A decade ago, it would've been hard to imagine Joel Waterman playing at the FIFA World Cup.
He was still a central midfielder, for one thing, and midway through his five years of U SPORTS soccer with Trinity Western University. Now, as a centre-back for the Chicago Fire with almost 150 MLS games and 17 caps for Canada, he has been named to Jesse Marsch's squad for a World Cup on home soil.
"I'm fortunate that I was part of his journey," says Tommy Wheeldon Jr., Waterman's first professional coach with Cavalry FC. "He's a phenomenal human being, first and foremost. I think his parents did a great job raising him."
Waterman will always, of course, be a Canadian Premier League original, who took his first pro steps in Cavalry FC's inaugural season.
In 2018, Wheeldon invited a 22-year-old Waterman to play for the Calgary Foothills in the Premier Development League. That championship-winning year set the stage for a Cavalry team that would dominate early in the inaugural CPL season, but it also set Waterman on a new trajectory.
Though the Surrey, B.C. native had arrived in Calgary a midfielder, Wheeldon quickly spotted that he had all the tools to be a defender.
"He was one of the top performers that could play as a midfielder, which is what he was, but I saw a future in him to be a ball-playing centre-back, because he had this great profile," Wheeldon recalls.
It wasn't hard to convince Waterman, either:
"We played with a back three a lot, so we want to have possession of the ball in the initial build-up. The conversation went something as simple as, 'You like being on the ball? Yeah?
"'Good, do you want 20 more touches? Just drop back 20 metres.'"
Waterman signed with Cavalry after joining the pro club through the CPL-U SPORTS Draft (14th overall pick). He was a project for the Cavs' coaching staff, who had already begun converting him into a defender and now needed to translate that to the professional level.
When the time came for Cavalry's first ever match — a snowy home opener against York9 FC (now Inter Toronto) — Wheeldon didn't originally have Waterman in his starting XI. Mason Tafford, however, picked up a knock in the last preseason game, so Waterman got the nod for his pro debut as part of the back three.
"He just had this kind of class about him," Wheeldon says. "But with it, this horrible competitiveness — he moaned at people, demanded things, and it was high level."
That competitive drive helped Waterman nail down a starting spot with the Cavs. He went on to start nine of the 10 Spring season matches to help Cavalry book a spot in the CPL Final.
By the end of his 25 games for Cavalry — 19 of them at centre-back — there was no looking back: Waterman was a defender now.
That's when clubs came calling.
In between the two legs of that year's CPL Final, then-CF Montréal sporting director Olivier Renard got in touch with Cavalry.
At first, Wheeldon guessed that Montréal were interested in Dominick Zator — he'd had the more high-profile year, and scored against the Vancouver Whitecaps when the Cavs knocked them out of the Canadian Championship.
The timing was weird, too; Waterman had just been sent off in Leg 1 of the Final for a handball in the box.
That would be his final game with Cavalry.
Apparently, Waterman's ball-carrying abilities were exactly what Montréal (at the time coached by Thierry Henry) wanted. Although he flew under the radar somewhat in his first season, he was the first CPL player ever sold to an MLS team.
He blossomed into an everyday starting centre-back in MLS, spending five years with Montréal and becoming one of the club's key leaders before a trade took him to the Chicago Fire in August 2025.
It's a story that Wheeldon constantly tells his younger players at Cavalry.
"Often the game's about survival and sticking around through the tough times as well as the good," he says. "It's easy when you know things are going well, and you're top of the mountain, seeing all the views, but where all the nutrients are found are generally in base camp, and that's the hardest part."
Since leaving Cavalry, Waterman has made himself a fixture in the men's national team player pool. He was in the squad for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, though he didn't play a minute at the tournament.
Now, with a litany of injury concerns in Canada's defensive group, the match-fit Waterman could have a part to play in this tournament.
Wheeldon credits Waterman's national team success to versatility and willingness to adapt, whether under former coach John Herdman or current gaffer Jesse Marsch.
"What Joel's shown over his career, whether it's John Herdman in charge or now Jesse Marsch, and two different styles, he's been adaptable to both," Wheeldon explains. "He said, 'Right, what does the manager need?' And he's been able to play in it. I think that's why his name's always in consideration."
Wheeldon and Waterman had something of a reunion earlier this year, when the Cavalry coach was invited to join Marsch's staff for a January national team camp.
Waterman spoke to media during that camp and said it was a full-circle moment to work with his former Cavalry coach again.
To this day, he certainly hasn't forgotten Wheeldon's role in putting him on the track to where he is now.
"As coaches, we're fortunate to get to work with these players, but he doesn't forget people on his journey that have meant a lot to him," Wheeldon says. "It was great to see him in that setting as one of the group leaders."
Fittingly, that January camp also featured a handful of other Canadian Premier League players and alumni. Inter Toronto's Shola Jimoh, Atlético Ottawa's Noah Abatneh, and then-Halifax Wanderer Tiago Coimbra were all there, as were ex-CPLers Matteo de Brienne and James Pantemis.
Although Waterman is the only former CPLer in this World Cup squad, he's certainly an inspiration to players currently in the league.
By the 2030 World Cup cycle, many of the young players currently coming through the CPL could be firmly on the radar.
"These are talented players that are playing men's football, and it's different when you know you're playing for trophies, you're playing for Concacaf spots; winning matters," Wheeldon points out.
"It's different from playing in a development league. We are a league of opportunity, and by having our own, it allows us to throw young players in."
Perhaps there are more Joel Watermans in the CPL, just waiting for that opportunity.
What's certain is that, if Waterman does step onto the pitch for Canada at this World Cup, he will do so as a proud alumnus of the Canadian Premier League.
