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<\/p>\nTORONTO \u2013 Promise David has learned the hard way what it\u2019s like playing against Canada\u2019s youngest World Cup player, 20-year-old centre-back Luc de Fougerolles.<\/p>\n
David is Canada\u2019s most physically imposing player, a hulking and physical centre-forward. And de Fougerolles? His charming smile lights up rooms, but his blonde bowled haircut also resembles most teenage haircuts you\u2019d see strolling through any suburban mall.<\/p>\n
But whether in Canada training sessions or in Belgium\u2019s first division where the two played against each other this season, David has met his match in de Fougerolles. A crunching tackle \u2013 not the kind young players usually throw \u2013 is never far away with de Fougerolles.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever I\u2019m playing against (de Fougerolles), I\u2019m always careful about my well-being,\u201d David said Tuesday. \u201cBecause I don\u2019t think Luc gives a f**k about anybody\u2019s Achilles or bones or anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
David knows what those around the Canada squad have learned: Luc de Fougerolles does not play like a 20-year-old. Raised in Fulham\u2019s academy, he was a virtual unknown in Canadian soccer less than three years ago. There was a time in 2025 when De Fougerolles had played more games for Canada than in senior club soccer. His last season on loan with Dender in Belgium was his first full professional season.<\/p>\n
This is not the type of player an international head coach generally turns the keys over to in a World Cup opener.<\/p>\n
Despite being the youngest player on Canada\u2019s World Cup team, a change in plans will likely see Jesse Marsch and the hopes of an entire country rely on de Fougerolles in a surprise way: on Friday, in the biggest game in Canadian soccer history.<\/p>\n
De Fougerolles is trending towards starting at centre-back for Canada\u2019s World Cup opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12.<\/p>\n
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\n 20-year-old De Fougerolles could start in Canada\u2019s opening game against Bosnia and Herzegovina (Jeff Vinnick\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Moise Bombito, Canada\u2019s best centre-back, has not recovered from a broken leg the way Canada had hoped. In training on Tuesday, Bombito once again did not move with the power he has shown at his best. He struggled to take tight turns in warm-up sprinting activities. Bombito is doing everything to force the coaching staff\u2019s hand. He wants to play.<\/p>\n
But closing time at the bar is near. A decision on Canada\u2019s lineup needs to be made, if it hasn\u2019t already been. De Fougerolles came in for Bombito as the only change in Marsch\u2019s starting lineup over Canada\u2019s two final World Cup tune-up games.<\/p>\n
So is gambling on his youngest player as a starting centre-back the right move for Marsch?<\/p>\n
Often at the World Cup, a team\u2019s youngest player is utilized sparingly off the bench or as an injury replacement. At the 2022 World Cup, Canada\u2019s youngest player was Ismael Kone, then 20. Kone appeared only as a substitute in the midfield.<\/p>\n
Starting at centre-back, one of the most important positions on the pitch, for a team whose defensive sturdiness is part of its DNA? That\u2019s different. If Canada must play knockout round games in the United States, De Fougerolles would not legally be allowed to celebrate with a post-game adult beverage.<\/p>\n
To start at centre-back beside mainstay Derek Cornelius, Marsch could go with MLS veteran Joel Waterman, who was on the 2022 World Cup squad. Or he could turn to the athletic and composed Alfie Jones. An ankle injury has kept Jones out of game action since December, but the Middlesbrough man has been training with the team in full.<\/p>\n
Marsch likely won\u2019t go with those options. Instead: he could gamble on a player with only one full year of professional experience under his belt, to start his World Cup opener. Because to Marsch, it won\u2019t feel like much of a gamble at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cLuc is a really smart player,\u201d Marsch said. \u201cAnd for a young guy, he plays experienced. He\u2019ll be ready when called upon.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\n A season on loan at FCV Dender EH has acted as a soccer education for De Fougerolles (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
De Fougerolles has established himself as someone who does not play like a 20-year-old. When he was just 18, de Fougerolles was the first name Marsch put on his whiteboard when determining Canada\u2019s starting lineup in the third-place game against Uruguay in the 2024 Copa America. At that time, Marsch wanted to gamble on de Fougerolles.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter (Copa America), we felt like this was a guy that we wanted to invest in more and then certainly we did that in Gold Cup,\u201d Marsch said.<\/p>\n
