Canada ready for St. Kitts and Nevis

Canada will face St. Kitts and Nevis in an away-and-home series as part of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ Qualifiers this Friday 11 November in Basseterre and Tuesday 15 November in Toronto, ON. Canada needs but a single point from two matches to advance to the next round in CONCACAF, so could eliminate its third group opponent from 2011 as early as Friday night. The match kicks off at 20.00 (local) at the Warner Park Football Stadium in the St. Kitts and Nevis capital city.

Canada will face St. Kitts and Nevis in an away-and-home series as part of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ Qualifiers this Friday 11 November in Basseterre and Tuesday 15 November in Toronto, ON. Canada needs but a single point from two matches to advance to the next round in CONCACAF, so could eliminate its third group opponent from 2011 as early as Friday night. The match kicks off at 20.00 (local) at the Warner Park Football Stadium in the St. Kitts and Nevis capital city.



Friday’s match will be streamed live by Sportsnet at http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/canada_stkitts/. The webstream begins at 19.00 ET / 16.00 PT. Sportsnet personalities Gerry Dobson and John Molinaro are both in Basseterre to provide full coverage of the Canadian team and its road to the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™.



“Everyone is quite upbeat,” said national head coach Stephen Hart. “We have had some good training sessions and I think we are ready.”







The return match is Tuesday 15 November at BMO Field in Toronto. Canadian fans are encouraged to come cheer on their national team, with advancement to the next round hopefully already secured through a strong away performance. Tickets can be purchased via Ticketmaster.ca or by calling 1-855-985-5000.



As it so happens, Friday’s away match will be Canada’s 100th FIFA World Cup Qualifiers™ match. Since 22 June 1957, Canada’s all-time record is 39 wins, 30 draws and 30 losses in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers™. The Friday 11 November match will be Canada’s first-ever match against St. Kitts and Nevis.







In four matches for CONCACAF Round 2 of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ Qualifiers, Canada has collected 10 points through three wins and one draw. St. Lucia and Puerto Rico have already been eliminated, so only St. Kitts and Nevis stands in Canada’s way from advancement to CONCACAF Round 3. Like Canada, St. Kitts and Nevis has yet to lose in this round: it has six points collected on one victory and three draws.



For these two matches, coach Hart has 18 players healthy and ready for the elimination matches against St. Kitts and Nevis. As for Canada’s opponent, Hart expects a speedy side that has some qualities on the wings and up top on the attack.



Also of note, Friday’s match marks just the second time that Canada’s men’s national team will play an international match on Remembrance Day. The last time was 11 November 1980 when Canada won 1:0 over Guatemala in a Men’s International Friendly match (just five days before a historic away 1:1 draw with Mexico in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers™ at Estadio Azteca).