With his first official tournament in charge of the Canadian national team just a couple of weeks away, head coach Octavio Zambrano has named his 23-man roster for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Cyle Larin is not on it.
The Orlando City striker, who has scored eight goals in 15 games this season, was left out of the squad after after going through MLS' Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health program following a June 15 DUI arrest in Florida.
Zambrano also left off Larin's teammate, Will Johnson, and fellow MLSer Tesho Akindele. Both particpated in the team's training camp earlier this month.
The Canada boss selected a squad filled with both experience and youth, highlighted by 37-year-old midfielder Patrice Bernier potentially sharing the pitch with 16-year-old Vancouver Whitecaps phenom Alphonso Davies.
Larin returns following DUI arrest
The oldest and youngest players on the squad are joined by familiar names such as Dejan Jakovic, Tosaint Ricketts and Marcel de Jong, while several others will be looking to make their Gold Cup debuts. Younger players like Maxime Crepeau, Fraser Aird and Mark-Anthony Kaye are among the debutantes, alongside Premier League veterans Scott Arfield and Junior Hoilett.
Another player looking to see his first action in the regional tournament is striker Lucas Cavallini, who returns to the Canadian set-up after nearly two years away from the national team program. Cavallini, 24, has six goals in 16 appearances for Uruguayan giant Penarol so far this season.
“We have a dynamic team that has speed and offensive weapons,” Zambrano said in a news release. “We have a balance between offence and defence. We want to go forward and have a high tempo, but we also have to make sure we have the defenders that are up to the task in our end.”
Gold Cup teams are allowed to make six changes to the initial group stage roster, which means Zambrano could call upon Johnson, Akindele, Larin, and anyone else on Canada's 40-man preliminary squad should the team advance to the knockout stages.
Players will report to training camp in Alliston, Ontario, on Wednesday ahead of the team's Gold Cup opener against French Guiana on July 7 in Harrison, N.J.
FULL CANADA ROSTER
GOALKEEPERS: Maxime Crépeau (Montreal Impact), Milan Borjan (MKS Korona Kielce), Jayson Leutwiler (Shrewsbury Town)
DEFENDERS: Fraser Aird (unattached), Manjrekar James (Vasas Budapest), Steven Vitoria (Lechia Gdansk), Dejan Jakovic (New York Cosmos), Samuel Adekugbe (Brighton & Hove Albion), Adam Straith (FC Edmonton), Marcel de Jong (Vancouver Whitecaps)
MIDFIELDERS: Samuel Piette (CD Izarra), Russell Teibert (Vancouver Whitecaps), Scott Arfield (Burnley), David Junior Hoilett (Cardiff City), Alphonso Davies (Vancouver Whitecaps), Jonathan Osorio (Toronto FC), Mark-Anthony Kaye (Louisville City), Patrice Bernier (Montreal Impact), Raheem Edwards (Toronto FC), Michael Petrasso |(Queens Park Rangers)
FORWARDS: Tosaint Ricketts (Toronto FC), Anthony Jackson-Hamel (Montreal Impact), Lucas Cavallini (CA Penarol)