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Race for the Roster Starting XI projection Race for the Roster Starting XI projection (TSN) <\/p>\nSarah Davis: This is Race for the Roster, where Steven Caldwell has the weekly task of predicting Canada\u2019s World Cup squad, as well as their starting XI for the opening game next summer. <\/p>\n
Four spots still up for grabs in Steven\u2019s projection, and some of the players fighting for a spot in the starting 11 found new homes this week as we take a look at this week\u2019s headlines.<\/p>\n
Race for the Roster Starting XI projection Race for the Roster Starting XI projection (TSN) <\/p>\n
Ali Ahmed is heading to Norwich City following his transfer from the Vancouver Whitecaps. Ahmed signed a two-year deal with the English Championship side. <\/p>\n
Dayne St. Clair officially joined MLS Champions Inter Miami, as the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year signed a one-year deal which includes an option for 2027. The other goalkeeper competing for Canada\u2019s No. 1 shirt is Maxime Crepeau, and Crepeau is reportedly finalizing a deal with MLS side Orlando City. <\/p>\n
There are also reports out of Europe that have linked Nico Sigur with Premier League club Wolverhampton. Fabrizio Romano was suggesting several clubs in top 5 European Leagues are monitoring the Canadian. <\/p>\n
It was another difficult week for Jonathan David at Juventus – David missed a penalty in a 1-1 draw with Leche on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Which brings us to our form tracker, which is an analytical average of each player\u2019s last five performances. Stephen Eustaquio still not getting much game time in Porto – he\u2019s appeared in just two of their past seven matches, playing just 48 total minutes over the past month.<\/p>\n
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Race for the Roster Form Tracker Jan. 5 Race for the Roster Form Tracker Jan. 5 (TSN) <\/p>\n
Well Steven Caldwell is away this week, so here we are, bringing in Kevin Kilbane to weigh in on Steven\u2019s team. What has more potential impact to Canada\u2019s starting 11 this summer – Nico Sigur moving to England or Stephen Eustaquio not leaving Porto?<\/p>\n
Kevin Kilbane: It\u2019s a very good question, I think both will have great repercussions elsewhere with whatever\u2019s going to happen. <\/p>\n
I think first off, with Eustaquio, you look at him and you think he\u2019s got to go, he\u2019s got virtually no playing time this season so he\u2019s got to get playing before the World Cup comes around and I think he\u2019s also got to get rewarded with a contract, a longer contract. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s the thing I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll be looking for. He won\u2019t be the high earner wherever he goes, so wherever he leaves it\u2019s got to be a long-term deal for him permanently.<\/p>\n
Whereas Sigur, this is the big thing for him now. I think if he were to move to Wolves and were to get that move and play 10 or 15 Premier League games before the end of season, he\u2019s playing at a better level than arguably all of the back four outside of Alphonso Davies. <\/p>\n
So I think you can look at him and say realistically that can be a change. <\/p>\n
I\u2019ll be putting more pressure on Steven Caldwell in the next few weeks if Eustaquio moves, but moreso if Sigur does eventually move to the Premier League.<\/p>\n
Davis: As for Eustaquio, of course he\u2019s going to be looking for more playing time in 2026 because his last goal involvement for Porto was over a full year ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sarah Davis: This is Race for the Roster, where Steven Caldwell has the weekly task of predicting Canada\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[712,49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-390652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}