The big game’s kicking off at 12.30am Wexford time and I’ll be searching for a link to it. Lovely to see Celtic taking the squad to the worldwide Irish diaspora following the Brisbane trip in July.
http://www.celticfc.net/news/stories/news_020909121815.aspx
venus: young guns can star in canada
Gregor Kyle
WITH a fairground in the backdrop and Lake Ontario nearly a stones throw from the car park, Toronto FCs BMO Stadium makes for a fairly unique setting.
Its a compact little ground, holding just over 20,000 and as the players warmed up with a pre-match training session ahead of tonights game against Benfica staff explained that they are expecting an invasion of Celtic supporters.
Assistant manager Mark Venus said: We are glad to be invited here and, as a team, we are really looking forward to this match. The weather is excellent, compared to where we have come from and we are really excited.
The opposition are a great team, with a lot of history, much like our football club. They do very well in their league and have produced some very good footballers, so it will be an excellent game.
It is a skeleton Celtic squad, one missing some 13 internationalists, who are all on duty with their respective countries.
However, this has handed several younger players a priceless chance to impress the coaching staff and make an early mark in what will be their unofficial first-team debuts.
Under-19s James Forrest and Luca Santonocito are likely to feature, as are Latvian duo Krisjanis Vallers and Anton Kurakins, while a couple of new faces are in line to start.
We have lost some internationalists who have gone away to play qualification games for their countries, said Venus, but this game represents an opportunity for some of the younger players and we are alright with the team we have.
Like I said, we have lost quite a few of the team that played against Hibs at Easter Road, but Josh Thompson, the young boy we have signed from Stockport County, will make his debut tomorrow and so will our American goalkeeper, Dominic Cervi.
Its good for them to play against a top side at a lovely ground in a nice country.
Venus and the players are also looking forward to playing in front of the Celtic supporters who have travelled from all over Canada and North America for tonights match.
I have only been at the club a short time, but everywhere we go, the fans have been great with us, said Venus.
Theyve watched us in Australia, London, Cardiff, everywhere we have travelled and I think theyll make themselves heard in Toronto. Its great to be a part of this football club and we are very proud to be associated with it.