Joseph Di Chiara thought that he was eventually going to get a call from a Canadian national side — just not the senior national side.

Joseph Di Chiara and Ashtone Morgan will both get their chances to earn their first-ever caps for the Canadian national team. The inclusion of the two youngsters highlights six changes made to the Canadian roster by national men’s team coach Stephen Hart ahead of World Cup qualifiers Oct. 7 in St. Lucia and Oct. 11 against Puerto Rico at Toronto’s BMO Field.

Joseph Di Chiara could get his first Canadian national-team cap when the senior squad travels to St. Lucia for an Oct. 7 World Cup qualifier.

As Canada prepares to begin its World Cup qualifying campaign — which kicks off Sept. 2 against Puerto Rico — coach Stephen Hart has a lot on his plate. With that in mind, The 11, with some input from our readers, has created a list of players — not including Junior Hoilett, he’s been talked about ad nauseam already— who didn’t take part in the Gold Cup and could inject some life into the Canadian squad.

Canada likely won’t have reigning national player of the year Atiba Hutchinson available for the beginning of the World Cup qualifying schedule. Canadian national team coach Stephen Hart said in a conference call Thursday that Hutchinson is still recovering from meniscus surgery in June. The injury forced Hutchinson to miss two of Canada’s three games at the Gold Cup.

Yuri Studin, the president of the Greater Toronto Area’s Spartacus Soccer Club, has known Joseph Di Chiara since the boy was in the early stages of elementary school. He remembers young Joseph as not being tough enough to even keep up with his sister on the soccer pitch. Now, Studin is beaming with pride. After coming in as a sub last Saturday in a match against Terek Grozny, Di Chiara, now 19, got his first start Wednesday in the Russian Premier League in the sky blue shirt of Kryliya Sovetov, a 3-0 home loss to Anzhi Makhachkala.