Canada v Costa Rica at Commonwealth: a lot has happened in eight years

Another long break for us, but with Canada’s men’s national team coming into our time zone later this week for a couple of huge games, we thought we’d take a look back at a different time for the MNT.

Canada plays Costa Rica on Friday at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, and funny enough the last time the MNT played in Edmonton (May 28, 2013) it was also against Costa Rica. We were there for that one along with about 8000 others, and we’ll be there again on Friday with about 45,000 others. Canada was ranked 80th in the world in May 2013, compared to 48th right now. How things have changed in 8 and a half years, eh?! (Costa Rica, for its part, was ranked 48th in the FIFA rankings back then, and is now 45th.)

View from the Disgruntled Supporters Section at Canada-Costa Rica, 2013

With that in mind, we thought it would be worth looking back at that 2013 game and the Canada squad that was called for it, in comparison to this week’s squad, to get a sense of just how much the team has changed in the last eight-and-a-half years. We recognize that the 2013 game was a pre-Gold Cup friendly with a squad that obviously wasn’t Canada’s top lineup, so it’s not a straight-up comparison, but there were some solid pieces on that squad. And to be clear, the 2013 game was definitely not one to remember - a 1-0 loss with Nik Ledgerwood sent off, and Marcus Haber sticking in my head as Canada’s best player. Anyways, have a read and enjoy how much this team has improved!

Keepers

Colin Miller (no comment) selected 3 keepers as part of his 18-man squad for the 2013 friendly for some reason, and one of them will be returning to Edmonton for this pair of games. That’s right, Canada’s stalwart starting keeper Milan Borjan was part of that squad, earning his 11th cap in that one (he should earn his 57th on Friday). Borjan was in the midst of a spell with Sivasspor in Turkey at the time, and had already established himself as Canada’s #1 as Lars Hirschfeld’s career was starting to wind down.

Rounding out the 16.67% of the 2013 squad dedicated to goaltenders were up-and-comer Haidar Al Shaibani (then at Nîmes in Ligue 2) and youngster Simon Thomas (then with Whitecaps U-23). Thomas is still active, currently second-choice keeper at the northernmost top division squad in the world (which makes it one of our favourites), Tromsø IL, and has earned 8 caps for Canada.

Al Shaibani on the other hand never pushed on after his early promise with Nîmes (and his one cap for Canada in 2010), and in fact moved on to 4th tier side Le Puy shortly after this game, where he stayed for 4 years before retiring from playing. According to his LinkedIn, Al Shaibani is now a keeper coach with AS Saint-Étienne’s youth sides. Not a bad gig...

This week, rounding out John Herdman’s keepers alongside Borjan are one of the top goalies in MLS, Maxime Crépeau, and Montreal youngster and former CanPL loanee, James Pantemis. Canada’s never been short quality keepers, but we’re not sure if there’s ever been as high quality of a top 2 keepers as these two.

2013 Squad	2013 club	now	2021 Squad	club
Milan Borjan	Sivasspor	Crvena Zvezda	Milan Borjan	Crvena Zvezda
Haidar Al Shaibani	Nîmes	Coach (ASSE, France)	Maxime Crépeau	Vancouver Whitecaps
Simon Thomas	Vancouver Whitecaps	Tromsø IL	James Pantemis	CF Montreal

Defenders

Canada brought only 5 defenders to Edmonton as part of the 2013 squad, but it was a solid bunch with some familiar names. A 20-year-old Doneil Henry, at the time still with TFC, is the only holdover on the back line that’s with this week’s squad. He was joined by a pair of more experienced centrebacks: Adam Straith (then with Saarbrucken) and André Hainault (Ross County), a pair who have almost 90 caps between them, but are both apparently now retired despite being younger than Dejan Jakovic. Both Hainault and Straith did carve out solid professional careers, particularly in the 3. Liga in Germany with Kaiserslautern and Hansa Rostock (among others), respectively. There’s still some hope that Straith could make a CanPL appearance as well...

Joining the trio of centrebacks were just two fullbacks: Ashtone Morgan (TFC) on the left, and Nik Ledgerwood (Hammarby) on the right; remember when we didn’t have fullback depth?! Ledgerwood later became one of two players on this roster to play for FC Edmonton, although it was in the glory days of the NASL team, not the CanPL version. Ledgerwood of course has made it to the CPL and continues to play for the Eddies’ provincial rivals Cavalry, in his more regular midfield role. Morgan stayed with TFC another 7 years before joining Real Salt Lake, but it’s notable that half of his 18 Canada caps were in 2013; this game was in his international prime!

