The Canadian Men’s national played the third ranked country in the world, Colombia, in a friendly Wednesday night, losing 1-0 thanks to a strike by World Cup player James Rodriguez (Real Madrid) at Red Bull Arena.
The bleu-blanc-noir’s Issey Nakajima-Farran, Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé and Karl W. Ouimette were all called into camp. Nakajima-Farran played the full 90 minutes for the Reds, while the two youngsters made appearances in the second half.
“It was a great experience because we played an opponent of the highest level,” explained Gagnon-Laparé. “It’s unfortunate that we gave up that goal, but we can learn from our mistakes and improve through experiences like these. We were also able to work towards our upcoming matches as well. We want to improve at every camp.”
Eric Miller with the US U23
Defender Eric Miller spent time with the United States U23 national team in Brazil, but did not feature in his country’s fixture versus Brazil.
Impact U18 in France
Defender Thomas Meilleur-Giguère, as well as midfielders David Choinière and Jimmy-Shammar Sanon from the Impact U18, were key contributors for the Canadian U18 National Team that took part in the in the Lafarge international tournament, in France, from October 2 to 12.
The Canadians went 0-1-2 in group play and did not advance to the knockout stage, but showed well in 1-1 draws with powerhouse France and Uruguay. The only loss came at the hands of the Ukraine 3-1.
Of the three goals scored by Canada throughout this tournament, two Impact players’ names made the score sheet, when David Choinière bulged the twine versus France with a great individual effort in the box.
Thomas Meilleur-Giguère also tied things up versus Uruguay.
This opposition was an opportunity for head coach Rob Gale to prepare for two years down the road when they’ll get their chance to qualify for a FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2017.
