Soccer is a game of highs and lows, and you can never get too comfortable, that's something my dad has been telling me all my life.
Last Wednesday was a huge high for Vancouver FC 鈥� we defeated Atletico Ottawa 3-1 in the first leg of our Canadian Championship semifinal. It was our first ever game at this stage in the competition, and Willoughby Stadium was rocking.
This is the biggest soccer competition in the country and we are now 90-minutes away from the finals, and the chance to be the first Canadian Premier League team to win the Voyageurs Cup 鈥� which is also a qualification route into the Concacaf Champions Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.
The key to last Wednesday鈥檚 win was that everyone 鈥� those playing, not playing, staff, coaches, fans 鈥� everyone just came together in the whole club, it was very united. And everyone gave their all, no matter what, and we celebrated together as well.
It鈥檚 only half time and we have got to go back to Ottawa and play them there in the second leg, but that was a big win.
Being a family as a team, and club, connected to our communities in the Lower Mainland, is a huge part of the identity of Vancouver FC that we are trying to build.
A lot of the squad are young and, like me, go back home and enjoy a win like last week鈥檚 with our family. When I came home to Maple Ridge, I spoke to my parents about the game, especially my dad.
He's been my coach all my life, he's obviously not necessarily coaching me directly now, but in different ways he still is.
When I come home from a game or training, I always talk to him about the football side, that's for sure.
His main message is to just stay focused, to keep working, and to always stay concentrated on the next game and next training. To just keep getting better. His theme is really not to be comfortable, always be out of your comfort zone and to keep working.
My first memories of having a ball at my feet were with him, in the garden or in the park or in the house.
We have camcorder videos of me and him with a ball, even when I was starting to walk. Then he was my first coach and again during the later side of my youth career, he was my full-time coach.
He is from Ghana and was a professional sprinter in Australia before coming to Canada. But, his passion is soccer and building opportunities for young people in the game here. He founded VanCity Pro Football where he is now the technical director and head coach.
So for him, I think that's his biggest motivation, seeing young players like me get to the higher level. Going on to play in the CPL as well as universities.
When I joined Vancouver FC he was very proud.
Having a pro team here in the Lower Mainland 鈥� connecting a pathway from grassroots to professional soccer all within Canada and a domestic system 鈥� is a great way to grow the football community as a whole, which means a lot to our family.
So that relationship I have with my dad and our bond through soccer is very important to me, and I appreciate it every day. Still being at home in Maple Ridge, I am able to talk to him face to face every day which is great.
My biggest takeaway from him is just the work ethic, and I still see it from him daily. He's busy with his full-time job, and then goes on to do all of this work with VanCity Academy, putting in 100 per cent with everything.
This mindset is what we need to bring in as a team for the next few weeks.
The second leg of the Canadian Championship sem-final is on Sept. 18, so we are hoping to bring that momentum and form into the next run of league games. Now is definitely not the time to get comfortable, as a club we need to continue that same sense of unity and bring it into every single game.
鈥� Taryck Jordan Tahid, 18, is a Maple Ridge local playing midfield for Vancouver FC soccer team, who is writing a regular column through to the end of the season. In 2023 he became the youngest player to sign and appear in a CPL match at 16, and then the youngest goal-scorer in league history. He played for Canada in the U17 World Cup, and has since represented Ghana in the U20 African Cup of Nations. Watch for his weekly feature online.
