For a guy who spent much of his career overseas and even played some friendly matches for England?s youth sides, Terry Dunfield is all Canadian.
Just ask game operations staff with the New England Revolution.
Prior to the kickoff of a Toronto FC-Revolution match in Foxborough, Mass., last month, Dunfield noticed that during the singing of ?O Canada? there was no Canadian flag on hand. He was not impressed and blasted the locals in charge.
?He went absolutely berserk and so he should have done,? TFC head coach Paul Mariner said with a smile Thursday, recalling the incident before the Reds beat the Revolution 1-0 on July 14. ?It may have been an oversight but it certainly fired Terry up.
?He?s Canadian through and through and he loves to play for his country.?
Dunfield, a 30-year-old Vancouver native who has arguably been TFC?s best player since Mariner took over the coaching duties from Aron Winter in early June, was named to Canada?s roster Thursday for a pair of crucial World Cup qualifying matches against Panama. The teams meet next Friday at BMO Field and in Panama on Sept. 11.
?I love going away and playing for Canada,? Dunfield said after TFC trained in Downsview Thursday ahead of a match at Sporting Kansas City on Saturday (8:30 p.m., Sportsnet One). ?We?ve got two tough games coming up and it?s great to be a part of it.?
Dunfield, a midfielder, and 21-year-old TFC defender Ashtone Morgan, will return from Kansas City on Sunday and join Canada for a training camp in Alliston, Ont., starting Monday.
They are among 21 players named by Canadian head coach Stephen Hart. Others include former Reds Dwayne De Rosario and Julian de Guzman, who are national team mainstays along with defenders Kevin McKenna and Andre Hainault, midfielders Atiba Hutchinson and Simeon Jackson, as well as goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld.
Panama (2-0-0) leads the four-team group, two points ahead of Canada (1-0-1). Honduras (0-1-1) and Cuba (0-2-0) are the others in this penultimate stage of qualifying for Brazil 2014. The top two teams after six matches ? home and away against every other side ? advances to the final, six-country round, which will be played next year.
Dunfield is one of just three players in the squad ? Patrice Bernier of the Montreal Impact and Marcel de Jong who plays in Germany are the others ? who are additions from the side which won in Cuba and tied Honduras at home to open the round in June.
?He?s done very very well for his club,? Hart said of Dunfield in a conference call, noting the midfielder also impressed in a friendly against Trinidad two weeks ago in Florida.
?It?s a matter of him working his way back into the side.?
Mariner, who has started Dunfield in every one of the 16 matches he?s coached except for the one against Portland when the midfielder was playing for Canada, said he?s seen the veteran fulfill more of a leadership role both on and off the field.
?He?s all action. He?s all over the field. He?s scored vital goals for us,? Mariner said. ?On game day, he covers almost every blade of grass. It?s infectious what he brings to us.?
Dunfield moved to England at age 14 to join Manchester City?s youth program, eventually spending four seasons with the club?s reserves and appearing in one match with the seniors. He then toiled in the fourth-tier of English football before joining the Vancouver Whitecaps in 2010, the year before they entered Major League Soccer.
Dunfield, who played for Canada?s U20 and U23 teams but didn?t debut with the senior team until age 28, was traded by his hometown team to TFC in July of last year.
?When you come into the national fold a little bit later, you don?t take anything for granted,? said Dunfield, who has 10 senior caps for Canada. ?I have worked hard to get here and by no means do I want it to be taken away easily.
?But, it?s not about Terry Dunfield, to give you an old clich?. It?s about Canada getting to Brazil. That would be huge, not just for the team but for the whole country and for soccer in general.?
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