As their Vancouver Whitecaps team-mates prepare for Saturday's match against DC United in chilly Vancouver, Bryce Alderson and Russell Teibert will be going for gold in Tennessee and trying to win a spot for Canada's U23 team at this summer's Olympics in London.
The pair were confirmed today in Tony Fonseca's 20 man Canadian squad for the upcoming 2012 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying tournament in Nashville, which gets underway on Thursday.
With two qualifying spots on the line, Canada face a tough ask if they are to be in London alongside the Canadian women's team, with the US and Mexico huge favourites to come through the CONCACAF qualifying.
Canada face El Salvador, the US and Cuba in their group games and are likely to face Mexico in a crunch semi-final decider on March 31st, should they finish in the top two in their group.
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Bryce and Russell were originally named in the 24 man pre-tournament training camp, which has been in Florida since March 13th, and they have been amongst some familiar faces, with five former Whitecaps taking part in the camp.
Of those five, Philippe Davies, Marcus Haber and Randy Edwini-Bonsu have made the final squad, with Huddersfield Town goalie Simon Thomas and Edmonton's Kyle Porter unfortunately missing out.
For REB, it's been tough getting released by his German club Eintracht Braunsweig. He only joined up with the camp at the weekend and will have to return to Germany after the semi final.
All four of Canada's senior clubs will have two representatives in the squad, which is an encouraging sign for the domestic game. Getting these players regular first team football, especially at a club like the Whitecaps, is the next challenge before adding to these numbers.
Alderson and Teibert missed the Whitecaps game against Chivas at the weekend and will be unavailable for this week's home game against DC United and next week's trip to Philadelphia, along with the reserve game against Seattle next Monday.
Both players will be relishing the opportunity to pull on their country's colours again.
Russell has represented Canada previously at U17 and U20 level and played in the 2009 CONCACAF U17 Championship in Mexico.
For Bryce, the call up to the Olympic U23 team comes after captaining his country at the 2011 CONCACAF U-17 Championship and 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup, along with winning Canada’s U-17 Player of the Year award for 2010 and 2011, following nicely in Russell's footsteps, who won the award in 2008 and 2009.
Fonseca could call on players born up to 1989, but with only four such players included, his onus is on youth and developing this squad going forward.
At 18, Bryce Alderson is the second youngest player on the squad, after FC Metz midfielder Samuel Piette. Having watched Bryce perform well for the Caps pre-season, and not look out of place against older and stronger MLS players, this could very well be his chance to shine and stake a place in the Caps' gameday eighteen.
Coach Fonseca has no doubts about Alderson's ability and doesn't see his age as being a factor, telling a media conference call this morning:
<i>" Bryce is a talented young athlete, he is very comfortable on the ball and has imagination."</i>
Realistically, it's going to be a tough tournament for Canada, but often the tougher the path, the better they perform.
A second place finish in the group should be the target, before a winner takes all semi showdown against the Mexicans. Fonseca knows what he and the team need to do to qualify:
<i>"Our strategy is to go out and win every game but with this being a tournament we have to be wise and smart"</i>.
The Canadians kick of their tournament with what could be a crunch game against El Salvador on Thursday. You can watch the action live from 3.30pm (Pacific Time) on Sportsnet One and Sportsnet World.
Canada has participated in three Men’s Olympic football tournaments, winning gold in St. Louis in 1904, hosting in Montréal in 1976 and having a fifth placed finish when qualifying for Los Angeles in 1984.
Canada just missed out on a spot at Beijing in 2008, when they finished third in the CONCACAF qualifying. Can they go at least one better this time around? We certainly hope so.
Good luck to Bryce, Russell and the rest of the guys. Do us, and yourselves, proud.
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