Canada’s men’s U-17 will kick off its 2009 international schedule this Wednesday February 11 in St. Petersburgh, FL with a friendly match against USA. The two sides will kick off at 10.00 at Eckerd College as both teams continue to prepare for April’s CONCACAF Men’s Under-17 Championship in Mexico .
“This will be a great test as these boys play their first international match on Wednesday,” said coach Sean Fleming . “I hope that we are able to build on the good performances during our last camp in Guadalajara (in December).”
Canada is in Tampa for the first part of a two-week camp that will shift to Guatemala later this week. Canada is one of eight teams that has qualified for the 2009 CONCACAF Men’s Under-17 Championship in Tijuana, Mexico . Canada is in Group A with USA , Honduras and Cuba ; Guatemala , Costa Rica , Trinidad & Tobago and host Mexico are in Group B. The tournament begins 21 April and concludes 2 May. The top four teams in the tournament qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Nigeria 2009.
It has been nearly two years since Canada ’s last international match at the 2007 CONCACAF Men’s Under-17 Championship in Jamaica . Canada posted one win, one draw and two losses in its group phase, thus failing to qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Korea 2007. Canada also had a 1:2 loss to Mexico in 2007 before the CONCACAF tournament.
Unlike the lead up to the last CONCACAF qualification tournament in 2007, Canada will have more than just one international friendly in 2009. Later this week, Canada will play a pair of international friendly matches in Guatemala City against Guatemala . Those two matches are set for 14 February and 16 February.
On Monday of this week, Canada played to a 1:1 draw against 2008 Big East champion University of South Florida . Canada will continue its camp through 17 February.
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