While I don't think that there is much significance to the fact that he was named first, it is significant that he has been called to a second consecutive match. Prior to the 74 minutes he put in against Ukraine Occean hadn't pulled on a Canada shirt in 26 months. In fact, before the Ukraine match he had put in a total of only 139 minutes in 5 matches over 5 and a half years.
It's clear that he is now considered a useful piece of the puzzle.
Occean had a torrid start to his season in Offenbach, but ended the fall with injuries and a minor slump. He seems to be returning to form, scoring both goals in a recent 2-1 friendly win over Dutch side De Graafschap.
In other news, the venue for the 9 February friendly against Greece has been confirmed as AEL FC Arena in Larissa, 324 kms northeast of Athens.
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Ukraine performance and regular (when healthy) contributions at club level earn him another look and possibly another start the centre forward/target man spot. Too often the forgotten man in the striker pool, I'd say better late than never.
Anon:
I fully agree. I was quite surprised when I looked at his playing history over the last 5 years at how little he had actually featured for Canada, considering he has always been a part of the forward discussion.
Rob Friend has had a better club pedigree during that period, and Ali Gerba has him beat for productivity, but there would have been room for another target-type striker in the picture. I'm glad to see him getting his chance.
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