Canada friendly is Kerr’s first chance to blood new players

BRIAN KERR will have the opportunity to introduce promising young players like Liam Miller (Celtic) and Sean Thornton (Sunderland) to Ireland’s senior international team when they play Canada in a friendly at Lansdowne Road on Tuesday, November 18, kick off 7.30pm.

Canada, like Ireland, will be building a team for the qualifying tournament of the 2006 World Cup and will visit Dublin in the course of a brief European tour. They will play the Czech Republic on Saturday, November 15, and plan to travel to Dublin on the following day.

Earlier this season Canada were in Finland where they lost another friendly to the home side 3-1. They also took part in the Conicaf Cup tournament but went out in the first round to Cuba.