Men's national team head coach Stephen Hart told the CBC's John Molinaro the other day that when it comes to building the squad, "you just have to keep trying people." We saw plenty of new faces suit up for Canada in 2010, and in the first game of 2011, Hart's going to try yet another new addition: 23-year-old striker Tosaint Ricketts (source).
Currently plying his trade in the Romanian first division for FC Politehnica Timişoara, the Edmonton-born Ricketts has seven goals in 13 appearances for Canada's youth sides, including a hat trick against the USA while with the U20s. He also scored a brace in this year's Europa League while a member of Finnish club MyPa (coincidentally enough, in a game against Timişoara):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVc63HUCmik
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Hart has had some luck unearthing hidden gems thus far: Terry Dunfield pretty much got a second lease on his career after being brought back into the national team setup in 2010, and relative unknowns such as Pedro Pacheco (who's also gotten the call for Feb. 9 - thanks Jono) and Milan Borjan (who'll also make his first appearance for the CanMNT) have made positive impressions on supporters of the national team.
Ricketts, via Twitter, expressed his hope that he'll follow suit: "I hope it will be a good first appearance with the MNT".
We're all hoping the same thing.
(Oh, and for what it's worth, Tosaint uses Twitter much more judiciously than another footballer named Ricketts).