Three Former CPL Athletes Crack Canada Squad For World Cup Tune-Up

Canadian Premier League fans will see some familiar faces in the Canadian camp when the national team takes on Bahrain for a friendly match ahead of the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup.

John Herdman called up twenty-one players for the friendly with a strong focus on those based in North America, where their clubs will have wrapped up for the season at the time of the match.

In the collection was a first-time call-up for Toronto FC’s Lukas MacNaughton, who was purchased from Pacific FC this year and saw himself earn regular minutes at the MLS level. He’d told us he had a clear objective to crack the national team, and this’ll mark a big chance for former CPL champion – especially with Scott Kennedy now out of the World Cup roster through injury.

The full listing also includes CF Montreal’s Joel Waterman, who’s third season with the MLS side proved to be a breakout, play-off reaching campaign. The third and final former CPL athlete is none other than James Pantemis, who had a knockout season whilst on loan with Valour in 2020’s Island Games tournament.

Les Rouges will suit up against Bahrain on November 11 in the nation’s capital of Manama. The friendly match will largely be used to assess the fitness levels of the call-ups, with Herdman poised to make some big roster decisions ahead of the World Cup Roster deadline that will come just two days afterwards. That final roster can feature a maximum of 26 players.

Once those cuts are made, Canada will embark on one last friendly match – this time against Japan on November 17 – before heading to Qatar and kicking off the country’s first World Cup campaign since 1986.

Canada finds itself in a group with Belgium, Croatia, and Morocco. They’ll enter as significant underdogs in the competition.

Here’s a full list of the 21-man squad called up by Herdman for next Friday’s friendly against Bahrain – an impressive eight of which belong to CF Montreal:

GK- Maxime Crepeau (LAFC)
GK- James Pantemis (CF Montreal)
GK- Dayne St. Clair (Minnesota United)
CB- Doneil Henry (Unattached)
CB- Lukas MacNaughton (Toronto FC)
CB- Kamal Miller (CF Montreal)
CB- Joel Waterman (CF Montreal)
FB- Zachary Brault-Guillard (CF Montreal)
FB- Raheem Edwards (LA Galaxy)
FB- Alistair Johnston (CF Montreal)
FB- Richie Laryea (Nottingham Forest, on loan with Toronto FC)
M- Mathieu Choiniere (CF Montreal)
M- Liam Fraser (KMSK Deinze)
M- Mark-Anthony Kaye (Toronto FC)
M- Ismaal Kone | CAN (CF Montreal)
M- Jonathan Osorio (Toronto FC)
M- Samuel Piette (CF Montreal)
F- Ayo Akinola (Toronto FC)
F- Lucas Cavallini (Vancouver Whitecaps)
F- Jayden Nelson (Toronto FC)
F- Jacob Shaffelburg (Toronto FC, on loan with Nashville)