Toronto FC's Laryea named to Canada squad for friendlies at BMO Field | OneFootball

The friendly tournament will see Canada, Ivory Coast, New Zealand and Ukraine play at BMO Field, on both June 7th and June 10th. The Canadian Men's National Team will face Ukraine first then later the Ivory Coast National Team.

Despite still in the process of rehabbing his muscle injury, Laryea is expected to be back sooner than later, which was noted by head coach Robin Fraser before the fixture against CF Montreal.

Jesse Marsch's usual first-choice right-back, Alistair Johnston, has been left out of the squad for the Canadian Shield to rest up after a long season with Celtic. Laryea could easily slot into that spot should Marsch utilize a back four for the tournament, or more fittingly be used as a wing-back if they go with three centre-backs.

Now at age 30, Laryea is firmly part of the leadership group of Jesse Marsch's pool of players he regularly chooses from. For this upcoming squad, only Cyle Larin will have played more than Laryea for the men's national team, with Richie earning 60 senior caps to date.

Jonathan Osorio misses out on selection as he is still a little bit further away from returning to play, which matches with Fraser's earlier comments. However, Jesse Marsch confirmed in a media conference surrounding the squad announcement that Osorio will indeed be part of Canada's Gold Cup squad.

Richie Laryea and Jonathan Osorio, along with Theo Corbeanu, Deandre Kerr and Kosi Thompson, were all named to the CanMNT's 60-man preliminary squad for the 2025 Gold Cup.

Former Toronto FC academy player Promise David is set to earn his first minutes for Canada after not coming off the bench against either Mexico or the USA in Nations League play in March. David is on the cusp of winning the Belgian league with Union Saint-Gilloise, having netted 17 league goals to date.

Another name that will excite Canadian supporters but equally a surprising one is Manchester United's Gabriele Biancheri, who is eligible for Canada through his mother. The 18-year-old striker trains often with the Manchester United senior team and has been a goal-scoring machine at the under-18 level this season, also playing for the under-21s.