Fourteen-year-old Ottawa South United Force Academy player Matteo de Brienne is set to join the Vancouver Whitecaps residency program later this month – the latest in an ever-growing line of OSU products to join professional soccer academies in Canada and abroad.
“I was in shock at first. I was so excited,” recounts de Brienne. “It’s always been my dream to play for a professional academy, and to be able to move there, it’s an incredible opportunity.”
Prior to catching the Whitecaps’ eye, de Brienne gained experience in similar settings thanks to a number of OSU connections – attending training sessions with Toronto FC’s youth academy, trials with Crewe Alexandra F.C. in England, and a Real Madrid tournament with OSU’s partner club, the Dallas Texans.
“He’s learned from the opportunities he’s had going to the pro clubs,” highlights OSU Club Head Coach Paul Harris, noting de Brienne has been “outstanding” in the past three months for his 8-1-1 OPDL squad. “He’s going to hit the ground running and we think go in there and make a big impact.”
Before the offer to join the Whitecaps full-time, de Brienne spent a week in Vancouver on trial – the product of an earlier local showcase event OSU organized in collaboration with the Major League Soccer franchise. The Whitecaps have held three talent ID events in Ottawa, and they’ll return for another this fall.
“It’s a good feeding ground for them,” Harris highlights. “They know we’ve got good players that could possibly move forward.”
A number of OSU products have moved on to the Whitecaps academy in recent years, including Vana Markarian, now set to enter his first year at Columbia University in New York.
“That just goes to show anything is possible,” de Brienne says of the past Force players’ progress. “If you give your hardest, you can make it. That’s how Vana made it.”
Simon Wilshaw, de Brienne’s OPDL team coach, salutes de Brienne for the “exceptional attitude” he’s shown.
“He deserves to go,” Wilshaw underlines. “He’s first to training. He’s stretched and ready to go before any other player. He works harder than anyone. He listens more than anyone. It’s no wonder that he’s going on to the next level.”
It’ll be “a big change” to move across the country and stay with a billet family, acknowledges de Brienne, who says he couldn’t pass up the opportunity even though he’ll miss his OSU teammates and coaches.
“They’re incredible,” adds the slick attacking midfielder. “Since Day 1 that I’ve been with this club, they’re always going to push me to go farther and farther.”
OSU is organizing a send-off for de Brienne when he plays what is likely his last game locally (Sunday, Aug. 14, 11:15 a.m. at Richcraft Recreation Complex) where they’ll invite younger players out to see what is within their reach, and observe a model player both on and off the field.
“Matteo is a very humble, nice kid,” Wilshaw emphasizes. “I hope he’s a success in Vancouver, and I think he will be, but whatever he does in life, whatever he puts his efforts into, he’ll be a success because he’s just got that attitude, that desire and that determination.”
Girls’ international camp on tap
The OSU Force Academy will be hosting an International Girls-Only Soccer Camp from Aug. 22-26 at Malvern Park in Barrhaven, featuring a trio of UEFA ‘A’ and ‘B’-licenced coaches involved in elite-level European women’s soccer.
The camp coaches include: Victoria Jepsen from the Liverpool ladies’ team as well as the English U14 girls’ national team, Claire Ditchburn from the Scottish Hibernian ladies’ team, and Martin Lee Herdman – the cousin of Canadian women’s Olympic team – from Newcastle United.
“It’s very exciting for our girls,” says Harris, noting a pair of OSU players joined Jepsen for a week of training with the Liverpool girls’ academy following her visit with the club last summer. “The same opportunities we create for the boys, we’re obviously trying to create for the girls as well.”
The international camp is a sign of continued evolution of the women’s game in Canada and internationally, Harris adds, one of many emerging opportunities for female players to grow.
“All we can do is give them the shop window, and then it’ll be down to the girls and how they perform in front of these people,” signals the former Everton FC academy coach. “But I think the problem in the past was nobody could even open that door. We’re giving them chances that never previously existed in Canada. It’s exciting.”