The Canadian men’s national team’s 25-man roster for its final three World Cup qualifiers was announced on Sunday, with 19-year-old CF Montreal midfielder Ismael Kone among the surprises to make the cut.
Kone, who was born in the Ivory Coast, has made seven appearances – logging nearly 500 minutes in those games – for Montreal across all competitions this season. That includes starts in the Concacaf Champions League against Mexican giants Cruz Azul and Santos Laguna. The teenager scored his first goal for the club in the team’s 3-0 win over Santos on Feb. 23.
The youngster is also coming off a monumental performance in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Atlanta United on Saturday, picking up a goal, an assist and drawing a penalty for Montreal.
“One thing that I have seen consistently is just a fearless mindset,” said Canada coach John Herdman. “I think the game this weekend [versus Atlanta United], he was able to show that sort of resilience that I think is really important to be part of this team where you can make a mistake and come back and produce a performance like he did.”
Minnesota United goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair is the only other player who was not part of the January squad. St. Clair has started Minnesota’s last two games, keeping clean sheets in both matches. The likes of Montreal’s Sebastian Breza were among the other candidates to be Canada’s No. 3 shot-stopper.
Alphonso Davies remains out as he recovers from mild myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. Bayern Munich is hopeful that Davies can return to the pitch in time for the Champions League quarterfinals versus Villarreal, with the first leg kicking off on April 6.
“We were desperate to have him in to be part of [clinching a World Cup berth],” Herdman said. “To help him experience all of the effort he put in over these four years. But there are bigger things ahead and his health, anything around the heart, is so precarious. I think all of us just want to make sure he comes back to full health and the best place for him to be is with Bayern Munich.”
Midfielder Stephen Eustaquio and defender Richie Laryea were both included despite a lack of match fitness. Luckily for Herdman, Eustaquio started in Porto’s 1-1 draw with Lyon in the Europa League last Thursday and looked solid in his longest start to date for his new club.
Whereas Eustaquio has five appearances and around 120 minutes since his Porto debut on Feb. 6, Laryea has yet to play a single match for Nottingham Forest after joining the Championship outfit from Toronto FC in January. The 27-year-old’s last game was with Canada in the 2-0 win over El Salvador on Feb. 2.
Combined with the long layoff due to the MLS off-season, Laryea is far less in shape compared to previous windows with the national team.
“You have always got those concerns as a coach,” said Herdman. “But I think you don’t underestimate, either, the power of the human will and the human potential. Players like that can turn it on when they need to.
“What we know is they might not be able to turn it on for 95, 100 minutes but there will be a period in the game where these players will suffer a bit. But at the end of the day, they have showed a resilient mindset and if I believe the science and everything that science told us, we would not be where we are at now.”
Should any injuries or suspensions occur during the window, there is a select group of players on standby, who are usually domestic-based for ease of travel in case the team requires an emergency call-up. L.A. Galaxy defender Raheem Edwards is among them after an impressive start to the 2022 season. It wasn’t enough to land Edwards on the roster but Herdman still acknowledged the 26-year-old’s recent form.
“He did well at the end of last season so he has been in our reckoning now for a period of time and certainly his few games for LA Galaxy, his shift to left-back, has transformed him.”
Canada, who remains undefeated in the final round of World Cup qualifying through 11 games, opens the March window against Costa Rica on Thursday in San Jose.
A victory over Costa Rica would automatically clinch a spot at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar this November. A Canada draw, plus Panama and the U.S. failing to beat Honduras and Mexico, respectively, would also be enough. Even a Canadian loss along with Panama not defeating Honduras and the U.S. losing to Mexico would secure the berth.
CANADA ROSTER:
Goalkeepers: Milan Borjan (Red Star Belgrade), Maxime Crepeau (Los Angeles FC), Dayne St. Clair (Minnesota United).
Defenders: Sam Adekugbe (Hatayspor), Derek Cornelius (Panetolikos), Cristian Gutierrez (Vancouver Whitecaps), Doneil Henry (Los Angeles FC), Alistair Johnston (CF Montreal), Scott Kennedy (Jahn Regensburg), Richie Laryea (Nottingham Forest), Kamal Miller (CF Montreal), Steven Vitoria (Moreirense).
Midfielders: Stephen Eustaquio (FC Porto), Liam Fraser (KMSK Deinze), Atiba Hutchinson (Besiktas), Mark-Anthony Kaye (Colorado Rapids), Ismael Kone (CF Montreal), Jonathan Osorio (Toronto FC).
Forwards: Tajon Buchanan (Club Brugge), Lucas Cavallini (Vancouver Whitecaps), Jonathan David (Lille), Junior Hoilett (Reading), Cyle Larin (Besiktas), Liam Millar (FC Basel), Ike Ugbo (Troyes, on loan from Genk).
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
