Sam Adekugbe, Stephen Eustáquio withdraw from 2023 CanMNT Gold Cup squad
Sam Adekugbe and Stephen Eustáquio have been forced to withdraw from the CanMNT's Gold Cup squad due to injury, Canada Soccer announced on Monday morning.
Replacing them are a pair of former Toronto FC midfielders, Jayden Nelson and Liam Fraser, as head coach John Herdman elected to go with familiarity in replacing Eustáquio and Adekugbe.
Roster Update 🔁
— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) June 26, 2023
Stephen Eustáquio and Samuel Adekugbe have been replaced by Jayden Nelson and Liam Fraser in #CANMNT's @GoldCup squad.#WeCAN pic.twitter.com/8wPLo5laBd
Surprisingly, an in-form Mathieu Choinière was not called in out of CF Montréal, although that is likely due to an ankle injury he picked up last week, one of which the severity is yet to be known.
No doubt, however, that this is a huge loss for Canada, who was already missing Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David, Tajon Buchanan, Ismaël Koné, Alistair Johnston and Cyle Larin for this tournament, as they lose two more key players on top of that.
Because of that, it's significantly altered the complexion of the team for the Gold Cup, as they enter this tournament with a young and inexperienced outfit.
There are still several veteran players in the squad, such as Milan Borjan, Jonathan Osorio, Junior Hoilett, Steven Vitória, Richie Laryea, Lucas Cavallini and Kamal Miller, but to now be missing eight key regulars is a big blow to Canada's hopes of winning the tournament.
On the flip side, however, this will provide an opportunity for more new faces to step up in their absence. In particular, races at the midfield and full back positions are now wide-open after this news, giving a chance for some different players to emerge in those spots.
At the same time, one can only ponder the value that those players would've been able to glean from having an Eustáquio or Adekugbe beside them in those moments, for example, as they'll instead be asked to shoulder a lot more on their own now.
Ultimately, this tournament was always going to be about providing new opportunities to players, giving an idea of how they'll react to certain situations, and now, this latest news has just further accelerated that process for Canada.
Now, they'll just hope that they can do that while still pushing deep into the tournament, like they did at the 2021 Gold Cup, although given how stiff their path to glory is, that'll be a stiff challenge for Herdman's group to undertake.
