AGR: How CF Montréal, Vancouver Whitecaps are going all-in on Canadian talent ahead of 2026 World Cup
VANCOUVER – Canadian teams in Major League Soccer have always circled their calendars for the dates they take one another on during the course of the regular season.
An all-Canadian affair serves as the closest thing to a local derby for three clubs spanning thousands of kilometers of distance across the vast country. It's why the Vancouver Whitecaps, Toronto FC and CF Montréal feel like something of a very small fraternity in a league that is otherwise 90% U.S.-based.
But this year, these Canadian club match-ups feel weightier than ever before... how could they not?
When the Vancouver Whitecaps hosted CF Montréal in the first of four all-Canadian regular season matches on the 2025 MLS schedule, fans at BC Place weren't just witnessing the exchanges of rivalry; they were revelling in Canadiana. In a time of tension between Canada and the United States in general society, Canadians at large have been coming together to support their own more than ever before – and that extended, clearly, onto the soccer pitch, where these two sides showed fight, yes, but a strong mutual respect for one another, too.
"All-Canadian matchups have a little bit more to it, especially with how things are going between the US and Canada," Whitecaps midfielder Ali Ahmed, who grew up in Toronto, told OneSoccer. "When you're playing all-Canadian matches, be it soccer, hockey, or other sports, it's special, especially when you know you want to prove that you are the best Canadian team."
Added Whitecaps midfielder Ralph Priso: "It's always good to play against the Canadian teams. I think a lot of guys on all three teams know each other, so it's also about meeting your friends, while having some bragging rights."
While that familiarity played a big role in adding a special element to this game, it's just one part of a bigger plan: Both the Vancouver Whitecaps and CF Montréal have pushed their Canadian identity to the forefront, especially in terms of their roster composition. We dive in to exactly how they're both doing that, and why this matchup was a good reminder of the process they're undergoing at the moment.
CF Montréal keep looking long-term on Canadian youth talent
In this game, the Whitecaps got the latest set of bragging rights in this clash against Montréal, showing why they're the three-time defending Canadian Championship winners in a strong 2-0 victory, but Montréal will have plenty of reasons to hold their heads up high going forward.
Despite the loss, they showed several good glimpses of play, doing so while starting five Canadian players in Jonathan Sirois, Joel Waterman, Luca Petrasso, Nathan Saliba and Aleksandr Guboglo (with the 17-year-old Guboglo making his first start), and bringing on a further four in Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Victor Loturi, Jules-Anthony Vilsaint and Dominik Yankov (of those nine Canadians who saw the field, eight are eligible for the CanMNT - Yankov was born in Toronto but represents Bulgaria having once been eligible for the CanMNT).
That's key, as it reaffirms Montréal's ongoing commitment to developing Canadian talent, creating a club identity that prioritizes Canadian players while still aiming to be competitive.
They've had mixed results in that quest - they finished 3rd in all of MLS in 2022, but then missed the playoffs in 2023, and narrowly made the postseason but fell in the wildcard game in 2024 - but they haven't wavered from that commitment to playing Canadians in any of those seasons.
Plus, they've seen the positive impact of that commitment first-hand - Ismaël Koné and Alistair Johnston made big moves to Europe after playing big roles in that 2022 team, Kamal Miller made MLS's all-star team that same year, while those three and several others have broken into the Canadian National Team over that span.
For those Canadians coming through the team now, like the 21-year-old Nathan Saliba, who has started to break into the CanMNT fold over the past six months after becoming a key part of Montréal's midfield last season, it's created a positive ripple effect for the players.
"They've built this structure that encourages youth development, they want to develop talent, they want to show that we can play and they want to push that to the forefront," Saliba told OneSoccer, translated from French. "We're already seeing the next generation come through, the young Aleksandr Guboglo for example, so they're going to only keep pushing that, and I'm proud to be part of that having been given their confidence to earn this opportunity."
As a result, Montréal's becoming a destination for Canadians to ply their trade.
Victor Loturi is an example of what that can look like - the former Cavalry midfielder was one of the first Canadians in the Canadian Premier League to make the jump to Europe when he moved to Scottish side Ross County in 2022, where he established himself as a regular over the years to come.
Having seen his minutes dwindle this year, however, he began to look for new opportunities, and when Montréal emerged as a potential landing spot, it immediately caught his eye, knowing that they haven't only invested in Canadian talent, but have also invested in CPL players in the past, with Waterman the first CPL-to-MLS transfer ever, and the likes of Sirois having spent loan stints in the CPL in the past.