On the 2021 squad’s back line, joining Henry who has moved on to South Korea (after several other stops) are the experienced veteran Steven Vitoria (Moreirense), Kamal Miller (Montreal) who has taken a huge step forward this year, Derek Cornelius (Panetolikos on loan from the Whitecaps), supporter favourite Alistair Johnston (Nashville), the much improved Sam Adekugbe (Hatayspor), and dynamic and versatile Richie Laryea, who has found a home at TFC after struggling to break through at Orlando City.

Arguably defence is the part of the roster that’s most similar between 2013 and 2021, with the notable difference being the fullback quality. The impact of MLS on development of Canadian players is clear as well, with each of these players having played in the league aside from Adekugbe, who was with Whitecaps reserve squads but never got a first team chance.

2013 Squad	2013 club	now	2021 Squad	club
Doneil Henry	Toronto FC	Suwon Bluewings	Doneil Henry	Suwon Bluewings
Adam Straith	Saarbrucken	unattached	Kamal Miller	CF Montreal
André Hainault	Ross County	retired	Derek Cornelius	Panetolikos
Ashtone Morgan	Toronto FC	Real Salt Lake	Steven Vitoria	Moreirense
Nik Ledgerwood	Hammarby	Cavalry FC	Alistair Johnston	Nashville SC
			Sam Adekugbe	Hatayspor
			Richie Laryea	Toronto FC

Midfield

The 2013 squad’s midfield was an interesting mix of experience and up-and-comers. Julian de Guzman was starting to wind down his post-MLS career, although he would go on to make a further two dozen appearances for the MNT, while on the other hand Samuel Piette made his first start for the senior team (and just his 2nd appearance); eight and a half years later, he’s earned 60 caps and is still a member of the squad.

Kyle Bekker was a young prospect at the time, who had debuted for the MNT earlier in 2013, and he earned his 5th cap in Edmonton. His MLS career never really took off despite stints with FC Dallas and Montreal Impact, but he had success in NASL (Marc dos Santos' famous SF Deltas squad) and USL, and remains one of the Canadian Premier League’s best players. Another name familiar to CPL fans will be Stefan Cebara who at the time was with Slovenian first tier side NK Celje, and now plays mostly as a versatile defender for Valour FC. In between, he’s had short stints in Slovakia, Lithuania and Serbia.

Rounding out the 2013 midfield were veterans Pedro Pacheco, a serviceable if unspectacular dual-national plucked out of Portugal before the MNT had the power to pull a Scott Arfield or Stephen Eustáquio; and Issey Nakajima-Farran, a footballing nomad who had some big moments for the MNT, including a huge miss in the 3-2 friendly loss to Brazil in 2008. Issey found a home in the Malaysian Super League before joining Pacific FC for the CPL’s inaugural season.

Piette and Jonathan Osorio are the lone connections between these two squads. Osorio’s remained with TFC for his entire professional career so far, and the 2013 game in Edmonton was actually Osorio’s first MNT cap! He’s gone on to earn 46 more since then, and has become a key piece of John Herdman’s side, scoring at the Azteca in the 1-1 draw with Mexico last time around.

Rounding out this week’s midfield is the legend himself, Atiba Hutchinson; Mark-Anthony Kaye who patrols the midfield in a box-to-box role for the MLS Western Conference point leaders Colorado; and Stephen Eustáquio and David Wotherspoon - two players who could have played for other national teams but chose Canada. Eustáquio in particular has become a key piece in Herdman’s midfield, and seems destined for a big move sooner than later.

2013 Squad	2013 club	now	2021 Squad	club
Kyle Bekker	Toronto FC	Forge FC	Atiba Hutchinson	Besiktas
Stefan Cebara	NK Celje	Valour FC	Samuel Piette	CF Montreal
Julian de Guzman	Jahn Regensburg	Owner - Simcoe County Rovers FC	Jonathan Osorio	Toronto FC
Issey Nakajima-Farran	Alki Larnaca	UE Tàrrega	Mark-Anthony Kaye	Colorado Rapids
Jonathan Osorio	Toronto FC	Toronto FC	Stephen Eustáquio	Paços de Ferreira
Samuel Piette	Fortuna Düsseldorf	CF Montreal	David Wotherspoon	St. Johnstone
Pedro Pacheco	CD Santa Clara	CD Rabo de Peixe

Forwards

If there’s one area of the pitch that shows Canada’s MNT growth between the 2013 and 2021 games vs Costa Rica, it’s up top. No disrespect to the two Haber’s, Ricketts and REB but that’s not an attacking group that would ever have inspired fear in many CONCACAF defences. It was certainly nice though for Ricketts and Edwini-Bonsu to get a chance to play in front of a home crowd, as Alphonso Davies will finally get the chance to do (in front of a much bigger crowd, we might add).

At the time, Marcus Haber was Canada’s biggest threat of the group called up, having just finished his first season with League One side Stevenage, and scoring 7 goals that year. Haber has moved around quite a bit since then, with stints with several clubs in the UK, and a pair of mostly underwhelming seasons in the Canadian Premier League with Pacific and Cavalry.

