16-year-old among 19 Canadian players gathering for CONCACAF Nations League pre-camp

Canada head coach Jesse Marsch has summoned 19 players, including York United FC teenager Shola Jimoh, to a camp in Toronto ahead of the full men's team getting together for the two-legged CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal later this month against Suriname.

Canada, ranked 35th in the world, opens the series against No. 136 Suriname on Nov. 15 in Paramaribo. The second leg is four days later at Toronto's BMO Field.

The FIFA international window runs Nov. 11 to 19.

The other quarterfinals are No. 39 Panama versus No. 50 Costa Rica, the 18th-ranked U.S. versus No. 61 Jamaica and No. 16 Mexico versus No. 77 Honduras. The four winners advance to the 2025 CONCACAF Nations League Finals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., and qualify for next summer's Gold Cup.

The 19 Canadian players, whose club teams are done for the season, will spend a week in Toronto training under Marsch. The final team, to be announced Friday, will hold a camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., before travelling to Suriname.

The pre-camp roster includes veterans like Toronto FC's Jonathan Osorio and Richie Laryea, CF Montreal's Samuel Piette and Portland's Maxime Crepeau and Kamal Miller.

But Marsch has also called in younger players like Toronto's Adam Pearlman, Richard Chukwu, Kobe Franklin and Deandre Kerr and CF Montreal's Alessandro Biello and Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty.

The pre-camp roster also includes Jimoh, a 16-year-old York United winger. The Canadian youth international saw action in 16 Canadian Premier League games this season with four goals and one assist.

In July, Jimoh signed an "Exceptional Young Talent" contract with York. That roster category, announced in July 2023, is designed to help develop young Canadian players with teams allowed to