Lukas MacNaughton aiming to cap meteoric rise with glory in Qatar

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Twelve months ago, Lukas MacNaughton was finishing up his fourth season with Pacific FC, preparing for a Canadian Premier League playoff semi-final in front of almost 3,000 fans in Calgary.

This Friday, the 27-year-old centre back could make his international debut for Canada in a World Cup warm-up match against Bahrain, possibly putting himself in position for an extended trip to the Middle East when head coach John Herdman announces his squad for Qatar on Sunday.

In between, he played his first season in Major League Soccer after a January transfer to Toronto FC, where he played 25 games for the Reds, capping a remarkable rise for someone who was captain of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues five short years ago.

“It hasn’t really hit me,” he says of his climb up the professional soccer ladder. “… I knew if I put my head to certain things, they definitely were achievable, but never would I have thought these things would come so quickly, to play so many games for Toronto and to get a call-up.

“Of course, this is what you dream of and what you want, but for it to actually happen is a different story.”

The MacNaughton story may look like something of a fairy tale right now, but it has been underpinned by hard work and an unshakable belief in his own ability. Ilya Orlov, who was an assistant coach at the University of Toronto during MacNaughton’s tenure there, and also coached him with League 1 Ontario side Alliance United FC, said one of his defining characteristics is confidence.

“Did I think that he would make it to this level this quickly? No chance,” says Orlov, now the head coach of the Varsity Blues. “All I thought was at that level he was one of the better players and had a shot at the CPL. That’s why I put the phone calls in for him to the CPL. And then after that, it’s all him. I cannot believe how fast and how far he’s made it.”

Once he reached the CPL, he wasted little time displaying the ability to stick at that level as well. MacNaughton made 59 appearances for Pacific FC over his four seasons with the Victoria-based team, capping his time there with the franchise’s first CPL championship last December.

But his head coach over his final two seasons in the CPL knew that the defender had the ability to play at a higher level. As someone who had played in MLS himself, Pa-Modou Kah said MacNaughton was ready to challenge himself.

“He is a modern-day centre back,” Kah says. “And seeing him, obviously, there was other things that he needed to improve. He knows. [We] had a lot of chats about it and just seeing his growth, seeing his dedication, and the belief that he can play there ... and he’s shown it this year.”

Describing his relationship with MacNaughton as more big brother-little brother than merely player-coach, Kah says he has little doubt he can play in the international arena, too. “I think he will do well,” the coach adds.

The importance of the CPL to MacNaughton’s breakthrough cannot be overstated. Just the second player to make the jump from the CPL to MLS, after Joel Waterman’s move from Cavalry FC to CF Montreal in 2020, MacNaughton is flying the flag for the fledgling league, which has just completed its fourth season of existence.

And there should be much more to come from the junior circuit, Kah said.

“A lot of hidden gems in Canada,” says the former Norway international. “A lot of good players.”

MacNaughton, for one, knows exactly where he would be were it not for the CPL.

“Hard at work as an architect,” he says, referencing his chosen field of study at the University of Toronto.

He actually spent a few months working for a development firm in Toronto before joining Pacific FC in 2019, following through on a love affair with bricks and mortar that started as a child.

“When I was young I got Time magazine’s ‘100 greatest buildings of all-time’ and that was my favourite magazine,” the TFC defender says. “From that moment, on every birthday, every celebration, every Christmas, you know how grandparents and uncles are, they think you like something and so every celebration I would get a new architecture book.”

And while an international call-up is no substitute for a university degree, MacNaughton says that getting a chance to play international soccer for Canada has at least given him some ammunition when his mother asks about him completing his architecture studies, for the time being at least.

“Every time we spoke she was saying, when are you going to finish your degree and go back to school and I would always brush it off a little bit,” he says. “Yesterday I told her, I hope you don’t ever ask me to finish my degree.”

With Canadian centre back Scott Kennedy missing out on the World Cup with a shoulder injury that he suffered last month, a defensive spot on the World Cup squad has opened up. Though MacNaughton would never wish injury on a teammate – “I’m gutted” for him, he says – he is aware of the rare opportunity that now presents itself.

As someone who was born in New York City before being raised in Brussels by a Canadian father and Austrian mother, MacNaughton is every bit the global citizen and would have a very personal connection were he to be involved in Canada’s opening World Cup game against Belgium on Nov. 23.

While some might consider that to be too steep a step up for a player who was playing in front of four-figure crowds barely 12 months ago, MacNaughton thinks his year in MLS has forced him to grow. Of course, much of that education came every day on the training field, going up against teammates such as Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi, two players who both played in last year’s European championship final for Italy.

“It’s great to have them,” he says. “It’s tough to play against them but it is reassuring when you do train day in and day out against guys like that. That prepares you for big moments and for big players.”

Big moments don’t come much bigger for soccer players than the World Cup, which comes along just once every four years, and allows everyone in the sport, from Lukas MacNaughton to Lionel Messi, licence to dream.