Pape Lamine Sarr couldn’t sleep. It was the middle of the night, and Lamine Sarr was sitting in the back of a taxi driving through the streets of Toronto. He had arrived the previous evening after a 12-hour bus and train trip from Rimouski, Que., only to find that his hotel didn’t have his reservation. Nearby hotels in his price range were full. His taxi driver took sympathy on him and let him sit in the back of his taxi for the night.



The 23-year old Senegalese student at the University of Quebec at Rimouski had one thought that kept him awake: Don’t be late for the start of the Canadian Premier League open trials the next morning.



“I just want to be seen,” Lamine Sarr said in French via a translator.



With MLS continually becoming a viable option for foreign players, the CPL open trials are an opportunity for young Canadian players like Lamine Sarr to show coaches there is professional-level talent in...