Red-less: No Toronto FC players on the roster for Canada’s WC qualifiers against Belize By Steven Sandor Posted on August 27, 2015 3 0 1,007 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Benito Floro The Canadian team that will face Belize in their two-legged World Cup qualifier will have just nine MLS players on board. Coach Benito Floro’s 22-man roster features just nine MLS-signed players. We use the term “MLS-signed” because two of those nine, Montreal Impact keeper Maxime Crepeau and midfielder Kyle Bekker are, for all intents and purposes, reserve players plying their trades in the USL. And, we’re hard pressed to remember the last time a Canadian national-team roster featured no Toronto FC players. But that’s the case, as neither midfielder Jonathan Osorio nor fullback Ashtone Morgan were named to the roster. Veteran midfielder Julian de Guzman was injured a couple of weeks back playing for the NASL’s Ottawa Fury and is also omitted from the roster. Floro has complained about the lack of playing time Canadian players have got from the Canadian MLS teams. So it’s ironic that the two Canadian players who have the most minutes out of this country’s MLS teams — Morgan and Osorio — aren’t on the roster. Meanwhile, two fringe Impact players made the cut, as did the Whitecaps’ Sam Adekugbe and Russell Teibert, neither of whom is starting MLS games at the moment. But, Teibert was named the MVP of the Amway Canadian Championship. It says something when the three Canadian MLS teams put a grand total of four players on the national side — and none of those four players are what you’d consider “regulars” for their club sides. Think about it: Five of the nine MLS players on the Canadian roster come from the American teams. Canada hosts Belize at BMO Field on Sept. 4, then travels to Belmopan for the second leg on Sept. 8. The winner on aggregate will advance to the fourth round of CONCACAF qualifying. CANADA ROSTER GK- Milan Borjan | BUL / PFK Ludogorets Razgrad GK- Maxime Crépeau | CAN / Impact Montréal GK- Kenny Stamatopoulos | SWE / AIK Fotbol CB- David Edgar | ENG / Sheffield United CB- Luca Gasparotto | SCO / Greenock Morton FC CB- Manjrekar James | HUN / Diósgyöri VTK FB- Samuel Adekugbe | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC FB- Marcel de Jong | USA / Sporting Kansas City FB- Nik Ledgerwood | GER / Energie Cottbus FB- Karl W. Ouimette | USA / New York Red Bulls M- Tesho Akindele | USA / FC Dallas M- Kyle Bekker | CAN / Impact Montréal M- Atiba Hutchinson | TUR / Be?ikta? JK M- Will Johnson | USA / Portland Timbers FC M- Issey Nakajima-Farran | MAS / Terengganu FA M- Michael Petrasso | ENG / Queens Park Rangers M- Samuel Piette | ESP / Racing Ferrol M- Adam Straith | NOR / Fredrikstad FK M- Russell Teibert | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC F- Marcus Haber | ENG / Crewe Alexandra F- Cyle Larin | USA / Orlando City SC F- Tosaint Ricketts | TUR / Boluspor FC
