Millar grows into role for Canada
Third-generation pro, raised in Brampton, embodies hope for Herdman-helmed national team
Soccer is in Liam Millar’s blood.
The 19-year-old Canadian — born in Toronto, raised in Brampton — is a third-generation pro. Grandfather Malcolm plied his trade at Sunderland AFC on the northeastern coast of England. Dad Alan played for Charlton Athletic, southeast of London.
Millar is continuing that tradition with the under-23 side at Liverpool in northwestern England. When the rising star made his second start for the national team at BMO Field last month, in Canada’s second of four CONCACAF Nations League qualifying matches, that lineage wasn’t far from mind.
Coach John Herdman had the initials of one special person inscribed on each player’s jersey. For Millar, it was A.M.
“(Dad) moved to England for me. He moved away from my mom, everyone, to try to help me and support me to become a professional footballer,” said Millar, who first went overseas at age 12 to join the academy at London’s Fulham club and says his father’s sacrifices gave him the chance to pursue his dreams.
Millar first donned a Canadian jersey in March, for a friendly against New Zealand. He has played 226 minutes for the national team this year, second only to fellow Bramptonian Jonathan Osorio of Toronto FC.
With Osorio ruled out of Sunday’s third Nations League qualifier at St. Kitts and Nevis while recovering from sports hernia surgery, Millar could finish 2018 with the most playing time in a Canadian shirt.
Millar has called England home for about seven years, but his birthplace remains very much at the heart of what he hopes to achieve.
“I never really had a Canadian role model,” he said. “Part of the whole journey for me is, I’m trying to give the younger Canadian audience a role model to look up to, because that’s something I never had when I was younger.”
The national team’s next wave could accomplish just that. In addition to Millar, 18-year-old Alphonso Davies — bound for Bayern Munich after three years with the Vancouver Whitecaps — inspires hope for the future.
Also, for the first time since 1984, five teenage players made their international debuts in the same calendar year: Mil- lar; goalkeeper Alessandro Busti (18), fullback Zachary Brault-Guillard (19) and attackers Jonathan David (18) and Ballou Tabla (19).
The top clubs they play for — Liverpool, Olympique Lyonnais in France, FC Barcelona in Spain, KAA Gent in Belgium, Juventus in Italy, Bayern Munich in Germany — had rarely included Canadian players in the past.
Millar said the teens look forward to improving as a unit under Herdman: “The more we play together, the more trust, the more flow will come through our play, especially because all four of us are attacking kind of players.”
He added that Herdman is the right man for the job because of his credo that “if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.”
“He believes in us,” Millar said. “Most coaches, they’re worried about playing young players who haven’t earned the trust. I think John fully believes and fully trusts in us that we’ll produce the same as the older players, and if not then obviously he’ll help us do better.”
As for Sunday’s away match, the Canadians will likely have to perform better than they did in qualifying wins over the U.S. Virgin Islands and Dominica. St. Kitts and Nevis offers a stiffer challenge in terms of talent and organization.
Canada hopes to finish in the top10 out of 34 countries to ensure a spot in next summer’s Gold Cup and the top tier of Nations League, which kicks off its inaugural season next year — and would provide even stiffer opposition as Canada looks to improve on the road to the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
Millar praised the team’s ability to treat every game the same.
“It’s obviously going to be a more challenging game (against St. Kitts and Nevis), but I don’t think we should be too worried about it,” he said. “I think we’re on a different level.”
The forward is still looking for his first goal in a Canadian jersey: “Hopefully it comes in this game, but if not, then I keep going and I keep trying to push for that first goal.”