Simon Gatti: Not on the Florida roster
On Monday, the Impact announced the roster that will head down to Florida for the upcoming Disney Pro Classic tournament, which kicks off next Saturday.
Absent from the roster were three Canadians who were with the club last year in NASL action, including veterans Nevio Pizzolitto and Simon Gatti. The Impact confirmed Monday that neither player will be back on the field for the club, but that both have been offered positions in the organization.
As well, Romanian-born Canadian Mirceal Ilcu’s name wasn’t on the Florida roster. (MONDAY UPDATE: The Impact has confirmed that Ilcu is injured and is with the U21 team)
So, of the five players holding Canadian passports who played with the Impact in its final NASL season that were invited to the team’s inaugural MLS camp, four have now fallen by the wayside. Reda Agourram was cut earlier in the preseason. Now, Sebrango, who is a Canadian citizen but isn’t eligible to play for Canada because he’s appeared in FIFA matches for Cuba, is the only one of the five left.
On the roster, Montreal brings just five Canadians down to Florida; goalkeeper Greg Sutton and midfielder Patrice Bernier, who are signed for the 2012 season, James (chosen in the supplemental draft), Sebrango and Academy teen Ouimette, who comes down on a trial basis.
In the end, if Sebrango is the third Canadian to make the team, Montreal’s roster would bear a striking similarity to that of Vancouver — the bare minimum of Canadians allowed on a Canadian club’s MLS roster (three). And each team would have one of those spots taken up by a player who actually isn’t eligible to play for our national program.
Indeed, it will be interesting to see how the Whitecaps and Impact stack up against each other when they face each other in Florida next weekend. Will the coaches use it as a sneak preview of the March 10 season opener? Will the teams use what the coaches see as their first XI selections. Because, then, it will be fascinating to see how many Canadian players the two Canadian clubs employ during the match. It would be a sad, sad statement on the MLS’ mandate in Canada — part of which is to help the development of Canadian soccer — if Bernier found himself as the only Canadian national on the field.
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Actually it is a sad statement on Canadian soccer. It stinks. The best Canadian players are in Europe and have little connection to the country. They are hard to bring home. The players not in Europe or MLS are usually well below standard. It will take time to get them above minor league level. The academies will also bear fruit one day.
MLS has no mandate for the development of Canadian soccer. Just as Man U doesn’t have a mandate for the development of English soccer. The best play. Teams put who gives them the best chance to win on the pitch.
Leave nationalism and jingoistic flag waving at the door.
What a joke. Montreal is gonna suck hard, just like Vancouver. Hope the Canadian kids at TFC prove to these boneheads that Canadians can not only play in the MLS but own the opposition.
Looks like FCE will lead the way by a mile again with Canadian content, and likely the best record again too.
So is Toronto FC the CD Guadalajara of Canada? By that I mean being the one first division team in Canada that seems committed to having a substantial amount of Canadians playing for them.
What happened to Evan James? When did he get cut?
James is on the list. Missed him when I went through it the first time. (Updated the story to reflect it).