After playing the entire match in a 7-0 FA Cup shellacking at the hands of Chelsea on Sunday, and then again in a 1-0 Carling Cup win over Arsenal on Wednesday, Jaime Peters logged 180 minutes at rightback against the cream of the English crop in the span of three days.
From what I've read his performances were... acceptable. Or at least as acceptable as any performance that's part of a 7-0 loss can be.
So I say again: Jaime Peters needs to play at rightback for Canada against Greece on February 9. Not Paul Stalteri, not Adam Straith, not Nana Attakora and unfortunately at this moment, not Chris Pozniak either.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Peters has appeared one way or another in 19 of Ipswich Town's 24 Championship matches this season (1,112 minutes), six times in the Carling Cup and once in the FA Cup.
No one is going to nominate him for the Ballon d'Or, but if the main criterion for national team selection is whether a player is playing, then he's the man. As for those names mentioned above, Attakora is in the offseason, Stalteri now very rarely plays for Borussia Mönchengladbach (and by very rarely I mean he simply doesn't) and Adam Straith isn't getting enough minutes at club level but would do in a pinch. Some supporters have argued for Chris Pozniak, who plays rightback regularly for Haugesund in Norway, but the issue for the soon-to-be 30-year-old Pozniak is that the Norwegian league doesn't start again until March 19.
*******
Junior Hoilett scored his first goal of the season and turned in a man-of-the-match performance for Blackburn in an 1-0 FA Cup victory over Queen's Park Rangers. The titillatingly titled Wild Blackburn Rover blog had this to say about his performance:
It was quite fitting in a way that the winning goal came from the game's stand out player. Junior Hoilett was the one man intent on lifting the afternoon above a certain level of mediocrity and his constant darting runs and attacking intent showcased why he is now Rovers premier hope for the future... it even begins to show us why the Rovers coaching staff make such a big fuss over him, we can safely start to believe the hype.
Hoilett has started Blackburn's last two Premiership matches as well as the FA Cup tilt. It's a shame he says he won't be with the national team against Greece.
Other Canadian notables:
Josh Simpson scored in a 3-2 Turkish Cup loss against Beşiktaş, and if my calculations are correct that brings him to nine goals for Manisaspor this season in all competitions.
Pedro Pacheco came on as a sub (61st minute) for the second time in the last month as Santa Clara lost to Desportivo Aves. He's had seven appearances as a sub in the Portuguese second division this season. I'm not sure that makes him Canadian national team material, but the options are currently limited in terms of defensive midfielders that are actually playing.
More European leagues return from their winter breaks next week, so keep watching for this column every Wednesday afternoon. Or like this week, Thursday afternoon.
Photo credit: Jean Farrugia