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Canada's U-20 team set to land in Edmonton

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

OTTAWA (ONTARIO) - The Canadian men's under-20 team is set to travel to Edmonton for three exciting events beginning 13 June as part of the Hyundai men's U-20 tour presented by Yahoo! Canada.

The team will host a training camp at the Edmonton Soccer Complex North from 19.00 to 20.00 on 13 June. Forty Tournament Pass Incentives winners will join the U-20 players in a skills mini-camp where they will participate in a variety of drills and a short full-field scrimmage.

A pep rally will follow on 15 June from 12.00 to 13.00 at Churchill Square. The rally will feature some of the U-20 players, Canadian head coach Dale Mitchell, special guest Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel and live entertainment. There will also be a draw to name two Captain's Escorts for the two Canada U-20 games in Edmonton.

Included in the group of Canadian players is Edmonton native Tosaint Ricketts, the adidas Man of the Match in each of the last two games in the Hyundai men's U-20 tour presented by Yahoo! Canada. On 6 June in Kingston, Ricketts scored a hat trick in a 4:0 victory over the United States, the first Canadian youth hat trick in nearly 16 years.

"I have never played in any big games in Edmonton," said Ricketts. "I am kind of excited to be playing in front of all my friends and family, so that is wicked for me. I am hoping we get a good result from the Czech Republic. I think our team is really strong right now and I think we are going to surprise a lot of people."

In the next and final match of the U-20 tour, the Canadians will face off against the Czech Republic at Commonwealth Stadium on 18 June. Tickets for this match are available through ticketmaster.ca or by calling 780.451.8000.

With more than 750,000 spectator tickets sold, the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007 will be the largest single-sport event in Canadian history. The tournament runs from 30 June to 22 July in six Canadian cities: Victoria, Burnaby, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa and Montréal.

Men's U-20 Team Overview

(players born on or after January 1, 1987)

This year will prove to be a busy one for Dale Mitchell's U-20s.

Canada will host the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup this July in six cities across the country: Victoria, Burnaby, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. This will be Canada's eighth entry in the event (formerly called the World Youth Championships).

Canada's best showing was in 2003 when they reached the quarter-final only to lose a heartbreaker in extra time against Spain. Canadian striker Iain Hume had leveled the score 1-1 before Spain won the game 2-1 in extra time with a golden goal.

Head coach Dale Mitchell's squad progressed further than any other male team at a FIFA Championship. Playing in a group with Brazil, Czech Republic and Australia, the Canadians advanced to the second round as one of the four best third-place finishers thanks to in large part to a 1-0 win over the Czech Republic and despite a 2-1 loss to Australia and opening 2-0 loss to Brazil. In the second round, Canada defeated Burkina Faso 1-0 on a rocket by Josh Simpson that stills gets air-time during FIFA presentations.

The Youth Team reached their second consecutive FIFA World Youth Championship after winning their qualifying group with a 3-2 win over the United States on November 17, 2002. Under Mitchell, the Canadians finished atop Group B in a CONCACAF qualifying tournament in Charleston, South Carolina, beating El Salvador (2:0), drawing with Haiti (0-0) and defeating the United States (3-2). The victory over the US was the first in any qualifying game for Canada since 1957, when the senior national team defeated the US in World Cup Qualifying.

Canada has competed at the international Youth Team level since 1973 when it entered its first CONCACAF Championship. Since 1979 when it qualified for its first FIFA World Youth Championship, Canada has been amongst the best countries in 1979, 1985, 1987, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2005 and now 2007.

Under former head coach Paul James, a former Canadian national team player who was hired in 1998, the Youth Team qualified for the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship by winning its qualifying group in Victoria, BC. Canada defeated Honduras and Mexico by scores of 1-0 and drew Jamaica to advance to the championship for the first time since 1997. The FIFA World Youth Championship was held in Argentina in June with Canada losing its three games to Iraq, Germany and Brazil.

Canada qualified for the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1979 (finishing 13th) and 1985 (14th) by finishing second to Mexico in the CONCACAF Championships. The Canadians qualified for the 1987 World Championships (10th) by winning the 1986 CONCACAF Youth Championship. At the time there were only two berths available to teams from CONCACAF. The Football Confederation was awarded four spots as of 1997. Prior to Argentina, Canada's last appearance at the FIFA World Youth Championships came in 1997 in Malaysia when they finished 13th. Canada again qualified by way of winning the 1996 CONCACAF championship. The two championships won at the U-20 level were the only ones enjoyed by a Canadian national team until the 2000 Gold Cup.

Several current Canadian World Cup team members have played for their country at the U-20 level including Julian de Guzman, Tam Nsaliwa, Richard Hastings, Jason Bent, Atiba Hutchinson, Iain Hume, Dwayne de Rosario and Paul Stalteri to name a few.