The Canadian Soccer Association decided to flex their creative muscles and announced the roster for the upcoming international matches and training camp via a fancy youtube video. The clip which you can watch below the jump just gives the names and the basic information on the 22 men that will be involved in the training camp down in Florida ahead of the friendly against the United States and then the pair of World Cup qualifiers.

The roster was filled with all of the names that we are used to seeing with Andre Hainault and Atiba Hutchinson returning after missing the games last fall for various reasons. There were a few more surprising inclusions, with Pedro Pacheco, Issey Nakajima-Farran, and Samuel Piette all being brought in.

For Pacheco and Nakajima-Farran this is a bit of a surprise return to the national team but it means that the likes of Patrice Bernier, Matt Stinson, and Terry Dunfield have been left out of the midfield. The biggest story is that 17 year old Piette has been called up to the senior team. Piette is a player who Stephen Hart clearly has high expectations for and one that he sees as being a huge part of the national teams future. The young midfielder was one of the stand out players for Canada in Olympic Qualifiers despite being one of the youngest players in that squad. He has a whole lot of potential and may even feature in these three games but for the most part should still be considered one for the future.

Hart said at a conference call with media this afternoon, that he had spoken with Dunfield and explained his decision, but that he didn't want too many similar midfielders in the squad. As for Bernier, well to add to the discussion for the lack of playing time Vancouver and Montreal are giving their Canadian players, that was definitely something that played a part in Bernier not being selected. Hart noted that Bernier is a bit disappointed to not make the squad, but felt he hadn't been getting enough consistent playing time.

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All Toronto's footballing literati descended on BMO Field today for what was really 3 press conferences in one, or as John Molinaro rather dismissively sees it, to pick up some free merchandise. First up was the CSA announcing details of their Centennial anniversary celebrations leading up to the June 3rd friendly against USA at BMO Field. That was followed by Stephen Hart and Peter Montopoli taking questions about the upcoming games, and then Umbro Canada unveiling the kit that will be worn by the men's team against the US, and by the Women's team on June 30th when they play the US down in Utah, though apparently not when they play China in Moncton on May 30th.

Details of the centenary celebrations can be found here at the CSA's website, but apparently include plans for events in every province, and then 10 days of celebration which include counting down the top 10 moments in Canadian soccer history, as well as revealing, rather oddly, the Teams of the Half century (1912-1962 and 1963-2012). Presumably it's split up that way so as to not interfere with the reveal of Canada's all time starting XI (men and women) which will be decided by online voting, which is in no way asking for all kinds of fiasco and accusations of regional bias when all is revealed, oh no. All I have to say on the matter is that hey, at least we don't have to worry about Whitecaps or Impact fans voting their team's players in, because, well, you know, and also, if Darlington legend Jason de Vos doesn't make the team, you're all dead to me. Dead.

Stephen Hart then gave the same old non-committal answers to the same old questions about a lot of things. Jonathan de Guzman and David Hoillet, well he gave the impression of being fed up trying to persuade them, he's made it known they're welcome if and when they're ready and can sort out citizenship issues, and now it's all in their respective courts. He thinks all 3 teams they're facing present different challenges, but singled out Panama as being very consistent due to the way a lot of players have come through the junior ranks together and become very familiar. Aside from that, if you've seen or read about one of his press conferences, then you already know it. It was also revealed that ticket sales for Canada's 2 games in June have now reached 10,000 after what was called a significant recent uptick.

Then it was on to the kit, I'll have pictures of that and some of the details below the jump, then come back and tell us what you think in this handy poll!

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Join along with us as Umbro Canada and the CSA reveal a special new Canadian Kit. At a press conference down at BMO Field at 1:30 PM this afternoon Stephen Hart and others will be on hand to unveil the new threads. The kit will be to commemorate the CSA's 100th birthday and will be worn by the Men's national team in their friendly against the United States on June 3rd at BMO Field and by the Women on the 30th when they take on the US down in Utah.

The unveiling will be streamed live by the CSA here so you can follow along and we will update with photos and info when they become available as Duncan will be at the event and hopefully live tweeting things @wakingthered

via p.twimg.com

Sepp Blatter is in Canada! To be more precise he was in Ottawa earlier today hanging out with the likes of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Canadian goal keeper Karina Leblanc. He was in the country to help with the announcement of the venues for when Canada hosts the Women's World Cup in 2015. The country will also play host to the U-20 Women's World Cup a year prior in 2014.

All those hosting duties are going to come with a big price tag for the government and the Canadian Soccer Association. The government has already put forward $15 million to help the CSA with staging the two events. It is not the first time that Canada has hosted major international soccer event though. The nation most recently played host to the Men's U-20 World Cup back in 2007 and the Women's U-20 event in 2002. Both events went over well but should pale in comparison to the size and success of hosting the full grown Women's World Cup. The only bigger sporting event Canada will likely ever host is the Olympics (maybe a Men's World Cup but that is likely not in our life times).

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Toronto FC's Jordan Hamilton has been over in Italy with Canada's Under 17 team for the last couple of weeks and even though the results have not all gone their way Canada can be proud of how they have done in the Torneo delle Nazioni.

The Canadian team picked up a great result in their pre-tournament match against Mexico. Canada was able to claim a 1-1 draw in the match thanks to a strike from Hamilton late in the first half. It was a game that served as a very good gauge of where Canada stands going into next years CONCACAF competition. Head coach Sean Fleming will have been proud of the young players for bouncing back despite going down early and making a real game of it.

