career.
But Hart attributes that to the distinct difference between the international and pro game, and the fact that De Rosario plays more of a midfield creative role for Canada
"All credit to him, he's buckled down and contributed. If he sets up the goal or scores the goals, it doesn't really matter to me once the goals come," Hart told reporters during a Thursday conference call.
Hart's squad features players from pro clubs in 10 different countries. Three ply their trade in Canada: midfielder Terry Dunfield and defender Ashtone Morgan of Toronto FC, and Montreal Impact midfielder Patrice Bernier.
Coming back into the squad is defender Marcel de Jong, who appeared for Canada in a friendly earlier this month. Prior to that, he had not played for Canada in over a year due to series of injury problems.
With left midfielder Josh Simpson still sidelined with a leg injury, the inclusion of de Jong (who can also play in Simpson's spot) gives Hart another option on that side of midfield.
"The left side of our team has been a little bit depleted in terms of attack because of Josh, and getting Marcel back healthy gives us a different dimension," Hart said.
It'll be interesting to see how Hart uses de Jong: in defence or in midfield. He's a natural left back, and his return could mean that Ante Jazic could shift back into the centre of defence, his natural position.
Hart wasn't tipping his hand as to where or even if de Jong would start for Canada, and explained how he plans to deploy the FC Augsburg star will depend on how he looks in next week's training sessions.
One notable absence from the Canadian roster is Mike Klukowski. The veteran defender recently moved from Turkish club Manisaspor to APOEL, but has yet to play for the Cypriot club.
"I spoke to Mike about the situation. Players are never happy (about not being picked) but he was a little bit understanding. He's moved to a new club. He has not been injured per se, but he has been struggling with a little bit of fitness and had not been training regularly and has not gone into (APOEL's) squad yet," Hart explained.
The Canadian players will start to gather in Toronto next Monday before having their first training session the following day. Top of the agenda for Hart is to try to improve the team's offensive fortunes.
"We'll continue to work a little bit more on the offensive phase of our game, and finishing off the moves. We have been creating (scoring) chances; we just need to be a little more clinical," Hart admitted.
After the Panama matches, Canada hosts Cuba on Oct. 12 in Toronto, and visits Honduras on Oct. 16 to close out group play.
Canada currently sits in second place in its CONCACAF semifinal round qualifying group with four points. Panama tops the group with six points. Honduras is third (one point) and winless Cuba is fourth.
The top two teams in the round robin group advance to "the Hex," the final round of CONCACAF qualifying where the best three nations in the six-team group automatically qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Canada's only previous World Cup appearance came in 1986 in Mexico. It's a long drought, one that Hart is constantly reminded of from fans and media alike. But the Canadian coach refuses to look ahead to Brazil.
"To be very honest, we sat down as a team and we are not talking about the World Cup. We are talking about each (qualifying) phase. You have to get through this phase to go to the next phase before you can even think about the World Cup," Hart stated.
Canada defeated Trinidad and Tobago 2-0 in an Aug. 15 friendly in Florida, its final tune-up game for the September qualifiers.
Canada is ranked 79th in the most recent FIFA world rankings, 29 spots behind Panama.
CANADA'S ROSTER
Goalkeeper- Lars Hirschfeld (Valerenga Fotball/Norway)
Goalkeeper- Kenny Stamatopoulos (AIK Fotbol/Sweden)
Goalkeeper- Milan Borjan (Sivasspor/Turkey)
Defender - Ante Jazic (Chivas USA/MLS)
Defender - Kevin McKenna (FC Koln/Germany)
Defender - André Hainault (Houston Dynamo/MLS)
Defender - Marcel de Jong (FC Augsburg/Germany)
Defender - Dejan Jakovic (D.C. United/MLS)
Defender - Ashtone Morgan (Toronto FC/MLS)
Defender - David Edgar (Burnley FC/England)
Midfielder - Nik Ledgerwood (Hammarby Fotboll/Sweden)
Midfielder - Julian de Guzman (FC Dallas/MLS)
Midfielder - Terry Dunfield (Toronto FC/MLS)
Midfielder- Will Johnson (Real Salt Lake/MLS)
Midfielder- Atiba Hutchinson (PSV Eindhoven/Netherlands)
Midfielder - Patrice Bernier (Montreal Impact/MLS)
Midfielder- Pedro Pacheco (CD Santa Clara/Portugal)
Forward - Tosaint Ricketts (Politehnica Timisoara/Romania)
Forward - Simeon Jackson (Norwich City/England)
Forward - Dwayne De Rosario (D.C. United/MLS)
Forward - Olivier Occean (Eintracht Frankfurt/Germany)
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