Up until recently, domestic development has never been a strong suit for the Canadian Soccer Association. A failure to produce talent within soccer p

rograms in the country has been a key factor in Canada’s increasing World Cup drought. However, the influx of Canadian franchises joining Major League Soccer, the highest division of the sport in North America, may finally be directing the dial in the other direction. Toronto FC, Montreal Impact, Vancouver Whitecaps and FC Edmonton (NASL) all have academy programs focused on developing Canadian talent who will hopefully transform into National Team members.

However, while Canadian footballing development has made extensive steps in the right direction it still has a lot of work to do to close the gap with development programs overseas. Several ambitious young Canadian soccer players have emigrated to foreign countries to access the development resources simply not present in the Canadian game. Europe in particular is filled with rich footballing cultures which have been producing some of the best players in the game for years. This among other things provides plenty of incentive for Canadian soccer players to make this trip abroad.

One of those players is Jonathan Lao, a 19 year old midfielder and Canadian U20 member. Lao represents one of the many young Canadians who abandoned the domestic development program in favour of the greener pastures of the European game. His career began in Canada, Lao was originally part of the Toronto FC academy program, the original Canadian MLS-based club development initiative. But after being asked to sign a deal committing himself to the program longterm, he and two others, including promising young Canadian talent Keven Aleman, decided to part ways with the club, a decision Lao doesn’t regret.

“I would have loved and would still love to play for my hometown”, Jonathan Lao tells Last Word On Sports, “but I still don’t think it is what I really want with my career right now.”

For Lao those greener pastures were German Liga 3 club FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt, for whom he currently plays as a reserve. While the club may not be globally recognised Lao has already seen the differences in culture and mentality with his move overseas. Canada just simply does not possess the same level of couching. “[In Canada]I was coached by volunteer coaches whose main goal for the team was to win. Until the age of 13, I did not learn any personal traits that I needed for the game. All we did was shooting drills, running drills, passing drills and games. It wasn’t until I finally reached regional level that I did technique drills.”

Furthermore, Germany’s developmental focus is far different from the majority of programs in Canada. Several big names in Canadian Soccer, including National Team defender Jason De Vos, have consistently called for change in this regard. Lao says that in Germany the main focus is on the technical aspects of the game: “The coaches teach the kids from a young age to dribble with both feet, keep the ball in the air and do a lot more technical drills then tactical.”

The European approach has benefited several Canadian’s game. Lao is no exception, saying that his time in Germany has changed him immensely as a player: “I have first grown as a person. I had to able to do everything alone and I also had to learn a new language. Being overseas has also helped me grow as a footballer. I have become a smarter player and I’ve learned to control the pace of the game.”

For professional footballers individuality is an important trait to master. From a young age footballers have to live on the road away from friends and ultimately family as they pursue their aspirations. This not only keeps them focused on the game it also helps them get unprecedented early experience with the constant uprooting that is required for a career in professional soccer. Meanwhile, while players developed on the domestic front do travel it is not the same experience.

Asked if he would recommend playing overseas over domestic developing at this point in time Lao made it absolutely clear as to which he considers to be superior: “If a young Canadian truly wants to play professional football as a career, I would recommend going overseas at a young age. Going at a young age allows young Canadians to feel what its like to sacrifice instead of having everything given to them. This will help the players to get a stronger mentality, which I find lack in a lot of Canadian youth players.”

Intriguingly, Jonathan Lao uses a strong mentality as one of his reasons as to why playing abroad is the better choice for developing Canadian soccer players. A strong mentality is something that has plagued the National program in all facets for a number of years. If he truly does feel that playing in Europe aids a stronger mentality for Canadian players then the importance cannot be understated.

Canadian soccer is constantly taking small steps towards closing the gap between the development programs of itself and the elite footballing nations. However, at this point in time it is still miles behind where it needs to be in order to render the Canadian program a consistent competitor on the International stage. To this end top Canadian talent will continue to emigrate to Europe in order to improve their soccer ability, as for the time being is the best option.

photo credit: vivodefutbol via photopin cc