Meet the 23 men who will fly the flag for Cascadia in London

Jordan Wilson brings experience and quality
Photo: Nykobing FC

The full squads for the ConIFA Football World Cup will be announced tomorrow but Prost Amerika can reveal the provisional squad who will represent Cascadia in the tournament for non FIFA nations. They will play three matches between May 31 and June 3. The squad that will battle Isle of Man, Barawa and Tamil Eelam, Cascadia contains five teenagers.

The youngest is Nikko Stokes who is on the books at Waltham Forest. Standing at 6′ 4″ is young goalkeeper Alejandro dela Torre who is a year older.

The squad includes some players currently in the UK whose season ends just before the tournament starts but perhaps the biggest injection of experience and quality comes out of Denmark. Canadian midfielder Jordan Wilson plays in the Danish Second tier for Nykobing and will be joined by his brother Patrick who plays at Hamble FC. They join captain James Riley and Charlie Gregory as the more experienced members of the squad.

That quality will be bolstered by the selection of ex Manchester United Under 21 player Josh Doughty and Calum Paterson who played the 2017/18 season for Elgin City in the fourth tier of Scottish football.

Matt Braehm is known as the ‘Mighty Oak:

Other North American based players of interest are Kitsap Pumas striker Hamza Haddadi, midfielder Hector Morales and Yuri Farkas of AFC Ann Arbor, and Keaton Levock of Northwood University. French-born Matthieu ‘Mighty Oak’ Braem played for GPS Portland in the PDL and in 2016 he was the Defender of the Year for AFC Ann Arbor of the NPSL.

Also on the roster is Sofien El-Mehrik, a former Ballard student who went on to play for Highline Community College. and eventually Inter United FC, a semi-professional soccer team based in Tukwila..

Some of the players who won’t have to traverse the Atlantic to represent Cascadia in London include Max Oldham, Tayshan Hayden-Smith, Anthony Wright , Julius Lansiquot, Brian Simpson and Ellis Routledge.

Coach James Nichols reacted to the squad:

“I’m delighted to get the quality of players confirmed for the tournament. We have got players with a range of backgrounds but who will all come together to represent Cascadia.

“I’m looking forward to working with this group of players and although we’re under no illusions about the quality of the tournament, we believe that we can contribute positively.”

Wolverhampton Wanderers scout Jack Thorpe was key in recruiting the bulk of the squad. Via Linked in, he told Prost Amerika:

“The squad that we’ve assembled for this tournament has talent and it has hunger. It’s a young group of players who are ambitious and want to do Cascadia proud.

“Many of the individuals involved perhaps deserve to be playing at a higher level than they are at the moment – this tournament gives them the opportunity to prove that. There are a lot of strong teams taking part this summer but Cascadia have plenty to add and will be a really exciting side to follow.”

The news of Riley’s involvement has significantly bolstered morale. It is now up to Nichols to gather the squad in London and prepare them to play as a team with very little time together.

TEAM CASCADIA PROVISIONAL SQUAD

Position	Name	Age	Caps	Goals
Midfielder	Max Oldham	24	0	0
Midfielder	Nikko Stokes	17	0	0
Defender	Patrick Wilson	31	0	0
Midfielder	Jordan Wilson	26	0	0
Midfielder	Tayshan Hayden-Smith	21	0	0
Attacker	Calum Ferguson	22	0	0
Midfielder	Anthony Wright	20	0	0
Midfielder	Josh Doughty	21	0	0
Midfielder	Charlie Gregory	26	0	0
Attacker	Yuri Farkas	24	0	0
Defender	Joey Censoni	24	0	0
Defender	Matt Braem	23	0	0
Forward	Keaton Levock	23	0	0
Midfielder	Hector Morales	25	0	0
Defender	Julius Lansiquot	18	0	0
Midfielder	Brian Simpson	20	0	0
Defender	Lorne Jenkins	23	0	0
Defender	Ellis Routledge	18	0	0
Forward	Hamza Haddadi	24	0	0
Defender	Sofien El Mehrik	25	0	0
Defender	James Riley	35	0	0
Goalkeeper	Alejandro De La Torre	18	0	0
Goalkeeper	Will Marment	19	0	0