Teenaged Shola Jimoh impresses at men’s soccer training session, offering evidence of CPL development strategy

Shola Jimoh didn’t seem especially striking when he began training with the Canadian men’s national soccer team for the first time this week. Small, quiet, just 16 years old, he walked onto the field looking like a boy among men. 

It didn’t take long to see what makes him a prospect, a project, a wish, a threat: In the frenzied session that followed, he was always on the attack, always on the balls of his feet.

In advance of this month’s Nations League quarterfinal matchup against Suriname, head coach Jesse Marsch held a training camp for 19 North American-based players to keep them sharp out of season.

Some were his regular starters, like Richie Laryea and Kamal Miller. Others were players on the margins and first-time invitees. Only one doesn’t play Major League Soccer: Shola Jimoh.

Jimoh is a forward for York United FC of the Canadian Premier League, the six-year-old domestic competition founded on the promise of developing players like him.

His side fell short of this Saturday’s CPL final between Hamilton Forge and Calgary’s Cavalry FC, which will be broadcast live beginning at 3 p.m. ET (12 p.m. PT) on CBC, CBC Gem, and cbc.ca. 

But his steady improvement and sometimes spectacular play, including a gorgeous goal in a dramatic playoff loss against Atlético Ottawa, still caught Marsch’s scouting attention.

“He’s young and talented and can play the way that I like to play,” Marsch said.

During Wednesday’s session— held under broken skies at Toronto FC’s training ground, with a wicked wind across the pitch — the coach offered steady encouragement to his newest hopeful.

“Attack that ball, Shola!”

“That’s the right idea, Shola!”

“Run, Shola, run!”

He grew into each session— by Marsch’s measures, improving with every touch.

During one attacking drill, Jimoh hit the post with his first attempt at goal. His second was on target but blocked. With his third, he received a pass from national team mainstay Jonathan Osorio before rifling a shot past first-string goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau.

“I was thinking, a couple of years ago I used to play with them in FIFA,” a beaming Jimoh said after, talking about the videogame. “And now I’m training with them.”

There were lost decades when the men’s team could only dream of finding teenagers with Jimoh’s potential. Despite soccer’s huge popularity, the development pathway in Canada was undefined, and star children too often became middling young adults.

Jimoh — who only started playing soccer after a teacher spotted him tearing around his schoolyard and suggested his parents sign him up — was lucky to grow up in Brampton, Ont., one of the country’s great football factories.

He was also helped by the timely emergence of the Canadian Premier League.

“After I joined the CPL, my development skyrocketed,” he said. “It’s been really beneficial for me.”

There were three CPL graduates with him on the field this week: reserve goalkeepers Jonathan Sirois and James Pantemis, and defender Joel Waterman. Kwasi Poku, a Forge product who now plays in Europe, also made his national team debut last month against Panama.

“If it wasn’t for the CPL, I wouldn’t be where I am right now, playing for my country,” Waterman said this week. “We needed it.”

The 28-year-old Waterman, who’s earned five caps for Canada, also acknowledged that the league must improve on its national-team dividends.

“It still needs to build,” he said. “We still need to get a culture of players who want to make it to the next level.”

Jimoh, who’s had to work his way off the bench at York United this season, might prove the best possible case for the league as a launching pad.

He’s still living at home with his family and going to high school at Holy Cross in Vaughan, but he’s determined to play professionally in Europe by the time he’s 18.

“I’ve always been a quick learner,” he said, “and I feel like I’m getting better every single day.”

Marsch sees the same limitlessness in him. He hopes his fellow coaches at York United do, too.

“I don’t want to step out of line here,” Marsch said. “For me, he should be playing every minute of almost every match. What I know, with my experiences, is that players of his age with his quality can develop very quickly. And can attract big suitors.”

With the men’s national team maybe the biggest of all.