The last time the BMO Field faithful caught sight of Julian de Guzman was back on July 11. Trailing their favourite West Coast rival 1-0 courtesy of an early second half Darren Mattocks strike, come the hour mark Paul Mariner had seen more then enough. He yanked de Guzman off. Taking his seat on the bench little then did the close to 20,000 in attendance know that would be the very last time they would get to see de Guzman in the red shirt of his hometown club. On Friday night, the Canadian football jury gets to welcome home the most talked about and argued about player the country has ever known. Now nearly two months on from his BMO Field freeze frame, any emotional scars have healed for de Guzman. "The whole TFC era for me is the past now," the midfield lynchpin disclosed to TSN.ca. "Ive moved on, Im with a new club but when it comes to your national team its a completely different situation." "This is your country youre representing - whether its at BMO Field, whether its at Saputo Stadium it doesnt matter where it is but its your national team youre getting to represent and its for the World Cup." For that, de Guzman is certainly very glad to be home. "Its great to be playing again in your hometown," he said. "This is a dream come true to me to be playing in Toronto for a national team game this is for myself, another great opportunity. Im thankful and continue to look forward to representing my country, in my hometown and its for the World Cup. Im definitely looking forward to it." To say hes not anticipating an occasion to rival any other in his career (that has seen stints in Germany and Spain, two of footballs most blessed founding nations) is to miss entirely the significance of what Friday night means to De Guzman and his fellow countrymen. "We know the importance of this match coming up," he said. "Its pretty much the match that will decide the rest of this group stage for us. Were definitely fired up for Friday nights game." Since making his senior Canadian debut at the 2002 Gold Cup de Guzman is of no doubt that during his time in the national team set up that this current crop is the finest. "I feel this is the best prepared and fully equipped squad for a world cup qualifier and this is my third time involved with World Cup qualification," he said. "You can see the guys coming from their clubs, the way they have been playing, producing goals and results and theyre bringing all that into the national team. Bringing all these guys together who are coming off good runs with their clubs, it shows that the quality is a lot different and the depth of the team is definitely a lot more than it ever was before." That squad he refers to is not much different to the one that back on June 12 trudged off the BMO Field pitch following a scoreless 90 minutes against Honduras. "We still have that bad taste in our mouths," he said. "It was more of us losing two points than it was being a tie. "We know how important it is to get a home win in a World Cup qualifying game - theres only three home games and normally you want to come out with nine points at home. Weve already lost two points. Now you know going into this game against Panama it is mandatory we walk off that pitch with the three points. "The Honduras game when you look back at it we created a lot of chances, played good football and were disciplined in the back. The major problem obviously was converting the chances into a goal. Its something weve been working on and hopefully weve all learnt that lesson going into Fridays game." Canada will certainly need that defensive discipline as he who lurks for Panama and certainly not in the background comes in the considerable football shape and size of their very own Honduran destroyer Blas Perez. Theres nothing blase about him. "Hes a big player that Panama relies on a lot," he said. "Hes their top scorer and hes also a guy that really likes to get involved. He sparks their attack. I can still recall the game against Panama in last summers Gold Cup and the type of threats and trouble he can cause in the back if youre not sharp. "Hes a guy whos strong, likes the ball at his feet and holds up the ball well for the rest of the attack to get involved and hes a great finisher as well. Were very aware of that. The guys we have on our side we are capable of putting that to a stop Friday night". "If we can eliminate him from Panamas attack I think that solves almost half the work done from our part." The other half involves what crucially Canada failed to do against Honduras at BMO Field. Perez meanwhile scored both goals when Panama opened up their campaign on a winning note in San Pedro Sula on June 8. Since arriving in Dallas, de Guzman and Perez have their very own version of an entente cordiale. "I get along with him - hes great to play with as well," he said. "A great guy and these are the things I guess professional footballers deal with when a player at your club ends up being a player you play against at the international level. "But thats where your professionalism kicks in and once youre on the pitch its all business and no