Four CPL Players included in Canada’s squad for 2024 U-20 Concacaf Championship

2024-07-11

Mitchell Tierney, Digital Content Producer (@mitchelltierney)

On Thursday, Canadian youth national team head coach Andrew Olivieri revealed his 21-player squad for the 2024 U-20 Concacaf Championship in Mexico.

The competition will serve as a qualifier for the 2025 U-20 FIFA World Cup as the Concacaf Championship semifinalists will all be given spots at the tournament, to be played in Chile. Canada has not qualified for a U-20 World Cup since hosting in 2007.

Olivieri’s group includes four Canadian Premier League players, U-21 Best Canadian Player of the Year nominee James Cameron of Vancouver FC, Pacific FC’s Christian Greco-Taylor, Forge’s Khadim Kane and Tavio Ciccarelli of the Halifax Wanderers.

Two further players, Ethan Schilte-Brown, now with Kilmarnock in Scotland, and Kimani Stewart-Baynes of the Colorado Rapids also previously spent time with the Halifax Wanderers on development contracts.

Canada were drawn into the tournament’s Group B, and will open it against Honduras on Saturday, July 20, before taking on the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, July 23 and El Salvador on Friday, July 26.

The top two teams from each of the competition’s three groups, plus the two best-performing third-place teams, advance to the quarter-finals. The winners of those knockout matches qualify for the 2025 U-20 World Cup.

Ivan Pavela, Jovan Ivanesivec and Luc De Fougerolles, the latter of whom has been with the senior national team at the 2024 Copa América, are all unavailable due to club commitments. Toronto FC’s Lazar Stefanovic, meanwhile, misses out through injury.

Canada reached the U-20 Concacaf Championship through a qualifying tournament back in February in Trinidad and Tobago. Canada won all three of their matches at that tournament, scoring 15 goals and allowing none. Forge FC’s Kevaughn Tavernier scored against Dominica and Trinidad and Tobago in qualifying, while Halifax’s Ciccarelli had a hattrick against Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Canada also recently played a pair of friendlies down in Chile to prepare for the Concacaf U-20 Championship. They lost 1-0 to Chile, before beating Paraguay 2-1 on goals from Jessie Costa and Myles Morgan.

Canada’s matches at the U-20 Concacaf Championship will be available to watch on OneSoccer.

Cameron (far left) and Ciccarelli (centre right) celebrate a Canada goal during Concacaf U-20 qualifying (Photo: Canada Soccer)

Here is Canada’s full 21-player squad for the competition: