Flores will not attend CanMNT camp

An intriguing name on Canada’s January training camp roster was that of Tigres midfielder Marcelo Flores, but he will not be in California with the team after all.

Canada manager Jesse Marsch confirmed on Tuesday that the 22-year-old Georgetown, Ont. native will not attend camp and he will not figure into the team’s friendly with Guatemala on Saturday.

Marsch said after training on Wednesday that he pushed to have Flores attend the camp, but it became clear that he couldn’t play unless he made an official allegiance switch.

“It was my idea to try to get him here, thinking we could make this more of like a lower-tiered FIFA match and even though he didn’t make a one-time switch, we could get him in the game against Guatemala,” Marsch said. “But I made a mistake on that and it turns out that no matter how we tier it, unless it’s a closed-door match, he can’t play. So it’s a little bit unfortunate.”

An Arsenal academy product, Flores has been with Tigres since a 2022 transfer. He was capped three times by Mexico during 2020 and 2021, but FIFA permits a one-time allegiance switch for players who were capped three times or fewer at 21 or under. Should Flores decide to play for Canada, this switch is expected to be granted. Flores’s sisters, Silvana and Tatiana, are also Canadian-born and play internationally for Mexico.

With the January international window not officially sanctioned by FIFA, Canada’s European-based players were not called into camp and Liga MX has games scheduled this week. After a two-goal performance over the weekend in a 2-1 win over San Luis in the first match of the Clausura, Tigres is set to host Pumas on Wednesday night.

Marsch says he understands the gravity of the decision currently weighing on Flores.

“I’ve gotten to know Marcelo and his family and he’s got a big decision to make and a family decision to make on whether he wants to represent Mexico or Canada,” Marsch said. “I want him to be successful. I like him as a young man. I think he has big potential as a player. I think he’d be great here with us in Canada, but you know, I want to support him in the right way to make a decision that he feels the best about and I still strongly believe that that could be Canada.”

Flores attended Canada’s last camp in November as a training player as a way to get a feel for his potential teammates and Marsch’s coaching philosophy. Marsch says a lot is set to go into Flores’s final decision.

“He’s got a father who grew up in Mexico, he’s got a mother who grew up in Canada and he grew up in Canada,” Marsch said. “I think his whole family lives down in Mexico. He’s got two sisters playing down in Mexico, so they have a clear attachment to the Mexican culture and what it is to be Mexican, but you know he tells me a lot, ‘I’m Canadian. I grew up in Canada.’ And he knows a lot of the guys. I think he has a real edge and life to him that fits really well within our group. I think the guys liked him. I think he liked the guys. So yeah, I think there’s a lot of things [to consider], but I think he’s gonna have to do what’s best for him in his heart.”

Canada’s match with Guatemala is set for Los Angeles’s BMO Stadium on Jan. 17.