CPL Awards: Rea, Pacius, De Rosario up for Canadian U-21 Player of the Year
The Canadian Premier League has begun revealing nominees for this season’s end-of-year awards, beginning on Wednesday with the finalists for Canadian Under-21 Player of the Year.
This award honours a domestic player born (for this season) Jan. 1, 2001 or later. Each CPL club was required to give at least 2,000 minutes of playing time to U-21 players this year — final totals for the regular season are available here.
The three nominees for this award were determined by the CPL’s head office, and the winner will be chosen by a vote of select media from across the country. Candidates are evaluated based exclusively on their play in the CPL regular season, and voting began immediately after the regular season’s conclusion on Oct. 9.
Award winners will be revealed prior to the CPL Final later this month. The release schedule for nominees for the other awards is available here.
The Canadian U-21 Player of the Year is awarded the Polar Bear, or Atiqalaaq, trophy, sculpted by Nunavut-based Inuit artist Taqialuk Nuna.
This year’s nominees for Canadian U-21 Player of the Year are as follows:
OSAZE DE ROSARIO, YORK UNITED
De Rosario enjoyed an outstanding debut season at York United in 2022, playing 27 out of 28 games and scoring 12 goals, leading his team and finishing second in the league — just one back of Golden Boot winner Alejandro Díaz.
The 21-year-old striker, born in California but raised in Toronto, played his first full professional season this year after signing for York in March from Ukrainian side Rukh Lviv.
The Nine Stripes’ star centre-forward carried much of the attacking burden for his side, especially early in the season. He ultimately scored or assisted 48 per cent of York’s goals, and he was joint-first in the CPL with 10 non-penalty goals.
De Rosario is certainly one of the most effective central attackers in the league, using his strong frame to hold up the ball and his goalscorer’s instinct to find dangerous shooting areas in the box. He also showed a few times this year that he can hit the target from distance.
The son of Canadian men’s national team legend Dwayne, Osaze De Rosario has begun making a name for himself in his own right this year, and his future is as bright as anyone’s in the CPL.
SEAN REA, VALOUR FC
Rea has absolutely thrived this year in Winnipeg, on loan from his hometown MLS club CF Montréal. He played more minutes than any other Valour player, and in fact led the CPL for minutes by a Canadian U-21 player with 2,273.
In that time, Rea set a new league record with nine assists, also scoring five goals as the main talisman of Valour’s attack throughout the year.
His 71 chances created this season were 28 more than any other player in the CPL, and Rea also led the league in successful crosses (62), penalty area entries (191), and set-piece chances created (30). He finished second among attacking players with 20 balls won in the final third, and his five dribbles completed put him fifth in the league.
In his second year with Valour, Rea appeared to develop into a well-rounded, mature attacking player who works hard on and off the ball, learning how best to use his dribbling and passing ability in tandem to help his team.
Rea has stepped up in some key moments for Valour this season and was a major reason for their late resurgence, with very timely goals and assists to keep them in the playoff hunt.
WOOBENS PACIUS, FORGE FC
Pacius, also in his second CPL season, was the most effective goalscorer this year for the team that scored more goals than anybody else in the league.
The Terrebonne, Quebec native finished fourth in the league with 10 goals over 27 games, leading a Forge team that put the ball in the net a league-best 47 times. Pacius went on an outrageous run of form in July and August which saw him score seven goals in six games, but he was a productive striker throughout the year for Forge.
After Pacius signed for Forge in August 2021 he immediately carved out a place for himself in the team, scoring six goals in his first professional campaign (or at least, half of one) last year. This season, though, the former CF Montréal academy man has found a new level to his game as a potent finisher with good instincts.
His hold-up play has improved, as has his ability to pop up in the right spot in the penalty area to finish off build-up moves. Although much of Forge’s attacking has been done by committee this year, Pacius is consistently their top finisher and undoubtedly one of the most dangerous weapons in the entire league.
At 21 years old, Pacius is already looking like a solid professional goalscorer, with plenty of growth still to come.
