TORONTO — Canada’s roster for the 2017 CONCACAF Men’s Under-17 Championship has a distinctly Toronto FC feel.
Eleven of coach Paul Stalteri’s 20-man roster are from the TFC academy. Four others are from the Vancouver Whitecaps’ residency program and one is from the Montreal Impact academy.
Two play for Ottawa Internationals SC.
The 12-team tournament, which runs April 21 to May 7 in Panama, will send four teams to the FIFA U-17 World Cup in India this October.
"We ended the 2016 calendar year with a few very good performances, so we will look to build on that success," Paul Stalteri said in a statement. "With the demanding nature of this competition, we need to count on our boys being in top physical condition and ready to tackle the qualifiers from the first match on April 22."
Canada opens against Costa Rica before facing Cuba on April 25 and Suriname on April 28. The top two teams in the group will advance to the six-country second round.
CANADA
Goalkeeper: Gianluca Catalano, Toronto FC Academy; Sebastian Sgarbossa, Toronto FC Academy.
Defenders: Jake Ruby, Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-16 Residency; Terique Mohammed, Toronto FC Academy; Julian Dunn-Johnson, Toronto FC Academy; Antonio Rocco Romeo, Toronto FC Academy; Emile Legault, AJ Auxerre (France); Yohan Le Bourhis, Academie Impact de Montreal.
Midfielders: Noble Okello, Toronto FC Academy; Jordan Faria, Toronto FC Academy; Michael Baldisimo, Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2; Steffen Yeates, Toronto FC Academy; Luca Petrasso; Toronto FC Academy; Alessandro Hojabrpour, Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-16 Residency; Alessandro Hojabrpour, Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-16 Residency; Ryan Amorim, Vitoria FC Juvenis; Benson Fazili, Ottawa Internationals SC; Olakunle Dada-Luke, Toronto FC Academy.
Forwards: Jonathan David, Ottawa Internationals SC; Jose Hernandez, Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-16 Residency; Zakaria Abdi, Toronto FC Academy.
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