Norwich City winger Ali Ahmed has been named in Canada's 26-man squad for their home World Cup next month.
There were concerns over whether the 25-year-old would win a race against time to be included after limping out of the Canaries' final Championship game of the campaign against Hull with a hamstring concern.
Ahmed has been undergoing rehab in Canada over the past few weeks and is hoping to be involved in their final pre-tournament friendly against the Republic of Ireland next weekend.
But Jesse Marsch has now reduced his 32-man training squad down into a squad that will compete this summer as Canada play in only their second World Cup since 1986. It all starts for them in Toronto on Friday, June 12 with a clash against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Canada also have Qatar and Switzerland in their group as they look to make the knockout phase of the competition for the first time.
Ahmed is one of five players included in the squad who play domestically in England, and Marsch expressed his delight as excitement builds ahead of their opening match in the country.
“It is an honour to name our squad for a World Cup on home soil," Marsch told Canada's official channels.
"These players reflect the many communities, cultures, and journeys that make up this country. They are determined, fearless, and proud to wear Canada across their chest. We look forward to uniting Canadians this summer, and we invite everyone to be part of this journey with us.”
Ahmed is the fourth Canaries player to be confirmed in as competing this summer after Jose Cordoba (Panama), Anis Ben Slimane (Tunisia) and Kenny McLean (Scotland) were named in their respective squads. Mo Toure is expected to be selected for Australia in the coming days.
The City winger admitted he was fearful for his World Cup prospects after limping out of that final day defeat to the eventual play-off winners.
“When I went down in the game, for sure. I’m going to be honest; that’s definitely one of the first things that comes to your mind,” admitted Ahmed, when speaking to OneSoccer.
“You hope it’s nothing serious that will hurt my chances of performing at the highest level I can over here, so it was definitely one of the first things that came into my head. But luckily, like I said, it wasn’t too serious.”
Share