"Yeah, you can say that," Loturi said when asked if their past investment in Canadian talent was a reason he joined the club. "I just want to help the team here, but they gave me that opportunity, so I just want to help and give them all that I have (in return)."
Yet, those are all signs of the positive impact Montréal's project has had on Canadian players.
They've had their fair share of stumbling blocks, such as the loss of key players and the departure of former head coach Wilfried Nancy after the 2022 season, which culminated in a frustrating 2023 season under Hernan Losada, but having since hired former Nancy disciple Laurent Courtois ahead of the 2024 campaign, they're hoping things are back on track going forward, with their coach playing a big role in ensuring they stick on track with their short and long-term goals as he enters his second season in charge.
"This is exactly the kind of project that I've always wanted to support when I started coaching - helping younger players make the jump and prepare to have a career," Montréal's head coach, Laurent Courtois, said. "So for me, being part of this process, where we try to value local and domestic talent with our resources, it's everything that I wanted."
"We're in year 2 here, it's only the beginning and there's been a few challenges, but we know we'll have good days soon."
Whitecaps looking to take advantage of 2026 World Cup boost
While Montréal have stayed steadfast in their commitment to Canadian talent, the Whitecaps themselves have slowly begun a Canadian movement of their own.
They only started one Canadian against Montréal, Ali Ahmed, who provided an assist on the team's second goal, and brought just one off the bench, Ralph Priso, but given that Sam Adekugbe and Jayden Nelson were injured for that match, with that pair off to great starts to 2025 before picking up ailments, their Canadian involvement could've been much higher on another day.
Led by Ahmed and Adekugbe, two regulars in the CanMNT fold, the Whitecaps have started to integrate more Canadians around them - Priso was acquired in a trade last year, Nelson was brought in via a transfer this offseason, and the likes of Belal Halbouni and Nicolas-Fleuriau Chateau were brought into the squad via different mechanisms over that span. Along with Isaac Boehmer, Max Anchor and Jeevan Badwal, who have come through the academy, it's given them a solid contingent of Canadians for them to rely upon.
Plus, things are only continuing to grow - the Whitecaps are continuing to use their MLS Next Pro team to their advantage, which really helped Ahmed, Badwal and Fleuriau-Chateau, in particular - making it an avenue they hope leads to an influx of homegrowns in the years to come.
For Ahmed, whose journey to where he is today represents what a lot of Canadians had to go through before teams started making these sorts of commitments to Canadian talent, he stressed how important that can be for players to see these sorts of pipelines put into place.
"It's a huge part of the growth of soccer in Canada," he explained. "I love what they're doing over (in Montréal). I'm a fan of what they're doing, and these are two clubs that are investing in youth and trying to promote and develop the game here in Canada with the World Cup coming, and even past the World Cup, we want to keep growing the game and become the one of the elite countries in the world in terms of talent."
"You can see it now, we've got players playing at the highest level, and not just playing, but being stars on their team, too. And I think we have many, many, many more to come. Still, a lot of kids keep coming out of nowhere, so we have the talent, so with the three MLS clubs, and the CPL, if they continue on the path we're on, and you can see the things (CanMNT head coach) Jesse Marsch is doing for soccer here, I think our country is heading in the right path."
For so long, a lot of questions surrounding Canadian talent was usually centred around the idea of them not being ready to make the jump up, but with more Canadians than ever thriving in MLS, and more and more Canadians starting to dominant in Europe as Ahmed said, those questions are going away - and that's opening more doors than ever for players to earn opportunities.
"It's cool to have guys around who you've played with for a long time and grown up with, and keep playing together," Priso added. "But it's also cool to see some of the younger guys, guys like Jeevan Badwal, coming up. I think the talent has always kind of been there for Canadians, but I think now, especially with the 2022 World Cup and that Canadian group doing as well as they did in terms of qualifying for it, I think (Canadian talent) is being exposed and seen, but I think it's always been there, so this has been good to see."
Therefore, as this trickle becomes a flood in terms of Canadians breaking through in MLS, it shows why this Whitecaps vs CF Montréal matchup was seen as a good proxy for the developments that have occurred in recent years, with both teams playing a key role in that.
From giving youngsters like Saliba a chance, to ensuring someone like Ahmed didn't fall through the cracks, those are just a few of many Canadian stories that both teams are looking to be a part of going forward, leading to more interesting stories going forward.
"I'm a fan of what they're doing over there in Montréal," Ahmed noted. "I love to see that they're giving opportunities to young Canadians, I was once looking for opportunities like that myself, so it's nice to see."
