Why the quality of the Canadian Premier League deserves more respect

by Rhys Desmond, posted in Canadian Premier League
Embed from Getty Images

If you ask the vast majority of CPL players where they’re aspiring to play right now, the Canadian Premier League itself would not come up as an answer. Most see the league as a stepping stone toward greater times, such as playing for an MLS club, or abroad.

But in reality, the Canadian Premier League is not a giant leap away from the MLS, or many of the clubs abroad. Many of the examples of MLS clubs facing off against CPL giants has resulted in losses for the CPL clubs. But the gap has never been that far away. Sometimes, the CPL club has even been far and away the better team. As a quick example, a few seasons back, Forge and Toronto FC played one another in the final of the Canadian Championship. Forge completely dominated the match, and were unfortunate to lose on penalty kicks. While it’s true Toronto FC have not been at their best the past few seasons, the gap between clubs like Forge and Cavalry, and the lower-end of the MLS is purely non-existent. Forge and Cavalry would finish nowhere near the bottom of the MLS table. They already have the quality to play in the division.

Embed from Getty Images

In fact, I’d go as far as to say that there are currently fifteen CANPL players that would be completely comfortable, above average MLS players.

There are many others that would easily have a role to play. But when it comes to my list, it’s worth noting a few things.

  1. Ten of them are Canadian.
  2. Most of them are central midfielders and centre-backs, who accomplish a well-rounded set of skills and then also play in a high-demand position.
  3. A few of them have even played in the MLS before and were once deemed good enough to be there.

I’d even say that the first six names would be right up there with the best in the league. Joel Waterman and Lukas MacNaughton have already proven that you can go from one of the best in the CPL to one of the best in the MLS.

Embed from Getty Images

Kyle Bekker, Daniel Nimick, Daan Klomp, Alexander Achinioti-Jonsson, Lorenzo Callegari and Amer Didić would not only hold their own, but vastly improve any team they walked into.

Yet for the most part, these are players that will remain in the Canadian Premier League next season. If they want to be part of national team set-ups, like say Dan Nimick or Amer Didić might, they need to go abroad to be considered. So they might leave the country, in pursuit of the bigger contract and opportunity to broaden their horizons, when the point of the CPL has always been to develop talent in-house, and keep at least some of our talent in this country.

Embed from Getty Images

On the one hand, it’s powerful that players like Victor Loturi and Dominik Zator have excelled in Europe and gained greater attention on the international stage as a result of their moves. But it’s unfortunate not to see players like that be able to continue their development in Canada for clubs that deserve closer to equal respect.

Embed from Getty Images

So while the MLS will continue to be where the big bucks are made, I think young Canadian players should see the CANPL as not just a stepping-stone, but a place where they can still shine on the world stage at a high level of play. Financially, I recognize the difficulty of choosing the Canadian Premier League as the path for the future. But for outside audiences, our league deserves more respect. The quality is already far beyond what most would have imagined at this point, and not all that far away from the MLS.

Leave a Reply