Brampton is home to six players on Canada's men's national soccer team — more than any other city in the country — and the city is marking the moment with a big-screen World Cup watch party in downtown Garden Square on Thursday night.
Midfielders Jonathan Osorio, Tajon Buchanan, Liam Millar and Jayden Nelson, along with forwards Cyle Larin and Promise David, all grew up in Brampton, according to a Canadian Press report. That haul outstrips bigger centres such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
Larin, whose scoring record earned him the nickname "The Brampton Bagsman" from teammates at English club Southampton, scored the tying goal in Canada's 1-1 friendly draw with Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto on Friday.
Academy gives players the night off
Sigma FC, a Mississauga-based development academy that has trained many Brampton players including Larin, normally runs Thursday evening sessions. This week, co-founder Bobby Smyrniotis is calling them off so his young players can watch Canada face Qatar at the FIFA men's World Cup.
"It's to make sure everyone is watching the game. That's a very important thing," Smyrniotis, also Forge FC's head coach and technical director, told The Canadian Press. "These are memorable moments for soccer in this nation. We need to make sure that everyone that's involved in the game is indulging in it and we're not taking away from it."
He added: "I hope that all across the country there are no soccer games, there are no training sessions going on tomorrow during the game, because we need everyone watching this."
Credit to city fields and volunteers
Smyrniotis, who also coached national team midfielder Richie Laryea, said municipal investment changed the game in Peel Region. When Sigma started in 2005, turf fields were scarce, but that began shifting in 2007 as Mississauga and Brampton added artificial turf and indoor centres.
"They started investing in indoor centres as well, that kept players training on a proper pitch 10 to 11 months a year," he said.
Paula Phillips, executive director of the Brampton Soccer Club, credited the City of Brampton for maintaining and lining fields and putting up nets, along with local school boards. She said the mayor's office makes time to discuss the club's needs.
"They maintain all the fields, they line them, they put the nets up," she told The Canadian Press. "If there's something we need, we could contact the mayor's office and he'll take the time to sit and talk to us because he's huge into the promotion of youth, as is the rest of the city."
Phillips and Brampton Soccer Club representatives will run a booth at Thursday's watch party in Garden Square. "We will be there to support them, 100 per cent," she said, adding that current and former national team players never hesitate to name Brampton as their hometown.
Aidan Nagy, a former Sigma FC player who played alongside Larin and Laryea, said Brampton teams stood out for their humility even at young ages.
"Just the eagerness to let their play do the talking," he told The Canadian Press. "I think as we grew up and started to grow into our teens, those guys just carried like a humility with them that was not surprising to see based on how they acted as like 9, 10, 11 year olds."
