Swope Park Rangers defender Amer Didic made his debut for the Canada Under-23 National Team in the side’s 1-0 victory over Uzbekistan on Saturday in Qatar.
Didic started the game at center back and played the full 90 minutes, while his SPR teammate Mark Anthony Gonzalez was sidelined with a minor injury picked up in training.
Canada dominated the vast majority of the game and finally found the breakthrough in the second half when Caniggia Elva pounced from 12 yards and fired into the bottom corner for the only goal of the game.
Didic marshaled the Canadian backline to a shutout as new Canada Men’s National Team head coach and former Sporting KC assistant Octavio Zambrano took charge of the team for the game.
Didic, Gonzalez and the Canada U-23s will next take on Qatar on Tuesday as the duo are set to miss the opening two games of the 2017 USL season for the Rangers. SPR hosts OKC Energy FC tonight in the club’s season opener, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. CT at Swope Soccer Village and tickets available via SeatGeek and at the box office.
