The CanMNT's "Playing Right Now" Starting 11

In an interview with Mike Martignago and Tyler Green on Full-Time Radio in Vancouver on Sunday, men's national team head coach Stephen Hart suggested that the most significant criterion in his selection process for the team's friendly against Greece on February 9 is whether or not a player is currently, y'know, playing.

So with just under a month to go until the match, I figured the time was right to start theorizing about who'll be on the Canadian squad for what should be an absolutely spellbinding, riveting, roller-coaster ride of offensive fury against the Greeks. *cough for dramatic effect*

Note that this lineup is comprised of not necessarily Canada's best possible starting 11 (or even the starting 11 that I actually think will take the pitch against Greece)... but rather, the 11 fellows who are currently seeing the most playing time at their clubs.

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Naturally, anyone playing in North America is out due to the winter break. With that in mind, I present the following:

Yeah, I'm no formation geek, so please don't get your undergarments misaligned over my bizarre 4-3-3. Considering the inherent constraints of this exercise, I did my best to keep guys in their natural/customary positions, while still producing something vaguely resembling a usable formation.

Goalkeeping: A few months ago, even the most gung-ho Canadian fans had never heard of Milan Borjan, the 23-year-old Serbian-born shot-stopper. But in November, he declared his eligibility for Canada (where he lived for a few years) and he's been our busiest keeper as of late, playing 12 of 16 games for FK Rad in the Serbian league this season.

His team hasn't played since December 4, but he's played more recently than Lars Hirschfeld (winter break since October). And no one else is playing -- not Haidar al-Shaibani, David Monsalve, Josh Wagenaar, Greg Sutton, Michal Misiewicz... not sure what Roberto Stillo is up to, but if the 19-year-old Genoa property is getting any playing time, he's our backup in this situation. Yikes.

Defence: Jaime Peters has 25 appearances for Ipswich this year, having most recently played the full 90 in Chelsea's 7-0 demolition of his side in the FA Cup on Sunday. Some have questioned his efficacy at right back, but hey, who else are you gonna put there? Marcel de Jong has played 12 of 18 games for his club this season, and can be slotted in at left back. ("What about Mike Klukowski, who's making an impact for his club in Turkey?" I'll get to that.)

Centre back is a clusterfuck. Adam Straith hasn't played since November 5, but he's gotta be in there... while Klukowski would, in this alternate universe, get shunted into centre back from his natural fullback position for no other reason than he lost the coin toss with de Jong. Our other options at centre back are either on a winter break (Jakovic, Hainault, Attakora, Cann), not playing regularly (Edgar, McKenna) or unemployed (Hastings).

Midfield: Thankfully we get some consistency here, as all three of Atiba Hutchinson, Issey Nakajima-Farran and Josh Simpson are getting regular playing time with their clubs in Holland, Denmark and Turkey, respectively. Also under consideration here are Patrice Bernier (Denmark) and, oddly enough (thanks to his trial work with Celtic) Dwayne DeRosario.

Striker: Despite ostensibly having sung his swan song with the nats, Tomasz Radzinski is still an option (one which Hart indicated that he'd be open to, during the Full-Time interview). Sure, he's 37, but he's got five goals in 19 appearances for Lierse in Belgium this season (logging 1,527 minutes of playing time in the process). Iain Hume is also enjoying a renaissance, having bagged four goals since his transfer to Preston North End in September.

And Simeon, oh Simeon... despite my professed worries about his changing role at Norwich City -- and lack of goals as of late -- he's still seeing more of the pitch than most others in the men's national team's player pool, and is a lock for any squad we field in the immediate future.

Others: I realize that both Junior Hoilett and Jonathan de Guzman are getting regular playing time, and are eligible to be called for Canada... but a week earlier on Full-Time, Hoilett ruled out playing in the Greece game (saying he's focused on his career at Blackburn at the moment), while anyone thinking JDG2 will be showing up in any red-and-white kit next month probably needs a thorough psychiatric evaluation immediately.

Blood the pups: There is also the possibility -- as Hart alluded to on Full-Time -- that he'll reach into the youth teams (specifically the U23 team, set for a training camp in Arizona starting this week) to fill out the roster against Greece. I didn't take this into account when compiling this lineup... in fact, I only remembered it after I was done writing, which is why I've included it as a brief note here at the end (so that you don't think I'm daft enough to be entirely oblivious to it). So, yep. That's a possibility.

So, what does this all mean? Well, it just reinforces what a difficult job Stephen Hart has on his hands (consider what our goalkeeping situation would be if he hadn't plucked Borjan out of obscurity) and fills me with even more dread about the potential outcome of the Greece friendly.

Not that the scoreline matters a whole lot, in the grand scheme of things, but a shellacking at the hands of the Greeks could only mean bad news for the already flawed image of the men's national team in the general Canadian sporting consciousness.

But, what do you think? Did I miss someone? Could I have assembled this patchwork squad into a better formation? (Answer is almost definitely yes.) Let me know what you think in the comments section.