This has travelled across the Internet already but I'm posting here again for newbies to the site. And as a plug for my home town.
A 14-year-old Winnipeg kid called Marco Bustos has landed a 10-day tryout with Liverpool next month. This is another impressive notch on his bedpost, as he's already the youngest player ever named to Soccer Canada's National Training Centre program.
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Great news for Marco and his family, although his Dad had some interesting thoughts on the development system in Canada.
"Unfortunately, if you excel in soccer in Winnipeg or Canada, but want to move up to the next level, you have to go somewhere else," said Alex Bustos. "The programs here are not good enough. The coaching, the leagues, they just won't take you to the next level. You have to be able to train in a soccer-environment country on a daily basis."
I wonder if he would have thought differently if his son had grown up in Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal?
Oh, and for those who obsess over this sort of thing (ie. me), some Voyageurs are already anguishing over whether young Marco will choose Canada when the time comes. I'd say the fact his father played for the Winnipeg Fury may help on that front, but it's probably way too early to be thinking about his international future. Let's just hope he continues to develop.