Canada names provisional Olympic soccer qualifying side

But emerging stars Davies, David won’t be available

Alphonso Davies had a comingout party Tuesday in Bayern Munich’s Champions League win over Chelsea. Jonathan David scored a hat trick for KAA Gent on the weekend and leads the Belgium League in scoring.

It’s been a good week for Canadian soccer.

But success comes at a cost with demands on top players. And so while eligible to play, Davies and David won’t be part of the Canadian men’s upcoming Olympic qualifying campaign.

Olympic men’s soccer qualifying has been an under-23 competition since 1992. Beginning in 1996, teams that qualified for the Olympics were allowed to field three players over the age limit.

Canada named its 50-man provisional roster Wednesday for the CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualifying Championship, which runs March 20 to April 1 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Davies, 19, and David, 20, were absent from the list after making headlines this week.

Davies, who has won 17 caps for Canada in a variety of positions including wide forward, drew rave reviews for his pacy performance in Bayern’s 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge. The young Canadian was a standout at left back, setting up Robert Lewandowski’s third goal with an electric run that left defenders in his wake.

“In all moments of the game now, he just starting to show mastery — at 19 years of age,” said Canada coach John Herdman. “And he’s only been in (the left back) position for a period of time. He’s a lot more than just a guy who can run 36 kilometres per hour. He’s starting to become the full package.”

David, who has 11 goals in 12 senior appearances for Canada, went on a scoring spree against Sint-Truidense VV to up his Belgian league season total to

18. He has been linked to several big clubs in recent days. Herdman, however, says there’s more to David than goals.

“People will see when you start to peel beneath the layers of what Jonathan offers, there’s a flexibility in how he can play in a number of positions,” he said. “I know that’s what me and Mauro (Olympic coach and senior assistant coach Mauro Biello) had seen in the first camp. Just how smooth he was, whether he was a wide forward or playing as No. 9 or a false No.

9. He just has this football IQ. Canada’s Olympic team camp and part of the qualifying tournament falls outside the FIFA international window (March 23-31), meaning clubs don’t have to release their players for the entire stretch.

Complicating matters is the fact that Canada’s senior side has matches scheduled March 27 and 31 against Trinidad and Tobago in Langford, B.C. While they are friendlies, they are important because Canada is chasing El Salvador in the rankings in a bid to make the Hex, the most direct route of World Cup qualifying in the region.

Davies and David will feature in those matches.

So would Canada Soccer have named the duo to the Olympic qualifying roster had all the obstacles been removed or have the talented youngsters moved past the under-23 level?

“There’s an element of that progress, but the Olympics are the Olympics,” said Herdman. “It’s a pinnacle event. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for players, particularly with it being U-23. And it’s certainly something our country rallies around. Everyone gets excited when that Olympic period’s in. So there would be nothing better than to see a men’s team at an Olympics competing for Canada.”