Sporting Kansas City defender Marcel de Jong started and played the full 90 mintues on Friday for the Canada Men's National Team in a 1-0 victory over Guatemala at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Marcus Haber scored the game's lone goal, while Milan Borjan kept the clean sheet in the international friendly.
De Jong now has 32 caps in his career since debuting for Canada at age 21 in 2007. He has represented his country at each of the past three CONCACAF Gold Cup tournaments, as well as in 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying.
Canada -- ranked No. 116 by FIFA -- will close out the team's training camp against Puerto Rico on Monday at Estadio Juan Roman Loubriel in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. The match will be Canada's final tune-up prior to the start of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying in June and the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup in July.
READ
:
De Jong talks World Cup cycle
De Jong -- one of 22 players on head coach Benito Floro's roster -- signed with Sporting Kansas City earlier this month and has started each of the club's last two matches. In last weekend's scoreless draw against the Portland Timbers, de Jong logged a game-high four tackles to help Sporting KC post the club's first clean sheet of 2015.
He also created four chances, tied for most of any Major League Soccer player in Week 3, on the offensive end of the field en route to
earning a spot on MLSsoccer.com's Team of the Week
.
