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De Vos ready for WC qualifying experience
Canadian Press
The towering central defender from Appin, Ont, who plays for Darlington in the English Third Division, had been summoned for the Canadian squad taking on the U.S. in World Cup qualifying play Nov. 9 in Burnaby, B.C.
Soccer has already taken the 23-year-old De Vos around the globe as a member of Canada's Olympic team, but now he is looking to make his mark with the senior side.
"It's something I've been working very hard towards for a long time," he said from Darlington, located in the northeast of England.
"To finally earn a place in the national team is very gratifying. Having said that, I don't think I'm going to be satisfied with just being on the team. Obviously I want to play."
He had a taste of it Aug. 17 when he started for Canada in an exhibition game against Iran and in two camps with the national team prior to World Cup matches against El Salvador and Jamaica.
He was sidelined after suffering a stress fracture in his foot training for the Sept. 14 El Salvador game, however. Injuries have cost him during his career, but he has worked his way back up the ladder each time.
Against Iran, he looked solid in defence -- earning boos from the Iranian-Canadians in the crowd every time he touched the ball.
"I think that's because I clattered one of their lads in the first half," he said cheerfully.
The trip to Canada means De Vos will miss two league games and an FA Cup game, but club management -- acknowledging the experience will only make him a better player -- has given him its blessing.
Canadian coach Bob Lenarduzzi sees plenty of promise in De Vos, a big defender who reminds Lenarduzzi of former Canadian international Ian Bridge.
"He's got a great attitude," said Lenarduzzi. "He's very committed, very professional in his approach to the game."
De Vos's club side has had a rough go of it this season. The Quakers, as they are known, are 2-6-6 and lie third from the bottom of the Third Division despite playing an attractive, creative brand of soccer.
"It's been a bit frustrating at times," he admitted. "We have a squad of players here that's easily capable of being in the top five in the division and yet we're not capitalizing on the chances we're making.
"We're losing games we should be easily winning."
Darlington can't afford to slip much further. The bottom club in their division can fall right out of the league and be replaced by another team.
In an effort to score some goals, manager David Hodgson has signed Austrian forward Mario Dorner and could be able to afford some more talent if a rumored sale of striker Darren Roberts for 100,000 pounds ($240,000 Cdn) comes through.
De Vos (pronounced De-VOSS) isn't the only Canadian at Darlington. Loukas Papaconstantinou is the backup goalkeeper while fellow Torontonian Willie Giummarra, a former member of the Toronto Shooting Stars and Montreal Impact, is also on the squad.
De Vos misses Canada. He relies on phone calls home and a local cybercafe, where he surfs the Internet, to get the latest.
"It's nice but it's not Canada," he said of Darlington. "I've been all over the world and I've yet to find a place that I would like to live in more than Canada.
"There's many times when I wished I could be doing this line of work and living in Canada and doing it. It's frustrating."
NEXT ROUNDS: Round of 16 || Quarter-finals || Semi-finals
GROUP A: Brazil, Morocco, Norway, Scotland
GROUP B: Austria, Cameroon, Chile, Italy
GROUP C: Denmark, France, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
GROUP D: Bulgaria, Nigeria, Paraguay, Spain
GROUP E: Belgium, Holland, Mexico, South Korea
GROUP F: Germany, Iran, United States, Yugoslavia
GROUP G: Colombia, England, Romania, Tunisia
GROUP H: Argentina, Croatia, Jamaica, Japan