Richmond’s Caleb Clarke has been named to Canada’s U23 men’s soccer team’s roster for next month’s 2015 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifier.
Canada will be trying to earn one of three potential spots for next year’s Olympic Football Tournament in Brazil.
Only eight nations remain in the hunt from the CONCACAF region, with the qualification tournament scheduled to run from Oct. 1-13.. The top two nations will qualify for Rio 2016, while the third-best team will advance to an intercontinental playoff against Colombia to be played at a later date.
The eight CONCACAF finalists have been divided into two groups, with the top-two teams in each group advancing to the semi-final stage. In Group A action, Canada faces USA (Oct. 1), Panama (Oct. 3, and Cuba (Oct. 6). The semi-finals are slated for Oct. 10.
Clarke, 22, also represented Canada at the recent Pan American Games, where he appeared in all three group stage matches.
The striker scored the match-winner during Canada’s 2-1 victory over United States U-20 at the four-nation Marbella Cup in Spain on October 10, 2012.
This season, Clarke has made 23 appearances for Whitecaps FC 2 and has seven goals on the year, tied with Marco Bustos for the team-lead.
Fellow Whitecaps Residency graduate Jackson Farmer was also named to the Canadian team.
