Canada roster for Cyprus friendly - the Real McCoy

After a puzzling Canada roster was published by the Cyprus FA, diehard Canadian soccer fans were left scratching their heads. The new roster, albeit still preliminary, clears up a few of the obvious mistakes of the first.

The players:

#	Player	Pos.	Team	League
1	Lars Hirschfeld	GK	CFR Cluj	Romania
18	Kenny Stamatopoulos	GK	FC Lyn Oslo	Norway
2	Nik Ledgerwood	D/M	TSV 1860 München	Germany
3	Chris Pozniak	D/M	Dundee FC	Scotland
4	Adrian Cann	D	Esbjerg fB	Denmark
5	Kevin McKenna	D	1. FC Köln	Germany
6	Julian de Guzman	M	Deportivo la Coruna	Spain
7	Paul Stalteri	D/M	Borussia Mönchengladbach	Germany
8	Tyler Hemming	M/F	Charleston Battery	USL
10	Tosaint Ricketts	F	Myllykosken Pallo –47	Finland
11	Richard Hastings	D	Inverness CT	Scotland
12	Issey Nakajima-Farran	M	FC Nordsjælland	Denmark
13	Jaime Peters	M	Ipswich Town FC	England
14	Marcel de Jong	M	Roda JC	Netherlands
15	Josh Simpson	M	FC Kaiserslautern	Germany
16	Andrzej Ornoch	F	Esbjerg fB	Denmark
17	Simeon Jackson	F	Gillingham FC	England

Players dropped from the initial lineup include Tomasz Radzinski (busy with a promotion playoff), Patrice Bernier, and Rob Friend (injured). Taking their place are Tosaint Ricketts, who some will remember from the 2007 U20 team and former TFC player Tyler Hemming.

Hemming, Ricketts, and Simeon Jackson are all in line to receive their first Canada caps. The rest of the story, in caps and goals:

#	Player	Caps
7	Paul Stalteri	73
11	Richard Hastings	53
5	Kevin McKenna	38
6	Julian de Guzman	35
1	Lars Hirschfeld	27
3	Chris Pozniak	23
15	Josh Simpson	18
12	Issey Nakajima-Farran	16
13	Jaime Peters	15
14	Marcel de Jong	7
18	Kenny Stamatopoulos	5
4	Adrian Cann	4
16	Andrzej Ornoch	2
2	Nik Ledgerwood	2
17	Simeon Jackson	0
8	Tyler Hemming	0
10	Tosaint Ricketts	0
	Total	318
	Average	18.71
#	Player	Goals
5	Kevin McKenna	9
7	Paul Stalteri	7
6	Julian de Guzman	4
11	Richard Hastings	1
12	Issey Nakajima-Farran	1
13	Jaime Peters	1
17	Simeon Jackson	0
16	Andrzej Ornoch	0
15	Josh Simpson	0
14	Marcel de Jong	0
10	Tosaint Ricketts	0
2	Nik Ledgerwood	0
18	Kenny Stamatopoulos	0
1	Lars Hirschfeld	0
8	Tyler Hemming	0
4	Adrian Cann	0
3	Chris Pozniak	0
	Total	23
	Average	1.35

The inclusion of Marcel de Jong and Paul Stalteri is described as "subject to their club competition this coming weekend", according to the release. One assumes this means that de Jong will join the team if his Roda JC are eliminated in their relegation playoff, and Stalteri will be available if Moenchengladbach's result this weekend means that their match on the final day of the season, which coincides with the Cyprus friendly, has no relegation implications.

Despite being thin up front (none of the striker options in this bunch have ever scored for Canada), this is as strong a lineup as could be expected. I continue to be surprised by the inclusion of Julian de Guzman.

Nobody asked, but this would be my XI:

Hirschfeld

Stalteri - McKenna - Cann - de Jong Hastings

Peters - de Guzman - Ledgerwood - Simpson

Jackson - Ornoch

(Hastings swapped in for de Jong, since it looks as if he won't be available. See below)

In all likelihood, experienced players like Pozniak and Hastings will get the start, but it would be a shame if some the young guys, and particularly Simeon Jackson and Andrzej Ornoch, didn't get to see the pitch.

UPDATE: De Jong out? It sure looks that way. After spending some considerable time studying the arcane inner workings of the KNVB promotion/relegation system, it looks like Roda's 1-0 win today will keep them busy next weekend with a best-of-three series against either Cambuur Leeuwarden or FC Zwolle.

Looks like I'll have to re-think my starting XI.