I chatted with Dwayne DeRosario yesterday about putting his most difficult year in MLS behind him, his new contract and his friendship with head coach Ben Olsen.
What didn't make that CBC article was a conversation we had on the Canadian national team and some of his concerns in the lead up to the next round of World Cup qualifying.
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"It’s not an easy group. Those are all tough, physical places to play in. Honduras is a strong team," he said. "And if you look at how Panama did in the last Gold Cup they did fairly well. They won our group but at this stage there are no easy games, so we need to be physically and mentally prepared to go into each game and try and take three points."
Moreover, on the same day that Canadian national team head coach Stephen Hart was talking about his roster for the Armenia friendly, De Rosario stressed the importance of getting more games together in the lead up to the next round.
"If you look at other teams in our group they've already played a few games. We have Armenia coming up and then we don't play again until June against the USA," DeRosario said. "It's so important for us to play together as much as we can before qualifying. We have players coming from all over, playing different styles, at the different points in the year, we need that extra time to come together and gel."
Honduras, for example, whose national league regularly shuts down during periods of World Cup qualifying, played six friendlies following the completion of the Gold Cup. They will play Ecuador next week and Costa Rica on April 11. It is expected they will arrange two or three more games before June on non-FIFA dates.
Panama's last game was against the USA in January. They'll play Paraguay next week and are expected to play at least one more game before June competition.
Cuba, the final team in Canada's qualifying group, will, by the time February is done, have played three games this month. Two against Jamaica and one more against Bolivia.
Looking at those numbers, it's easy to see why DeRo is concerned heading into June.
"Thankfully the MLS schedule is cleared when we actually have a World Cup break. So we're not going to be playing during the qualifiers. That takes a huge load off our shoulders," he said. "It's everyone’s dream on the squad to qualify for the World Cup – you don’t want to run yourself thin - and it's difficult when players are coming from all over but we all know we need more games."