Ayman Sellouf comes from a great soccer nation, the land that invented “total football.” During his time with his hometown Dutch club NEC, he saw it earn promotion to the top-tier Eredivise, which is no small thing. He also played on the second team of Eredivise giant FC Utrecht.
The 21-year-old has brought that experience to Starlight Stadium, scoring Pacific FC’s goal in a 1-1 Canadian Premier League draw Sunday against Cavalry FC of Calgary.
“I come from a footballing nation. I was not even aware there was a Canadian league,” said Sellouf, who was born in Nijmegen, Netherlands.
But placing first in CONCACAF qualifying, and a first World Cup appearance in 36 years at Qatar 2022, has raised sa国际传媒’s profile. As has the establishment of a true if fledgling domestic pro league, which is the CPL.
“It’s a good league and people here understand the game. It provides a good opportunity,” said Sellouf, who because of family ancestry, was eligible to attend training camp with the Morocco U-18 team as a youth.
PFC is happy the swift winger has chosen the CPL for the next stage of his development.
“Ayman is an exciting player with great talent and big potential,” said PFC head coach James Merriman.
Sellouf has shown that with his darting forays down the flanks in this early season. He was at it again Sunday in a draw that felt like a loss for dominant PFC (1-0-1) and a draw that felt like a win for visiting Cavalry FC (0-0-2) as the Tridents led in shots 22-6 and shots on goal 6-0. (Cavalry’s tally at nine minutes was listed as an own goal charged to PFC keeper Emil Gazdov).
“We should have won the game,” said Sellouf, who equalized at 42 minutes.
“We had our chances and had our shots. We had a lot of good chances to score. But they didn’t go into the back of the next, that’s it. Yet we can take away lots of [positives]. It’s the way we want to play — to create chances.”
The Tridents rued the missed opportunities.
“We didn’t finish our chances. That’s a game we should win, absolutely,” said Merriman.
“We were the better team but we had a lack of sharpness in the final third of the field. This one is on us for not taking the three points. The positive is we are getting in spaces where we need to be. Even with three starters out [midfield-engine Manny Aparicio, backline stalwart and former sa国际传媒 U-20 player Thomas Meilleur-Giguère and midfielder Pierre Lamothe], we were the better team today.”
Cavalry FC didn’t argue it was on the back heel for most of the afternoon.
“We put our bodies on the line and had to defend a lot,” said Cavalry FC centre-back Daan Klomp, a 24-year-old Dutchman who has played in the Eredivise for NAC Breda.
“These are the types of games where you win a point and carry on.”
PFC faces a key match this Sunday at Starlight Stadium against defending CPL-champion Forge FC (0-0-2) of Hamilton, Ont.
