As Canadian soccer fans focus on the success of the senior men’s and women’s squads, they can expect young Quebec talent to join the pipeline this month.
Sixteen teams will travel to India for the 7th edition of the U-17 World Cup, including some of the best teenage girls in the world, including four from Quebec.
Canada is looking to improve on its fourth-place finish in 2018, the country’s best result in seven appearances at the tournament, according to coach Emma Humphries.
“We want to win every game that’s ahead of us,” said Humphries from Goa, India.
Terrebonne’s Jade Bordeleau says it’s an honor to don Canada’s jersey.
“It was pretty amazing when you go into the dressing room and you get the jersey with your number and everything,” she said. “It was really something special.”
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Jade is rising to the top of the talent pool considering her family’s athletic roots.
Her grandfather, Paulin Bordeleau, played in the NHL in the 1970s. Her father, Sébastien Bordeleau, played seven years in the league, including portions of three seasons with the Montreal Canadiens. Now her brother Thomas Bordeleau is following suit. He already played a handful of games with the San Jose Sharks last season. But Jade knew early on that Canada’s national winter sport wasn’t for her.
“My father asked me when I was young if I wanted to play hockey because my brother played. I never wanted anything to do with it. I did figure skating but never hockey.”
Canadian soccer fans are thankful Jade has opted for cleats over skates as she will be called upon to help the squad run deep at this tournament. As a striker, she will have to step up in the absence of injured striker Rosa Maalouf. The Ottawa native netted 12 times and led all players in the CONCACAF U-17 Championship in the Dominican Republic last spring. Canada won a bronze medal that secured the team a spot at the World Championships.
Humphries said the team messed up their attack in Maalouf’s absence and a committee of players closed the gap.
“We have now played against four World Cup opponents and scored five goals [without Rosa,]said Humphries. “We will absolutely miss them…but this team is more than capable of scoring without them.”
And Humphries likes what she sees in Jade.
“She’s a really exciting player who plays with a tremendous amount of struggle and passion,” said the New Zealander. “She has a real eye for goal.”
Worth the sacrifice
Playing at this high level requires discipline on and off the pitch. Goalkeeper Coralie Lallier and midfielder Félicia Roy live on Montreal’s south coast and are too young to drive. Every day after school, they use the BMW method (bus, tube, walk) for the three-hour round trip to their training facility in Laval.
Coralie says the sacrifice is worth it, especially when the payoff is a national team selection.
“[It] was like a dream. I was like, ‘Oh, one day I want to play for Canada’ and now it’s real,” she said.
Coralie played dozens of minutes as the team’s top goaltender in the spring tournament and Humphries says she will support the team again in India.
Félicia has dreamed of representing Canada for years but hopes it’s just a step on her way to the top. Her goal is to eventually get promoted to the senior team and represent Canada at the Olympics while pursuing a pro career in Europe.
“She’s a technical midfielder,” Humphries said. “She keeps the game one, two if need be, and too [has the] Courage to be able to try to beat people through the middle.”
A chance to win
Canada has as good a chance of winning as any nation, but it won’t be easy. The road to victory could likely lie via the USA, a team that beat Canada 3-0 in the spring of CONCACAF – a defeat Félicia says still hurts.
“USA are our biggest rival in this tournament. We want to play them again and beat them,” said the teenager from St-Bruno-de-Montarville. “We have to play better as a team because we lost a bit in the game and played too individually.”
First, Canada must drop out of its pool, which also includes soccer powerhouses Japan and France. Both countries have already won a World Cup at this level.
Canada defender Janet Okeke, 15, assesses her team’s chances.
“I think if everyone focuses on that and trains with the vision that we can win the World Cup, we can win the World Cup,” said the Laval teenager.
According to Humphries, Janet, who can be a central defender or a full-back, brings a lot of energy to the group and impresses on the pitch.
“When she joins the attack — so much speed, so much determination, and she can take people one-to-one on the inside or the outside,” Humphries said.
Janet is thrilled to be representing her country, but wasn’t too thrilled about how she found out she made the team. Her father sent her a simple text message while she was in class.
“Personally would be much better,” she said, laughing. “I just asked my teacher if I could go and call him to make sure it’s real.”
When asked why she was on her phone in the middle of class, she wisely declined to comment.
On October 12, Canada will open the tournament against France and play Japan three days later. Canada will end the group stage against Tanzania, a country participating in a U-17 World Cup for the first time.
According to Humphries, Canadian fans should pay attention to this tournament and this generation of football talent. She thinks the quality is higher than ever, especially in the front position.
“We want to get Canada excited about these individuals who could one day play for the senior team,” she said.
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