Bedford's Jazic to play
in friendly against
Costa Rica
TORONTO (CP) - Bedford's
Ante Jazic will be in
the lineup when the
Canadian men's soccer
team meets Costa Rica in
a friendly on Sept. 12.
Jazic, 31, is a defender
with the Los Angeles
Galaxy where one of his
teammates is former
England captain David
Beckham.
Next Wednesday's match
at BMO Field is the
first in Toronto for the
Canadian men since a 0-0
tie with Mexico in a
World Cup qualifier Nov.
15, 2000 at Varsity
Stadium, which was
subsequently demolished.
Since then, the Canadian
men have played 53
internationals. There
were games in Burnaby,
B.C., (3), Kingston,
Ont. (2), Edmonton (1)
and Montreal (1) but the
Canadian soccer road
usually led overseas -
with stops in Austria,
Barbados, Bermuda, Czech
Republic, Egypt,
Estonia, Finland,
Germany, Guatemala,
Hungary, Iceland,
Ireland, Jamaica, Japan,
Libya, Luxembourg,
Malta, Northern Ireland,
Portugal, Spain,
Switzerland, the U.S.,
Venezuela and Wales.
Lack of a proper stadium
kept Canada away. But
now BMO Field beckons
and coach Dale Mitchell
says his players are
happy to be coming back
to Toronto.
"If you go through the
roster, a lot of our
players - and a lot of
our key players as well
- are from the Toronto
area," he said
Wednesday. "I know that
a lot of them are
excited to be playing in
their home town.
"And there's obviously
been a lot of support
for soccer in Toronto
during the last six
months and we're
certainly hoping that
continues with the
national team on
Wednesday against Costa
Rica."
Costa Rica is ranked
66th in the world, 15
places above Canada.
The Costa Rica game is
the second for Mitchell
as coach of the senior
side, following a 1-1
tie in Iceland on Aug.
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