VANCOUVER, BC – Add another Canadian kid to the mix.
On Friday, Vancouver Whitecaps FC announced the acquisition of right back/winger Fraser Aird, who becomes the seventh Canadian on the team’s MLS roster.
They’re all under the age of 24.
Safe to say Aird, a native of Scarborough, Ontario, will fit in just fine.
The 20-year-old made his Canadian senior national team debut last October in a friendly against Ghana – coincidentally, the same match Marco Bustos and Kianz Froese earned their first caps.
Aird’s path to the Canadian national team has been well documented.
Born in Scarborough, Ontario to Scottish parents, Aird grew up in Canada before signing with the Rangers youth set-up at the age of 16. He represented Canada at the U-15 level and Scotland and the U-17 and U-19 levels before committing to the Canadian senior men’s national team last year.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q4esnTvl6qo"></a> |
<b>Canada Soccer sits down with Fraser Aird at his first camp</b> |
“I think, I just had to make up my mind eventually,” Aird told Canada Soccer last year. “I was on the fence for too long. And getting to that stage of my career, I’m not really a young boy anymore. I’ve played so many games for Rangers. And I just kind of wanted to get my international career kick-started. I just turned up one day and decided I wanted to play for Canada.”
There were a number of factors in that decision.
Part of it was that Aird felt he had a “better chance” of getting minutes and developing as a player with the Red and White, but there was more to it than that.
“I was born in Canada, and I’m Canadian,” Aird told Sportsnet last year. “I grew up for 16 years of my life in Canada. I have Scottish parents and Scottish grandparents, but they decided to move to Canada and have been living there for 20 years, so they’re Canadian too.”
“I just thought, this is where my roots lie,” he told AFTN. “I was born in Canada, so I think I should play for Canada.”
After making his debut with the senior team in a friendly against Ghana last October, Aird was then called up again for Canada’s World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and El Salvador.
“Hopefully this is my foot in the door,” he told Sportsnet, “and I can establish myself and do well enough for Canada that I can contribute for years to come.”
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