Everything Marsch believes in when it comes to the World Cup is personified in De Fougerolles. Marsch thinks the World Cup is a young man\u2019s tournament. He values fearlessness and risk-tasking in decision-making. He demands athleticism and emotional maturity. De Fougerolles can, and will, sprint for days. And de Fougerolles\u2019 intelligence helps him out of jams in his own box. Against Ireland in that friendly, de Fougerolles turned heads as he burst through the opposition\u2019s midfield.<\/p>\n
\u201c(De Fougerolles) just continues to impress me,\u201d Liam Millar, one of Canada\u2019s presumed starters, said. \u201cI was at Fulham when I was a kid and he\u2019s obviously there now. I know what it\u2019s like coming through there. I think he\u2019s honestly done exceptional because it can be quite hard coming through. Every game he plays in he\u2019s just getting better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n
De Fougerolles won\u2019t feel like the weight of the world is on him come Friday. Because Marsch himself won\u2019t feel like he\u2019s going out of his comfort zone in playing de Fougerolles. De Fougerolles\u2019 drive is just that relentless. That\u2019s what Marsch wants.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can never say I\u2019m going to save myself,\u201d de Fougerolles told The Athletic in a recent interview. \u201cIf I\u2019m playing, I\u2019m 100% playing, regardless of what\u2019s coming up next.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, we need to remember: Marsch has previously thrown De Fougerolles to the wolves before. There were some errors during his start against Uruguay, but de Fougerolles did not look like a fish out of water.<\/p>\n
Those errors continued \u2014 albeit never in a completely detrimental manner. Against Australia in an October friendly, De Fougerolles allowed a soft cross to dribble past him. Instead of clearing the ball, nearby defender Niko Sigur was forced into an error before the ball ended up in Canada\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n
After starting Canada\u2019s Gold Cup quarterfinal in 2025, De Fougerolles was named to take Canada\u2019s seventh penalty. It was their last as de Fougerolles hit his penalty against the bar. De Fougerolles pulled his white shirt over his head in embarrassment. For a moment, he looked like the 19-year-old he was.<\/p>\n
But he\u2019s kept coming back for more. His game and confidence have not wavered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like responsibility,\u201d de Fougerolles said. \u201cA few years ago, I would have wondered if I was ready. Now, I\u2019ve had a year of first team football. I feel ready for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
De Fougerolles won\u2019t cower in the moment. He pressed forward with the ball through the midfield against Ireland with composure. De Fougerolles is not the type to overthink his decisions. Though he only has one full year of first-team soccer under his belt, you could not convince onlookers that de Fougerolles would shirk from the moment.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\n Picking De Fougerolles would be a roll of the dice by Canada manager Jesse Marsch (Minas Panagiotakis\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
In a World Cup game on home soil, Marsch and Canada could depend on a player who midfield Nathan Saliba describes as \u201cthe little brother on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone you can joke around with, but it\u2019s always good vibes,\u201d Saliba said of De Fougerolles.<\/p>\n
His start is no laughing matter. It can\u2019t be. Should De Fougerolles start, it will be Marsch\u2019s first roll of his World Cup-branded dice. Every other spot in Marsch\u2019s starting XI is essentially spoken for.<\/p>\n
De Fougerolles should consider himself a peer to his fellow starters. He built a reputation shortly after earning his first Canada cap. In the punishing Kansas City heat during Copa America in 2024, de Fougerolles trained with typical ceaseless intensity. After spending most of his life in England, he just wasn\u2019t used to that Kansas City sun. De Fougerolles vomited in the middle of a training session because he refused to take his foot off the gas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just trying to impress wherever I went,\u201d de Fougerolles said, shrugging.<\/p>\n
Teammates didn\u2019t shrug. That earned their admiration. On Friday, Canada veterans won\u2019t look at him the way they might with 20-year-olds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis past year, you\u2019re like, \u2018Holy s**t, this kid is 20?\u2019\u201d Richie Laryea said of de Fougerolles.<\/p>\n
No one around Canada is second-guessing de Fougerolles any longer. They won\u2019t have any more chances to, come Friday when the lights on this team have never been brighter.<\/p>\n
\u201c(De Fougerolles) is going to achieve whatever it is he wants to achieve,\u201d Laryea said. \u201cBecause he has all the tools, especially that young, to play at the highest levels.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2013 Promise David has learned the hard way what it\u2019s like playing against Canada\u2019s youngest World Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7039,17,7724,32181],"class_list":["post-81852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-bosnia-herzegovina","tag-canada","tag-fifa-mens-world-cup","tag-fulham"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}