Canadian Men’s National Team
Turning a Page towards Youth By Kamal Hylton
When looking at the state of Canadian Soccer, and more specifically the Canadian Men’s National Team program, it now finds itself at a crossroad. It is a critical point in time where important decisions must be made both in the rebuilding of the program and rethinking of youth development both domestically and internationally. Taking a look at Canadian Soccer one can see a trend where it will be less of a fishing expedition of finding relative unknowns playing abroad, and begin moving more towards leagues like the North American Soccer League, professional academy set ups, youth national teams and the Canadian Championship (a.k.a Voyageurs Cup) being chief resource for breading and cultivating talent. When looking how the NASL has already had a positive impact on Canada at youth levels, look no further than FC Edmonton who have set the gold standard. A good portion of players have A BOOT
CANADIAN SOCCER DIGITAL MAGAZINE
Photos courtesy of CanadaSoccer
either made a name for themselves or are just beginning to rise onto the scene. The most notable name has been midfielder Shaun Saiko who has cemented himself as a star within the league. The growth of some of his teammates this season under head coach Colin Miller, such as forwards Michael Cox and Sadi Jalali, as well as Canada’s standout star in U-17 World Cup qualifying in midfielder Hanson Boakai, makes for a clear sign of progress and will only help build a solid talent pool to draw on for years to come. It will be interesting to see the route that the newest Canadian side to join the NASL in Ottawa Fury FC will take. Club president John Pugh has recently made the first hire in head coach Marc Dos Santos, someone with a large knowledge base when it comes to youth development, both within Canada and internationally having previously coach in the Montreal Impact system and most recently is JULY 2013
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