Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis says he has been blessed to work with many players who have gone on to do some exceptional things in their careers.
In fact, this week, three of them will pull on Canadian red and represent the country at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
During his time with Sigma FC, Smyrniotis coached Cyle Larin, Richie Laryea and Tajon Buchanan, watching the former two in particular grow up in the game into the players, and men they are today.
While all three have taken wildly different paths to get to the highest level, Smyrniotis says that they're united by one common denominator: their mentality.
"It's just an immense focus on what they need to work on, what they want to achieve, and really being laser focused on that," Smyrniotis told CPLSoccer.com.
For Smyrniotis, Laryea's exceptional talent always meant that he could play anywhere on the park. Until his early 20s, Laryea was a central midfielder, going seventh overall in the 2016 Major League Soccer draft and playing there for his first two seasons in the league with Orlando City SC.
It was upon joining Toronto FC in 2019, however, that then-head coach Greg Vanney first deployed Laryea as a full-back. He hasn't looked back since, earning the first of what is now 75 appearances for the Canadian men's national team later that year.
For Smyrniotis, it's an example of how important it is for young players to be adaptable, and that perhaps the position they played growing up won't be the one they ultimately play at the pro level.
"The most important message for a young player is to take the opportunity, because otherwise someone else will," said Smyrniotis, "and if you go back years ago, [Richie] took that opportunity."
Over the past few years in particular, Laryea has developed into a core member of Canada's team — a key on-field leader whose intensity and mentality push the entire squad forward.
"We've seen that with the national team, his performances over the past few years have been absolutely fantastic. A lot of times he gives the rhythm to what's going on on the pitch," said Smyrniotis.
While the Forge coach says that Laryea has always been one of the kindest people off the field, he has played with the same intensity and ferocity since he was 10 years old, once he steps onto it.
"He was always one of the smaller guys on the pitch, so he fought hard for everything," said Smyrniotis. "He knew how to win a foul, which I always say is a lost art. And he still knows how to do it, which is an important thing for getting out of situations of pressure, to alleviating things, to changing the tempo in matches."
From a young age, Larin — who sits second all-time in Canadian men's national team goals with 30 — has had a nose for the net.
Despite dominating youth football, he was constantly working on how he could improve all aspects of his game.
"When Cyle was 12 years old, he stopped just running in behind to score breakaways, because he was the bigger and faster kid, and you're teaching him to play hold-up," said Smyrniotis.
It has been quite the journey from Sigma to Southampton for the 31-year-old. But at every step of the journey, he has proved doubters wrong.
"It's pretty simple, wherever he goes and he plays a string of five games in a row, five matches, the goals come," said Smyrniotis. "That's always been a thing from Orlando to when he got to Besiktas; he had the ups and downs. When a coach really trusted him for four to five games, that's when the goals came. Same thing in Spain, and same thing we've seen right now in Southampton."
The good news for Canada? After a long stretch where he has been in and out of the team, Larin has started three of Canada's past four matches.
Just days away from Canada hosting the World Cup, Smyrniotis is incredibly excited, not only to see how the national team will perform on the pitch but also to see the potential impact this tournament could have on Canadian soccer.
"We'll start to see kids in the parks with Canadian national team jerseys on," he said, "and from those kids, there's no doubt that some will end up playing in our league. And some will play in a World Cup 20 years from now."
Many of them will dream of being the next Richie, or Cyle, or Tajon, and now know that reaching the highest level like this trio is achievable.
