Pacific FC coach Pa-Modou Kah observed a young player breaking out in many ways, on and off the pitch
“It was a different style of living far from family,” said Kah, of Quebec born-and-raised defender Thomas Meilleur-Giguère’s move to the Island last year.
“Thomas turned into one of our best defenders and played every minute [of the 10-game pandemic-abbreviated 2020 Canadian Premier League season in Charlottetown],” said Kah.
It has led to Meilleur-Giguère suiting up for Canada as it opens the CONCACAF regional Tokyo Olympics qualifying tournament today at 3 p.m. PT (online at OneSoccer) against El Salvador in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Defenders Meilleur-Giguère and Callum Montgomery of Lantzville are among the 17 field players, along with three goalkeepers, on the Canadian U-23 team for the qualifier. Also on the team is former PFC midfielder David Norman Jr.
“Thomas [Meilleur-Giguère] has taken major strides and deserves to be on the Canadian U-23 team. It is a testament to what he has accomplished,” said Kah.
The former MLS Montreal Impact prospect had 12 appearances for Canada at the U-20 level, including in the 2017 CONCACAF championship.
This, however, is new territory for the six-foot-three Montgomery. The former B.C. high school champion with St. Michael’s University School, and former captain of the Victoria Highlanders of the PDL, makes his debut in a Canadian jersey.
“A goal has been to represent my country,” said Montgomery, who is also on the verge of breaking into the MLS this season with Minnesota United.
Meilleur-Giguère was among three PFC players —along with striker Terran Campbell and defender Kadin Chung —who were named to the provisional 50-player roster for the Canadian U-23 Olympic qualifying team. That follows Marco Bustos of PFC being invited to the senior Canadian team camp in December for the team that will begin World Cup qualifying next week for Qatar 2022.
“One of the visions for our club is to get young Canadians to represent us on national teams at various levels,” said Kah.
“That is massively important to us to showcase the quality we possess as a club.”
Canada continues in Group B in the Olympic qualifier against Haiti on Monday and Honduras on Thursday. Group A started Thursday with the U.S. beating Costa Rica 1-0. The other teams in that loaded group are Mexico and Dominican Republic. The top-two from each group advance to the semifinals on March 28. The semifinal winners will take the two CONCACAF berths into the Tokyo Olympics this summer.
CORNER KICKS: PFC announced the signing of six-foot-two defender Duran Lee, who played in the CPL for Halifax in 2019 and FC Edmonton last year … Former Canada U-17 defender Kunle Dada-Luke, now 21, and 22-year-old Coquitlam attacking-midfielder Matteo Polisi out of SFU and the MLS Portland Timbers U-18 team were also recently signed.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com
