Ottawa, Ontario \u0096 The Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) today named current U-17 head coach and men’s national team assistant coach, Stephen Hart, as the interim head coach of the Canadian Men’s National Team, effective immediately through to the end of 2006.
\u200b
\u200b
\u200b
\u200bThe team has been without a head coach since Frank Yallop resigned and returned to Major League Soccer on June 7, 2006.
\u200b
\u200b
\u200b
\u200b“I am both honoured and flattered that the Association has shown the faith in me to take over the team in the interim,\u0094 said Hart. \u0093Obviously this is another transition period for the National Program; however, this is the nature of professional sport. \u0093
\u200b
\u200b
\u200b
\u200b\u0093Our results of late have been very encouraging and as the team’s assistant, I am very familiar with both the players and what we have been trying to achieve over the last year so in many respects there will be some continuity until a permanent coach is appointed.”
\u200b
\u200b
\u200b
\u200bHart will manage the team for the remainder of 2006 and his first game in charge of Canada will be the team’s September 4th (Labour Day) international friendly against Jamaica at the Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard in Montreal, QC. Kickoff for the match is scheduled for 4pm ET.
\u200b
\u200b
\u200b
\u200bCanada will then fly to Kingston, Jamaica for a second match against the Reggae Boyz. That match is scheduled for October 8th.
\u200b
\u200b
\u200b
\u200bAn international friendly is currently being planned for in the fall of 2006 in Europe. Information regarding this match will be released when the details have been finalized.
\u200b
\u200b
\u200b
\u200bStephen Hart \u0096 Bio
\u200b
\u200b
\u200b
\u200bOn December 21, 2001, Stephen Hart was hired as Canada’s U-17 National Team head coach. Hart had been the Technical Director for Soccer Nova Scotia since 1993 and was the Director of the Atlantic Region National Training Centre in Halifax.
\u200b
\u200b
\u200b
\u200bHolder of a CSA “A” License, Hart has been an instructor in the CSA coaching development program since 1992. His coaching experience covers a wide spectrum, having coached at the senior and youth levels, both, male and female. He has coached three Canada Games teams and several provincial teams in the last 11 years. He was an assistant coach with the Canadian Men’s Under-17 Team at the 2001 CONCACAF Qualifying Tournament for the Under-17 World Championships. In 2003, Hart was a member of the U-20 National Team coaching staff that lost in the Quarterfinals of the FIFA World Youth Championships in UAE and most recently was the first assistant with the men’s national team since 2005.
\u200b
\u200b
\u200b
\u200bA native of Trinidad and Tobago, Hart played for Texaco in the National Football League and the San Fernando Strikers in the local Premier League. In 1980 he was selected to the Trinidad and Tobago national team. Later that year he moved to Canada to attend St. Mary’s University.
\u200b
\u200b
\u200b
\u200bStephen lives in Halifax with his wife Lynn and daughters Eilish, Keva and Yara.
\u200b