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Ayo Akinola, Liam Fraser provide glimpse into Toronto FC’s future

TORONTO — Toronto FC believes three Canadians scored in its 3-0 win over the Ottawa Fury Wednesday night, but Canada Soccer disagrees.

The dispute revolves around the identity of the Reds’ first scorer, Ayo Akinola. The 18-year-old was born in Detroit, Mich., and has represented the United States at the under-17 level, but he was raised in Brampton, a city in the Greater Toronto Area, and has a Canadian passport.

Canada Soccer will not consider Akinola a domestic player in the Canadian Championship unless he files a one-time switch and commits to its national team.

That drew the ire of Toronto coach Greg Vanney, who referred to Akinola as a Canadian in his postgame remarks and complained about his status after the microphones had been switched off. The crux of Vanney’s unhappiness seemed to lie in what he felt was inept treatment of a young player who could still decide to represent Canada at the senior level.

Regardless of which international jersey he wears, Akinola is an intriguing prospect for TFC. His strike all but secured the Reds’ passage into the final of the Canadian Championship, with Jordan Hamilton and Jonathan Osorio putting a gloss on the scoreline later on.

Toronto will face the Vancouver Whitecaps for the Voyageurs Cup and qualification to the Concacaf Champions League.

“First off, happy with Ayo,” Vanney said. “I think he’s another young player, another Canadian player, who shows a ton of potential. A 2000, so just 18 years old. But he shows a physical presence in these games to be able to compete with big centerbacks and be strong and hold up the ball, to be able to turn in between lines and still keep the game flowing. That shows a lot of confidence. He runs hard in the box.

“I think he’s one of our young guys that we’re proud of where he’s at, and we think we can keep pushing him. I think with every one of these games that he steps out and shows his competency level and his growth, that he’ll keep getting more minutes. It was great for him to get his first goal because as all goalscorers go, it’s nice to get on the board and get yourself moving in the right direction. Very happy for him, a kid who’s coming along and has a very bright future.”

Akinola was not the only youngster to impress on the night. Dictating the game deep in midfield for TFC was Liam Fraser, who was making his 10th appearance of the season. Fraser has drawn so much praise of late that you sensed Vanney may be trying to keep the 20-year-old’s feet on the ground when he was asked about his latest outing.

“I thought it was a solid performance,” Vanney said. “It’s a game that sets up for Liam, because the opposition, obviously, was not as aggressive in trying to press us so for him, he was able to set up in some good spots and we were able to find him and he can play to his strengths, which is getting the ball, switching the point of attack, moving things quickly. He’s efficient in that way.

“I think it played into his hands and he was able to show some of his qualities through the course of the game. We’ve seen that through the course of this year. He’s a capable young player who is continuing to improve with more minutes. I think just, at times, to be a little bit quicker, to play with a little more urgency, quickness, to get the game going a little bit faster would be the only thing I thought in a couple of moments that we could have used out of that position. But that’s me being picky, because he’s a young player and I want to keep giving him things to work on.

“Other than that, I thought he did a nice job. Defensively he was in pretty good spots for most of the game to help manage counter-attacks, things like that.”