BELEK, Turkey - Buoyed by a summer date with the rival U.S., the Canadian men's soccer team looks to use a friendly with Belarus on Tuesday to sharpen its skills ahead of the Gold Cup.
Striker Rob Friend says the leadup to the CONCACAF championship has already started.
"It's been one of the best camps we've had since I've been in the program," said the striker from Germany's Hertha BSC. "The boys have been very sharp, the intensity's been really high, so everyone's focused for the game (Tuesday) and obviously for the games this summer in the Gold Cup."
Canada opens the Gold Cup, which serves as the regional championship for North and Central America and the Caribbean, on June 7 in Detroit against the U.S.
The last time Canada faced the Americans was in a semifinal loss at the 2007 Gold Cup when a late goal by Atiba Hutchinson was controversially disallowed.
Canada, ranked 84th in the world, will be the underdog against a Belarus side ranked 37th.
Belarus currently stands second to France in its Euro 2012 qualifying group with a 2-1-2 record. It's been an up-and-down campaign with a win over France and a tie with lowly Luxembourg. Most recently the team has spilt games with Albania.
Belarus is coached by 63-year-old German Bernd Stange, who has also had stints in charge of Iraq, Oman and East Germany as well as club teams in Australia, Germany, Greece and Ukraine.
Despite the rankings gap, Josh Simpson is confident Canada can dictate play Tuesday.
"The rankings don't mean a lot to us," said the midfielder for Turkey's Vestel Manisaspor. "As you saw in the 2-2 draw versus Ukraine we get into the match and take it to them.
"Also in Greece, we played well and we were unlucky with the result."
Still Canada has not won a match in Europe since a 1-0 decision over Cyprus in May 2009.
Hutchinson has been using the team's 2007 loss to the United States as motivation with the June rematch on the horizon.
"I think all the boys really get up for that game against the States, it's a little bit of derby, a rivalry, and I think we'll all be looking forward to it," he said. "We have to take it one game at a time, get a good result here and hopefully prepare from there."
Tuesday's match will be played in Antalya at the Antalya Ataturk Stadium which is the former home of Turkish league side Antalyaspor.
The stadium has a seating capacity of more than 11,000 but not much of a crowd is expected since neither team has any attachment to the local area.
Most of the Canadian team has been training together since last Monday at a sports resort, roughly an hour east of Antalya.
Coach Stephen Hart has assembled a largely European-based squad for the camp with key players Simpson, Simeon Jackson and Kevin McKenna joining Hutchinson and Friend.
The majority of Canada's North America-based players including Dwayne De Rosario and Dejan Jakovic have been allowed to remain with their clubs to focus on the start of their MLS campaigns.
Montreal Impact forward Ali Gerba, who hasn't featured for Canada since the 2009 Gold Cup, declined an invitation to camp.
Left back Mike Klukowski has rejoined the team after missing out on nearly a year of action with the national side due to personal reasons.