Canada then opened the tournament against Israel but having gone down to 10 men around the 50 minute mark, of a 60 minute match, Canada conceded a late winner to Weismann Show. The 1-0 final score will have been painful for the Canadian team who fought hard despite Aron Mkungilwa being sent off for picking up his second yellow card of the match. Again, Fleming seemed proud of his team for fighting after finding themselves at a disadvantage.

Next up for Canada was a match against one of UEFA's powerhouses. Italy proved to be too much for Canada to handle as they were able to score once in each half to claim a 2-0 win. Canada can take some solace that they were able to compete with a fairly strong Italian team but I am sure they would have been hoping for more.

With two defeats in two days Canada was looking to bounce back against Slovenia to end the tournament on a high note. Canada again traveled across the border to play against Slovenia in their own back yard which only made the task of knocking off another strong UEFA side that much more difficult. Canada was more than up to the task though as they got goals from Marco Bustos (21st) and Phillip Makinde (30+) in the first half. That was all the damage the team would need as they held on for a 2-0 win.

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In the small hours of the morning one of those over the top FIFA type events took place. The majority of you were probably sleeping and to be frank you did not miss out on all that much if you did not wake up early to see the Olympic soccer draw.

The event kicked off with the drawing of the Men's tournament which would make up Groups A-D. That part of the draw was of no direct interest to us Canadians though as our men's team tragically failed to qualify. It was groups E-G that we were more interested in since that was the women's side of things. Not quite sure why they continued the lettering from one gender to the other since this way just makes it seem like it is all a single tournament for one gold medal when we all know that it is not.

The Women's draw would see the 12 partaking teams drawn into 3 groups of 4 teams each. The top seeds for the tournament were hosts Great Britain, reigning World Cup champions Japan, and World number United States of America. In the second pot you had world number 4 Brazil, number 5 Sweden, and number 6 France. That left world number 7 Canada in the third pot along with New Zealand, and North Korea, and finally Cameroon, South Africa, and Columbia in pot 4 to round out the bunch.

On paper all of the teams in the lower seeds would have been hoping to be drawn with Great Britain as they are by far the weakest of the top seeds with England being the best of the countries involved at 9th in the world. After that though it looked like every group was going to have three tricky teams included with New Zealand being the lowest ranked in the top 12 seeds at 24th in the world.

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Quietly Canada has called together it's under 17 team and prepared to head over to Italy for the Torneo della Nazioni. The 8 team international tournament is set to take place in Trieste, Italy from April 25th to the 29th. The tournament has a bit of a gruelling format with teams playing in a possible five matches over the five days if they reach the final.

The tournament, which translates to "Tournament of Nations", will consist of a group stage involving two groups of four teams each followed by cross-over semi finals and then the final. Group A will be made up of Croatia, Finland, Mexico and Montenegro and Group B will be Canada, Israel, Slovenia and Italy. It is a good level of opposition for the young Canadian players to be going up against and should provide them with a good bit of international experience.

Prior to the kickoff of the tournament Canadian coach Sean Fleming will have his 18 man roster take part in a training camp. That camp will also take place in Italy with the team training in Verona from the 18th until the 24th when they will move to Trieste to get ready for the run of matches. Canada has also announced that they will be playing a friendly match against the Mexican U17 side in a friendly on the 21st.

For Canada this tournament is just the first step towards trying to get back to the FIFA Under 17 World Cup. Having qualified from the last cycle Canada will now be looking to do so again next April. The CONCACAF qualifiers are scheduled for April 6-19, 2013 when they will take place at the Estadio Rommel Fernández and Estadio Agustin Muquita Sánchez in Panama. A success in Panama would see Canada earn a birth to the 2013 U17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates. To make it Canada will have to finish top four in that 12 team tournament.

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And so Canada's Men's Olympic dream is over, a 3-1 loss to Mexico meaning they won't be joining the Women's team in London. Disappointing for sure, but there's no real surprise or shame to be had, either in losing this particular match, or in the fact that Canada didn't qualify.

Mexico were clearly the better team and Canada were going to have to play a flawless game to be able to compete. They came out flying, dominating the first 10 minutes, and coming as close as a headed goalline clearance to opening the score. Eventually though Mexico took control of the game and opened the scoring after 19 minutes.

Marcus Haber got Canada back into it with a header through the legs of the Mexican goalie from a Philippe Davies cross after some very fancy footwork down the right wing. Unfortunately, Mexico replied almost immediately, and from there there was really one team in it. Until half time and through the second half, Mexico controlled the game with all the composure and skilled passing you'd expect. They got help they didn't need from the ref who decided not to call a fairly obvious handball in the run up to Mexico's 3rd goal, a fabulous strike from Ponce which Michal Misiewicz could only get a touch to but not quite keep out. Doneil Henry picked up a second yellow card to snuff out any hopes of a comeback and from there the Mexicans just killed the game off.

It was one step too far for Canada, who are now left with cruel thoughts of what might have been if they'd clinched the win against Cuba and got the game against Honduras instead of Mexico. Honduras ended up getting the other qualification spot after a 3-2 extra time win over El Salvador, with just the formalities of a glorified friendly to decide who gets first place overall.

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