Langley’s Simon Colyn became the second-youngest player ever to make a Major League Soccer (MLS) appearance for Whitecaps FC on Sunday.
The 16-year-old’s debut came at the same time that superstar Alphonso Davies, another player who started young, made his final appearance.
Davies, who is the youngest player to play first-team for the ’Caps, bid Vancouver goodbye in style, scoring twice in his farewell match as Whitecaps FC defeated Portland Timbers 2-1 in their 2018 MLS regular season finale.
When Davies came off the BC Place pitch in the 86th minute, he was replaced by Colyn, who was making his first-team debut.
Colyn’s parents and one of his brothers were there to see his debut.
“It was exciting to get out there,” Colyn said during a postgame video interview posted to the Whitecaps website.
Going in, he said he thought he was going to be on the bench, but was told to be ready for anything.
He was happy he had the opportunity to play during Davies’ last game before “Phonzie” heads to Europe.
“I aspire to be like him,” Colyn said.
Acting Whitecaps FC head coach Craig Dalrymple praised the young Langley player.
“There is a spark, he’s a talent,” Dalrymple said in remarks posted online.
“He’s not Alphonso, and we don’t want him to be Alphonso. He’s Simon Colyn and he has different qualities … the senior players were begging me to get him in, not just today’s game but earlier games because they see real talent in him.”
Colyn gets to keep his game jersey from his debut.
“I’ll probably hang it up in my room when I get back home.”
"It was a pretty cool moment."
— Vancouver Whitecaps (@WhitecapsFC) October 29, 2018
Simon Colyn | #VWFC pic.twitter.com/R0mNgRX3s1
A forward/midfielder, Colyn previously played with Surrey United SC in the EA SPORTS BC Soccer Premier League before joining Whitecaps FC Residency in August 2016.
Colyn was 14 when he made his Canadian youth program debut in 2017 at the U-15 identification camp under coach Rob Gale.
READ MORE: Langley teen signs with Vancouver Whitecaps
Colyn joined the first team in April 2018, becoming then the 15th youngest player in league history to sign an MLS contract.
Dalrymple: “There is a spark, he’s a talent...He’s not Alphonso, and we don’t want him to be Alphonso. He’s Simon Colyn and he has different qualities...the senior players were begging me to get him in, not just today’s game but earlier games because they see real talent in him." pic.twitter.com/qOvlEKUN1y
— Vancouver Whitecaps (@WhitecapsFC) October 29, 2018
Colyn has signed a multi-year contract with options through 2022 and is the third person from the Whitecaps’ residency program to sign a futures contract.
dan.ferguson@langleytimes.com
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