Ricketts was really just getting his professional career started at the time, being in the middle of a goalless Eliteserien season with Sandnes Ulf as they just managed to avoid relegation. He would go on to have a couple of seasons in second-tier Turkey and Israel, before joining Toronto in MLS. His pace has been put to good use in North America, and his move to MLS revitalized his career into a bit of a super-sub role.

The other two attackers in the 2013 squad didn’t have quite as much career success. Daniel Haber was seen as an up-and-coming prospect at the time, having scored twice in just four matches with Israeli giants Maccabi Haifa after finishing his NCAA career at Cornell. He moved on to Cypriot top division side Apollon Limassol, before a loan move to Cypriot side Ayia Napa that was followed by 4 USL sides in 3 years, with the most success at Whitecaps FC 2 and Real Monarchs. His last club was Ottawa Fury in 2018, when he went goalless over 10 matches.

Finally, Edwini-Bonsu was arguably at one of the higher point of his career, with 2. Bundesliga side Eintracht Braunschweig, although he was released soon after this game. He continued to move around lower-league Germany for several years, before becoming his hometown FC Edmonton’s first CPL signing in 2019. Undoubtedly one of the biggest disappointments of that inaugural season, going goalless, he appears to have moved on to pursuits beyond football.

Unsurprisingly, none of the forwards from the 2013 match in Edmonton have been called up this time (I mean only 2 of them are still playing, and one of those is playing in Cambodia - not a bad gig!). Instead, Canada’s attack is led by arguably the strongest group of forwards in CONCACAF. Nothing can be said about Alphonso Davies that hasn’t already been said, and he’ll be expected to impress in his homecoming with the national team. He’s likely to be joined in the starting lineup against Costa Rica by Jonathan David, one of Ligue 1’s top scorers and biggest talents, and one of Besiktas’ Cyle Larin or New England’s Tajon Buchanan. A bit different level of options than 2013, eh?!

Options off the bench this week are impressive as well: Liam Millar, who has hit a fine vein of form for FC Basel; Lucas Cavallini, who has had a rough season with the Whitecaps but remains an effective physical threat up top for Canada; and Ike Ugbo, John Herdman’s newest pickup from Dual-Nationals FC. Ugbo is currently with Genk, one of Belgium’s top clubs, and to be honest we don’t know much of what to expect from him, beyond some Youtube clips that show him as a bit of a poacher in the box, not unlike David’s style.

2013 Squad	2013 club	now	2021 Squad	club
Daniel Haber	Maccabi Haifa	retired	Lucas Cavallini	Vancouver Whitecaps
Marcus Haber	Stevenage	Visakha FC	Alphonso Davies	Bayern Munich
Randy Edwini-Bonsu	Eintracht Braunschweig	retired	Jonathan David	Lille OSC
Tosaint Ricketts	Sandnes Ulf	Vancouver Whitecaps	Tajon Buchanan	New England Revolution
			Cyle Larin	Besiktas
			Liam Millar	FC Basel
			Ike Ugbo	KRC Genk

Managers

Taking charge of Canada at Commonwealth in 2013 was none other than Colin Miller, who would go on to lead FC Edmonton during several years of dour football and strange decisions in the NASL days. Miller’s stint in charge of Canada didn’t last long….

On the other hand, today’s MNT is led by former Sunderland youth coach (always have to sneak that in) John Herdman. We’ll be the first to admit we were sceptical at first, but his recruitment and motivational skills can’t be argued, and his tactics are looking up as well. From Colin Miller to John Herdman - as big a shift in managerial styles as you can get!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this look back at the Canada MNT roster from the team’s last visit to Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium back in 2013. The improvement in quality in this period is clear when you look at the rosters, but it’s also interesting to see some consistency between the two squads, including players that are playing key roles right now, like Osorio and Borjan. In some ways it’s almost like 2013 was the very start of the turnaround in the men’s national team. I mean sure, we lost this game and we lost to Martinique at the Gold Cup in the very next match, but some new key pieces like Osorio and Piette were coming into the fold.

It’s also interesting to see so many of the players from that 2013 squad have had a role in the Canadian Premier League. Six guys - a full third of the roster - have played or are still playing in CPL (c’mon Straith, make it seven!). While the CPL was created ostensibly to give young Canadian pros a place to play, it also has a role in giving experienced professionals a place to come home to after their adventures overseas (or south of the border), and these numbers show that. It’ll be interesting looking back 8 years from now to see who from this week’s squad has spent time in the CPL.

Thanks again for reading! Hopefully we'll have a post celebrating a couple of good performances in Edmonton in the near future. As always, let us know if we missed anything, and keep an eye out for more articles in the near future.