The 8th edition of the Jeux de la Francophonie, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, is starting this Friday, and after good preparation and two friendly matches, the Canada-Quebec selection is ready to face the best national teams of the Francophonie.
In its first group game, head coach Valerio Gazzola’s team will face the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, July 22. Then, it will face France and Haiti, on July 24 and 26.
Two preparation games
To start the tournament on the right foot, the team played two preparation games.
On July 9, Canada-Quebec’s selection won 1-0 against the Haitian U20 team, at Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard, in Montreal. Jimmy-Shammar Sanon, who was formed at the Impact Academy and now playing with Ottawa Fury FC, scored the only goal on a pass from Gabriel Balbinotti.
Following that game, the team flew to Morocco to complete its preparation and played against the Moroccan U20 team, winning 1-0 again. This time, Santiago Gonzalez, from the Impact U18, scored the only goal.
“The group did well,” said goalkeeper James Pantemis. “Personally, I see a big difference between the first days of training and where we are now. The team is more confident in its play and we adapted well to the formation proposed by the head coach. It was important to get a positive result against Morocco since it’s the level of play that we will face in the tournament.”
The main focus
If the goals of the Canadian men’s teams are often modest in international competitions, the players are clear on their goal in Abidjan: they want to win the competition.
Forward Gabriel Balbinotti and midfielder Mathieu Choinière are on the same page when they say they want to finish first of the group, and then win the competition.
They also aim to take as much experience as possible from the tournament.
“I want to take this opportunity to see how we prepare at the international level,” said Mathieu Choinière. “It’s also a chance to compare ourselves collectively with the other teams.”
“I’m happy to participate in an international tournament,” said Gabriel Balbinotti. “It’s an experience and a learning process against high-level players. We want to bring this back in Quebec for the future.”
16 players in total are linked to the Montreal Impact in the selection, including Thomas Meilleur-Giguère and Jimmy-Shammar Sanon, who are playing with the Ottawa Fury FC. Counting Pierre Lamothe, now with CS Longueuil (PLSQ), who was formed at the Impact Academy, it’s 85% of the selection that is linked to the Bleu-blanc-noir.
