Young Canadians put on show as Caps tie Orlando

Two Canadians made their marks in different ways when the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Orlando S.C. Lions played to a draw Saturday night.

Cyle Larin, a 21-year-old Brampton, Ont., native who has become a fixture with Canada’s senior men’s team, stole the show as he headed home the 50th-minute goal that gave struggling Orlando a tie.

"It's so important for Cyle to come back here, he's so proud of being Canadian," said Orlando interim coach Bobby Murphy, whose struggling team improved to 4-5-10. "He stepped off the plane last night and said, 'the air is so much better here.' I'm happy for him."

Meanwhile, Whitecaps midfielder Alphonso Davies, 15, drew the biggest cheers when he subbed into the game in the 77th minute. The Edmonton product, who was born in Liberia, became the youngest player to suit up in Major League Soccer this season and third-youngest player in league history.

 “I wasn’t that nervous,” he said. “Yeah, they’re a good MLS team but there’s just a ball and you go out and play, have fun. I wasn’t really nervous coming on the field.”

Davies almost scored on a shot from distance three minutes after subbing on. The ball went just wide of the left post after Orlando goalkeeper Joe Bendik dived in vain. He also had some sound defensive moments as the Whitecaps (8-8-5) avoided a loss after a poor start.

Davies showed that he is still adjusting to the physical play in MLS, but should be able to handle himself against men with considerable professional experience, especially after he puts on some more muscle.

“Definitely, I felt like I (was) being overpowered, because they’re much stronger and bigger than me,” said Davies, who made his professional debut by playing for the Whitecaps in the Canadian championships. “Coming in the game at that time, the coach expects me to make a difference. I tried that but, unfortunately, (the ball) didn’t go in the net.”

The coach, Carl Robinson, continued to downplay Davies’ play, because he is still of high school age.

“Obviously he was brought on to try and affect the attacking end of the pitch and he did that,” said Robinson. “But let’s not get carried away.”

However, it is clear that the Caps are grooming Davies for bigger things after signing him Friday to a contract that is guaranteed through 2018 and contains options for 2019 and 2020. Simply put, Davies was too good to stay with Vancouver’s USL team.

Now, the question is: Can the youngster handle the rapid changes going on in his life?

“It has changed big time, because now I want to go out and have fun with my friends, and then take in, also, that I’m playing at the MLS level and represent the club,” he said. “I can’t really go out and fool around and cause trouble anymore.”

But he and Larin gave Canadian soccer fans reason to hope that, in the future, they might cause trouble while playing together for the national senior men’s squad.