It was the “Jr 401 Derby” this past Sunday, as CF Montreal Academy made the trip up to Toronto, Ontario to face Toronto FC Academy in MLS Next action at the U15 & U17 level.
At the U15 level, the ‘Baby Reds’ defeated CF Montreal 3-0 & at the U17 level the two sides played to a 2-2 draw. FTF had the privilege to evaluate some of the talent during the games and below is our FTF Playbook Recap (The full FTF Playbook will be available for subscription in 2023).
CF Montreal U15s
Toronto FC U17s
Toronto FC U15
GK:Dominic Kantorowicz (GK, #1, 2008 Born)
Dominic was terrific in net for TFC U15’s on the day, as he kept a clean sheet displaying his quality shot-stopping for the full 90 minutes. Kantorowicz has good distribution from his hands and feet that allow TFC to stay in possession and ‘break’ at any time. In addition to his distribution, Dominic is a very vocal leader from the back and is just an all-around impressive prospect at his young age.
CM: Timothy Fortier (CM, #8, 2008 Born)
Timothy was an extremely hard worker in the middle of the park for Toronto FC. Fortier is athletically advanced for his age, but doesn’t necessarily rely on his physicality to dictate play as he is technically gifted as well.
ST- Kemari Record-Wright (ST, #9, 2008 Born). Kemari was a beast in this game scoring 1 goal and wreaking havoc on CF Montreal all afternoon. Record-Wright loves to collect the ball deep as a False 9 and get involved with the build up play from the very beginning, which is rare for a kid of his age. With continuous development technically Kemari will be a prospect to look out for to make the jump from ‘academy to pro’.
CF Montreal U15
CM- Thomas Monnin (CM, #76, 2008 Born). Monnin sas the best player for CF Montreal on a very tough derby day losing 3-0. Monnin is a bit undersized, but definitely has the qualities to become a special footballer. He excels in tight areas and is extremely dangerous when running at a back 4. As he gets physically stronger it will be interesting to see how Thomas progresses in the CF Montreal Academy system.
Toronto FC U17
RB- Theo Rigopoulos (RB, #2, 2006 Born). Fresh off qualifying for the World Cup with CMNT U17’s Theo was in fine form again this afternoon. For those who don’t know Rigopoulos very well, he is a supreme athlete with a very good technical and tactical understanding. At the Concacaf U17 World Cup Qualifying Theo started 4 out of 5 games for Canada at the RB/RWB position. Theo has the ability to be a pro signing out of the academy and his growth over the last couple of years has been nothing short of remarkable.
CAM- Andrei Dumitru (CAM, #10, 2006 Born). The captain for Toronto FC U17’s played very well against CF Montreal on the day. His pro comparison to someone on TFC’s 1st Team is Brandon Servania with the ability to pick up the ball in small pockets of space and create opportunities going forward. He is constantly floating in between the lines creating nightmare situations for the opposition’s back 4. Although Andrei didn’t get much playing time at the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers he might have a big role to play in the World Cup later this year.
CF Montreal U17
CDM- Alessandro Biello (CDM, #38, 2006 Born). Coming off a strong U17 Qualifying campaign with Canada U17s Alessandro was back to dictating tempo with CF Montreal in MLS Next action. The CDM is the “orchestrator” of CF Montreal U17’s and has a unique ability to pick out almost any pass on the pitch. Beillo (son of Mauro Biello) has a certain type of ‘swag’ / ‘fearlessness’ on the pitch which makes it seem like he’s always in control and that no occasion is ‘too big’.
RWB- David Mavakala (Wingback, #43, 2006 Born). Even though he came on as a substitute David is one of the brightest talents out of CF Montreal’s academy. The 2006-born player scored a goal on the day and last summer spent the majority of his playing time with CF Montreal U23’s in PLSQ after joining the academy from New Brunswick last year. The fullback is extremely athletic and strong in defending 1v1 situations. We have heard from a source that David would be welcomed into the Canada U17 squad but passport issues prevented him from joining the team at CONCACAF qualifying. It will be interesting to see if this will be resolved before the U17 World Cup as he and Theo Rigopulous would make an extremely dynamic FB pairing.
It will be interesting to see how these two teams fair in the rest of the MLS Next season with the next ‘big event’ taking place in Frisco, Texas at the MLS Generation Adidas Cup. The Playbook | Jr. 401 Derby (March 19th, 2023)