Canada to face rival Americans in Austin: Top 2013 Football Canada Cup players to earn positions

Football Canada’s under-18 national team will face Team USA in Austin, Texas during the winter of 2014. The game which is tentatively scheduled for February of 2014 will feature two squads composed of the top pre-university players in North America.

“The identification process will begin during the 2013 Football Canada Cup,” explained Football Canada Executive Director, Shannon Donovan. “To help decide who will earn invitations to face Team USA, a ranking system has been created which aggregates rankings not only from participating provincial coaches watching the action in Moncton, NB but also those from 2014 Junior National Team head coach, Warren Craney and two coordinators as well as the Game MVP committee.”

“An announcement regarding those selected will be made in the weeks following the July U18 national tackle championship.”

In addition, the head coach of the gold medal winning 2013 Football Canada Cup (FCC) team will serve as Canada’s head coach for the game while the balance of the coaching staff will be selected from each of the participating provincial teams.

“This year’s Canada Cup marks the start of the selection process for the 2014 IFAF U19 World Championship. Twenty-nine of the forty-five players on the 2012 gold medal winning Junior National Team participated in the event which is growing bigger each year.”

FCC alumni who have participated on the national team include Matt Walter (Calgary Stampeders), Kirby Fabien (Calgary/ BC Lions), Jeremi Roch (Sherbrooke); 2012 IFAF U19 World Championship all-stars Will Finch (Western), Edward Godin (Laval), Charles Rémy-Sarrazin (Laval) and John Rush (Guelph) in addition to 2013 CFL draft prospects Matt Sewell (McMaster) and Linden Gaydosh (Calgary).

“The Football Canada Cup has become a premiere event for U18 tackle football players and an important developmental pathway for players and coaches to test themselves against the best from across the country,” said Football Canada High Performance Director, Rick Sowieta.

Warren Craney has faced Team USA twice as defensive coordinator of the Junior National Team and four times as part of the IFAF World Team coaching staff.

“Dating back to 2009, Canada and the US have met in every IFAF World Championship final whether it be the U19 (2009 & 2012), Women’s (2010) or Senior (2011),” said Junior National Team head coach, Craney. “The US believes football is their game but Canada has shown that it can be played at a very high level north of their border.”

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