Al Clark
al@canucks-abroad.com
2007 U20 Squad - #2 NAG and #5 Haber Return: Source: CSA
A young and inexperienced group of U20's will face off against Argentina this Mother's Day in a match to commemorate last year's opening of BMO Field as the new National Stadium.

In reality, the game will serve as a warm up for the upcoming U20 World Cup Qualifiers ahead of next year's tournament in Egypt. Canada's youngsters have made 4 consecutive events and it's good to see solid preparation by the CSA unlike the recent thrown together squad for the Olympic/U23 qualifiers.

The group is entirely made up of 1989 born players or younger in order to meet the eligibility for next year's event, so there's not much experience in the group especially when you compare it to the squad called upon for the last event staged in Canda.

Only 1 player has represented the full CMNT, Paris Nakajima-Farran, and only three are returning from the 2007 event - two from MLS's Toronto FC; Nana Attakora-Gyan and Gabe Gala along with Marcus Haber. Haber was also recently involved with the U23 effort to qualify for Beijing.

The U20's played a scrimmage game against Toronto FC's reserve squad on Thursday, running out 2:1 winners against what looked like a strong and experienced TFC line-up. This will have boosted the youngsters as well as given them a chance to play on the infamous BMO fieldturf surface.

The squad is comprised of 11 players from Europe and not many with starting experience at their clubs. The likes of Nakajima-Farran and Brandon Bonifacio represent the few who have really tasted regualr first team action for their clubs. Gabe Gala did see some time at Toronto last year, mainly as a sub. However, there are some solid looking prospects in the team that are with high-profile sides such as Metz (Rosa), Middlesbrough (Saiko), Street (West Ham) and Sidra (Cottbus). There were a coupleo f notable absentees, not least David 'Junior' Hoilett from Blackburn, who is currently starting on-loan to Budesliga 2 outfit, Paderborn.

With current Director of Coaching, and former U17 assistant Ray Clark in charge of the game, the team is expected to play a 4-5-1 formation like the CMNT and U23s do. With a lot of inexperience in the squad there's not a huge amount between many of the players

There's a lot of partity, but I expect the starting line up to look as follows:

----------------------MISEWICSZ/STREET----------------------------
TANNOUS---ATTAKORA-GYAN--IVANOVICH--NAKAJIMA-FARRAN
ROSA----------------SAIKO-----------MELO--------------------GALA
------------------------BONIFACIO/GAUDET-------------------------
--------------------------------HABER---------------------------------

We look strong in goal. MISEWICSZ was once considered the stronger prospect, but West Ham youth player Adam Street shows that GK is not a problem position at this level.

In defence, Attakora-Gyan could play either DR or DC, but I'd expect the line up to be like this. Alex Suprenant is an option at DL, and Nakajima-Farran and Gala have the potential to swap positions as both are capable at DL or ML.

Marcus Haber, who was recently released by Groningen and is one of 7 players who are either unattached or not not in a top flight youth system should be the target man up top, though he is equally adept at centre half. He has recently expressed his desire to play his preferred position of striker going forward. He appeared for both last years' U20's and this season's U20's at striker.

So, it's a laregly meaningless game, but it will be invaluable experience against a top youth side. Good luck from all at Canucks-Abroad!