Nathan Saliba and Olivia Smith are Canada Soccer’s young players of the year

CF Montreal player Nathan Saliba and Olivia Smith were named young players of the year by Canada Soccer on Wednesday.

These awards are reserved for players born in 2004 or after, and winners are selected by the coaches of their national team programs.

Saliba came into his own this season with CF Montreal, scoring a goal and collecting an assist in 27 games. Major League Soccer (MLS).

The 20-year-old midfielder also represented Canada for the first time on the international stage in September, in a 2-1 victory against the United States, after being called up following a neck injury. player of Whitecaps by Vancouver Sam Adekugbe. He also participated in the Maple Leaf representatives’ 2-1 victory against Panama in October in Toronto.

The same month, Saliba appeared at 14th place among the best prospects under 22 in the MLSaccording to a committee made up of league staff as well as MLS technical staff Season Pass.

For his part, Smith earned this honor for the second time, having obtained it for the first time in 2019, at the age of 15, after making his first appearance with the Canadian senior team in a loss of 4-0 against Brazil.