Former Forge FC star Kwasi Poku named in CanMNT squad for October friendly

2024-10-02

Charlie O’Connor-Clarke, Digital Content Editor (@charliejclarke)

Canada Soccer announced on Wednesday the 26-man men’s national team squad that will take part in October’s international window, including a friendly against Panama on Oct. 15.

Jesse Marsch has named a group with several new faces, including RWD Molenbeek forward Kwasi Poku, who joined the Belgian side from Canadian Premier League club Forge FC in a league-record transfer just over a month ago.

The 21-year-old Poku has had an incredible 2024, converting from a left-back to a striker early in Forge’s season. He went on to score 10 goals in a 14-game stretch, including crucial markers in the Canadian Championship against both CF Montréal and Toronto FC. Before long, he had attracted the attention of several European clubs, and in August he was sold to Molenbeek, where he has since scored three goals in five appearances.

Molenbeek have won every match that Poku has played in, and sit in first place in Belgium’s Challenger Pro League with a 5-1-0 record.

Marsch, who watched Poku at Tim Hortons Field on July 14th when he scored a brace against Pacific FC, was full of praise for the former Forge man: “We have been following him for a while. We thought about bringing him into the September window, but he had just made his transfer to Molenbeek. He has had some good performances there, he is playing more of a right winger, he has played as a left winger at Forge and as a striker so he has some really good flexibility to the way he plays.

“You can see in some ways he is still young and raw, but in other ways he has really good instincts with how he moves around the box, how he shows up in the match, his ability to hold on to balls, his ability to be vertical. He can use his speed and athleticism at the right times, he scores a lot of different kind of goals, some of them just being smarter than the defender, some being athletic, he is good in the air, so he has a lot of good qualities. We are really excited to get him into camp and to get him integrated to what we do.”

Poku, a native of Brampton, Ont., had been with Forge since 2022, winning CPL championships in both 2022 and 2023, as well as participating in the Concacaf Champions Cup. This is Poku’s first senior national team call-up, although he has previously represented Canada at the Concacaf U-20 Championship.

Also in Marsch’s squad for this window are the majority of Canada’s usual stars including Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David and Stephen Eustáquio. There are two other newcomers with recent U-20 experience in the group alongside Poku: Crewe Alexandria defender Jamie Knight-Lebel (on loan with the League Two side from Bristol City) and Pumas UNAM forward Santiago López are both making their first appearances in a senior camp.

The group also includes two other CPL products alongside Poku, with former Valour FC goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois and ex-Cavalry FC defender Joel Waterman, both now at CF Montréal. In total, 11 players have been called up to the senior national team either during or after time spent in the Canadian Premier League.

Canada, currently 38th in the FIFA World Rankings, will take on 37th-ranked Panama in a friendly on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at Toronto’s BMO Field, after opening the window with a training camp held in Montréal.

The match will be available to watch live on OneSoccer, as well as on fuboTV and TELUS Optik TV channel 980.

Full Canada Squad:

GK – Maxime Crépeau | USA / Portland Timbers
GK – Jonathan Sirois | CAN / CF Montréal
GK – Dayne St. Clair | USA / Minnesota United FC