It may be clutching at soccer straws to note that two of Canada’s group opponents in the 2022 World Cup, Croatia and Morocco, are through to the semifinals. Or it might be a valid point as Canada looks to co-host in 2026 with the U.S. and Mexico.
Canada Soccer, however, must look even more long term to 2030 and 2034. Attacking midfielder Liam MacKenzie of Comox is a part of that process as a member of the Canadian U-17 team named for the Copa México de Naciones Sub-17 this month. Canada plays Costa Rica on Thursday and Mexico on Dec. 19 in the three-team tournament to be held at the Mexican Football Federation training centre in Mexico City.
The games are to prepare the teams for the U-17 CONCACAF championship Feb. 11-26 in Guatemala. Canada is coached by Andrew Olivieri and has been drawn into a group with the U.S., Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, out of which the top three will advance to the Sweet Sixteen. The top-four nations in the CONCACAF knockout round will qualify for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru.
Canada was CONCACAF U-17 runner-up in 2011 and third-place finisher five times. There have been 19 FIFA U-17 World Cups with Canada having been to seven of them, with those being the international launch pad for several of the players who played for the senior national team at Qatar 2022 as Canada ended a 36-year World Cup appearance drought.
Canada was most recently in the FIFA U-17 World Cup at Brazil in 2019, the last edition hosted before the pandemic.
MacKenzie is among four B.C. players named to the Canadian team along with midfielder Jeevan Badwal out of Surrey FC, defender Aidan Fong from Vancouver Killarney and forward Kyler Vojvodic of Port Coquitlam. All are with the Vancouver Whitecaps FC Academy, in which MacKenzie was captain of the U-15 Whitecaps.
The future starts here. An expansive, box-to-box central midfielder, MacKenzie displayed his explosive offensive prowess with four goals for Whitecaps Academy in the U-17 Generation Adidas tournament this year in Dallas against other Major League Soccer academy teams and those from clubs such as Manchester United, Celtic, Porto, AS Roma, Flamengo and River Plate.
MacKenzie played for the Vancouver Island Wave of Victoria in the elite youth B.C. Soccer Premier League and got even stronger playing against men with the senior Comox Valley United in the Vancouver Island Soccer League. MacKenzie is one of only four 15-year-olds on a Canadian team dominated by 17 players who are 16 years old. The youngest player is 14-year-old midfielder Richard Chukwu of Toronto FC Academy.
