At first, Cyle Larin didn’t understand the question.
The Canada and Club Bruges centre-forward was asked to describe what his game looks like when he is playing at his best. Perhaps it is a question he hasn’t heard before.
Maybe early on in his career, few questions were asked of his game. He was holding up the ball exceptionally well in the box, turning and scoring with clinical precision. And to onlookers, that is what mattered.
Advertisement
“I don’t know how to explain it,” says Larin, somewhat befuddled, before finally answering: “Everything slows down, so you become quicker.”
That might explain why the forward is Canada men’s team all-time top scorer with 25 goals. This achievement should have made him a national star, but Larin has no desire to be in the limelight.
“He is the silent giant,” says Bobby Smyrniotis, Larin’s former academy coach and current manager of Forge FC in the Canadian Premier League. “He wants to perform, he wants to score goals. And he’s not too engaged in much of the noise and personal profile.”
However, at the World Cup, Larin believes his performances will create a lot of noise and that the world will take note of his talent.
“People will see the best of me that they have ever seen before,” says Larin. “We will surprise a lot of people.”
Looking back, Cyle Larin becoming the Canada men’s all-time leading goalscorer felt inevitable. Wherever he played, he found the back of the net.
At St. Edmund Campion Secondary School in the soccer capital of Canada, Brampton, Larin scored at will. He did the same for Sigma FC, the academy side he joined as an 11-year-old. His profile increased once he enrolled at the University of Connecticut, where he scored an impressive 23 goals in 39 appearances over two seasons.
Larin is tall, fast, possesses great strength and knows how to finish. The 27-year-old worked hard on his game and was called up to the Canada national team for the first time in 2014, while still playing college soccer.
Michael Findlay, who was Canada’s assistant coach at the time, struggled to assess Larin. As a goalscoring No 9, he was undoubtedly a big asset to the team. But Findlay worried if it was all too easy for Larin. Was the player being challenged both on and off the pitch?
Advertisement
The coach couldn’t shake the feeling that Larin had an extra gear that he hadn’t yet found.
“At times, you thought Cyle wasn’t going to make it,” says Findlay. “Because he didn’t seem committed, he didn’t seem to be aware of his ability, he seemed very laissez-faire. But I think that was an emotional process of maturing.”
Larin is well aware that some people have this perception of him, but he doesn’t let it bother him.
“I’ve always known what I’m able to do, how good I am and that I can succeed everywhere I go,” he says.
He is also well aware of how people’s harsh views on him may have altered opportunities in his professional career.
Larin was drafted 1st overall by Orlando City in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft and scored an MLS-record 17 goals in his rookie season. He had another successful season in 2016 but was not offered the kind of contract extension he believed he had earned.
Transfer offers from other sides rolled in, but Orlando refused to sell. They wanted to wait until after Larin’s third season to sell him, as that would mean their portion of any transfer fee would increase. Larin’s minutes declined, and the team instead made a splash on another forward, Dom Dwyer.
This was just the beginning of a tumultuous period in Larin’s life.
GO DEEPER
'Our greatest strength is our diversity' - Canada have become a team who reflect the country
In June 2017, he was arrested for drunk driving after being caught at the wheel on the wrong side of the road. He had a passenger in the car. “It was a lesson for me,” says Larin. “And I’ve learned from it.”
Unsurprisingly, Larin wasn’t named in Canada’s initial Gold Cup roster that summer. Findlay remembers sending Larin a message saying: “Cyle, you’ve gotta sort yourself out.”
Larin eventually forced his way out of Orlando and moved to Turkish club Besiktas for below market value in 2018 (an undisclosed fee believed to be under $3million). In his first full season in Turkey he played sparingly, but the move did allow him to draw from the well of wisdom that the experienced fellow Canadian Atiba Hutchinson could offer.
Advertisement
Larin watched the long hours Hutchinson put in at training in Turkey to keep himself ready for a long season, and adjusted his own regime as a result. Now aged 39, Hutchinson will be captaining Canada in Qatar.
Speaking about Larin, Hutchinson says: “He’s learned a lot from being around better players at Besiktas and also from the experience he has gained over the years with Canada. I’ve really seen him grow into a young man and it’s been great to see the change and his commitment to what he wants to do.”
Larin became a father in 2020, with the birth twin girls Caylee and Cylie. Fatherhood and the responsibility that comes with it has taught him to be “present in the moment” and to not worry about what people say about him.
“(Having children) helped me mature as a person, to see what the important things are in life,” says Larin. “Everything I do now is for them.”
The difference on the pitch in 2020-21 was noticeable. His 2,886 minutes for Besiktas in the Turkish Super Lig that season is the most that he has logged in a single campaign. He scored 19 goals, and was top scorer for Besiktas as they won the title.
“He has just come out of his shell,” says Hutchinson. “He was a very quiet guy for us. He has just opened up to a lot of people and made it easier for people to speak with him, to communicate with him. And I think that helped him as well.”
That positive change carried over into the Canada national team as well. Larin’s influence in helping his country qualify for their first World Cup since 1986 cannot be underestimated. He was the top scorer in North American qualifying with 13 goals in just 16 appearances and Canada did not lose a game that he scored in.
“Since (Larin) has been young, he’s just been a big-game player,” says Richie Laryea, who has played with Larin for Canada as well as for Sigma and Orlando City. “When you need someone to score a goal, there he is, the big man scoring the most important goals.”
Advertisement
When he discusses playing for Canada, it is easy to detect positivity and pride in Larin’s voice. This translates to the pitch, too. His game appears to go up a gear when he is playing for his country.
Maybe it is the continued confidence head coach John Herdman has in him. Or maybe it is that he feels incredibly comfortable around a group of players that he has largely grown up with.
“Every time I go to the national team, I play with guys who know me and know how I like to play,” he says. “I’m always at my top level with the national team.”
Larin wanted to move to Club Bruges ahead of this season because of the Champions League opportunities it offered. However, he has made just one substitute appearance in the competition and has only made one start in all competitions all season. He did score in that solitary start, however, in a 2-0 win against Seraing in October.
“Every time I go to a new club, for some reason, I’m not given the spot,” Larin says. “I had a good season in Turkey and now I’m here. (But) I’ll earn my spot.”
Larin is in line to start in Qatar and has a real chance of becoming the first man to ever score for Canada at a World Cup.
Few would bet against him bouncing back from disappointment again.
Read more: Belgium vs Canada result: Batshuayi strikes on the break after Davies misses penalty
(Top photo: Matthew Ashton — AMA/Getty Images)
