*UPDATE: Canada ties 2-2 with England.
The Canadian U20 men’s national team is set to take the pitch against England at home in its first of three friendlies tonight, and as such, the Reds first matchup will be a strong test for the group as it kicks off its preparatory camp for the U20 CONCACAF Championships in January, the qualifying tournament for the 2015 U20 World Cup in New Zealand
“We don’t have to be nervous, just enjoy it,” said midfielder Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare, who along with Louis Beland-Goyette, is representing the Impact with the national team. “We have a great group of guys and we will be successful if play the way we know we can. It’s a huge test for us to try and work on everything with this group to be ready for qualifying games. It will test our mental toughness, our offensive ability as England is a really good offensive side, but also our own defensive discipline.”
There is a lot of excitement around this group of young, talented players, and expectations from outside, but also from within the group, is that this team should be at the World Cup.
“We have talented footballers, and with all the Academy programs developing with the clubs, there is a belief in us that we can go and match any country,” explained U20 CanMNT head coach Rob Gale. “We want to go and show everybody that Canadian soccer is on the up.”
“We really want to qualify for the World Cup and there is some extra pressure because everyone feels we are a good enough team to be there,” added JGL. “We are talking about the World Cup already because we feel we should be there, but we have to make sure that we don’t look too far ahead and be ready for the next game, starting with England.”
The U20 CanMNT takes on England at Dean Court in Bournemouth tonight before heading to Spain the tomorrow to play games against Russia and the USA on November 15 and 18, respectively.
