Fleming cuts four, adds Lopez to Canada’s U-17 roster

Sean Fleming

Sean Fleming, coach of Canada’s U-17 team, has cut four players from the roster and added one new face ahead of Saturday’s opening game of the CONCACAF Championship.

Canada opens group-stage action in Panama Saturday (streamed on Sportsnet.ca) with a match against Trinidad and Tobago. If Fleming’s Canadians can make it to the semifinals of the tournament, the side will qualify for the U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

Fleming had 23 players called to a pre-tournament cap in Florida. But, he had to bring the Canadian roster to the 20-player CONCACAF limit 24 hours ahead of the kickoff of its first match of the tournament.

Lakeshore SC goalkeeper James Pantemis, Unionville U-21 forward Derek Cornelius  and  West Pine Strikers’ defender Samuel Vinson didn’t make the cut. The surprise omission was Whitecaps Residency midfielder Kianz Froese-Gonzalez, who also trained with FC Edmonton in the 2011 offseason. Froese-Gonzalez played at the previous U-17 championships … for Cuba, that is. It is the country of his birth, but he made the switch to Canada, as he grew up in Manitoba.

Wait a second, you might say. Fleming had to bring the roster to 20 from 23, but made four cuts? Why?

That’s because a new player entered the fold this week.

Midfielder Jose Lopez didn’t appear on the 23-man preliminary roster released last week. But he is on the final list of 20. On Tuesday, Lopez tweeted that he’d got the call to join the in-progress Canadian U-17 camp. The move means that FC Edmonton now has two players on the roster: Hanson Boakai, the much-hyped teen who has already been promoted to the NASL club from the Reserves; and Lopez, who is currently listed as being with the Reserves after being a standout at the 2012 U-18 Cup with Chinook United. Lopez was brought into the FCE fold by assistant coach and Reserves head man Jeff Paulus, and there are likely a few Eddies’ supporters who don’t know Lopez yet — their introduction to him will be through the U-17s.

Whitecaps Residency keeper Marco Carducci will captain the team.

ROSTER
1- GK- Marco Carducci | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
2 – D- Mathieu Laurent | CAN / Mississauga Falcons
3 – D- Elias Roubos | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
4 – D- Alex Comsia | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
5 – D- Aron Mkungilwa | CAN / Académie Impact Montréal
6 – M- Derick Sequeira | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
7 – M- Marco Bustos | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
8 – M- Jose Lopez | CAN / FC Edmonton Reserves
9 – F- Jordan Hamilton | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
10 – M/F- Hanson Boakai | CAN / FC Edmonton
11 – M- Jordan Haynes | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
12 – D- Kevon Black | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
13 – D- Ian Fernandes | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
14 – M- Andrew Gordon | CAN / Woodbridge Strikers
15 – M- Matthew Chow | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
16 – M- Marco-Leonel Dominguez | CAN / Braves d’Ahuntsic
17 – M- Mikaël Cantave | FRA / Orvault Sport Football
18 – GK- Daniel Milton | CAN / Ajax FC
19 – F- El Mehdi Ibn Brahim | CAN / Braves d’Ahuntsic
20 – M- Ali Musse | CAN / WSA Winnipeg