Lazar Stefanovic

[canuckgbp]

6 minutes ago, shermanator said:

I don't mean to be too hyperbolic but our 2026 World Cup hopes rely on his development. 🤣

Is this a bad time to mention I think he was born in the USA? 

[Jack1997]

Just now, canuckgbp said:

Is this a bad time to mention I think he was born in the USA? 

Yes.

[Borjans Sweatpants]

Born there but been here for most of his life as far as I know. Serbian eligibility too though I think?

[Jack1997]

4th Youngest Canadian to play in the MLS behind Davies, JMR and Colyn.

2nd Youngest CB to play in the MLS behind Akinmboni.

 

[gigi riva]

and How did he fare tonight

[Bison44]

Good, he had some tidy little clean ups, clearances.  He didnt look like a 16yr old making his debut.  Didnt look any different than Oniell, which I know isnt saying much, but he didnt pull any bone head plays, was just steady..actually looked pretty good moving the ball forward.  Very promising, took his chance very well.  

[gigi riva]

5 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

Good, he had some tidy little clean ups, clearances.  He didnt look like a 16yr old making his debut.  Didnt look any different than Oniell, which I know isnt saying much, but he didnt pull any bone head plays, was just steady..actually looked pretty good moving the ball forward.  Very promising, took his chance very well.  

awesome

[Gian-Luca]

8 hours ago, Bison44 said:

Good, he had some tidy little clean ups, clearances.  He didnt look like a 16yr old making his debut.  Didnt look any different than Oniell, which I know isnt saying much, but he didnt pull any bone head plays, was just steady..actually looked pretty good moving the ball forward.  Very promising, took his chance very well.  

I thought he looked very different from O'Neill - twice he kept his team in possession by making passes out of the back with great composure. Never saw O'Neill do that.

[TOcanadafan]

Hoping he grows a bit taller, but promising debut

[ECW]

He looked good, I thought. Although, in addition to the comments above, I’ll add that he also made a few mistakes and at times looked 16. A talented and promising 16 but it wasn’t clear to me that he shouldn’t be playing in the CPL or a loan to Europe so to see real minutes. 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Why would Next Pro not qualify as "real minutes" for a 16 year old? Unlike Montreal, TFC only seem to send players on loan to CanPL once they have no use for them but are still on the hook contractually.

Edited July 3, 2023 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[narduch]

MLS Next Pro is not that great a level. Basically a glorified reserve league.

A real league would have more a competitive feel to it.

So it would be better to have your better prospects playing elsewhere.

Plus TFC 2 is pretty bad in general. You probably want your players in a more winning environment than what TFC 2 offers.

Edited July 3, 2023 by narduch

[InglewoodJack]

2 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Why would Next Pro not qualify as "real minutes" for a 16 year old? Unlike Montreal, TFC only seem to send players on loan to CanPL once they have no use for them but are still on the hook contractually.

I think people have made the comparison between Next Pro and League1; ie not a great level- we can look at Jacen Russell Rowe who went from prime Messi in Next Pro to having a relatively slow start in MLS this year for example.

I think it's still "real" but I don't think it's particularly remarkable, especially as it pertains to our national team, for a 16 year old to play next pro- it doesn't mean all that much. I think CPL is much better for a player's development than NextPro unless you're planning on bringing him up to the senior team frequently.

Anyways, does he have any connection to the US aside from being born there? He's in our system, he captained our youth team, plays for Toronto... still way too early to make sense of him as a future player for us, but a young CB getting an MLS appearance at 16 is really exciting. Has there been any talk of him sticking around with TFC for a bit, or is the expectation that he goes right back down to TFC II? I know they had to play Laryea at CB a few times this year (Kaye also played CB against Montreal I think?), so with Laryea maybe being gone, or just needing CBs in general, I wonder if they give him some other games in the near future.

[Dominic94]

9 hours ago, TOcanadafan said:

Hoping he grows a bit taller, but promising debut

He likely will.

[Borjans Sweatpants]

7 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

I think people have made the comparison between Next Pro and League1; ie not a great level- we can look at Jacen Russell Rowe who went from prime Messi in Next Pro to having a relatively slow start in MLS this year for example.

I think it's still "real" but I don't think it's particularly remarkable, especially as it pertains to our national team, for a 16 year old to play next pro- it doesn't mean all that much. I think CPL is much better for a player's development than NextPro unless you're planning on bringing him up to the senior team frequently.

Anyways, does he have any connection to the US aside from being born there? He's in our system, he captained our youth team, plays for Toronto... still way too early to make sense of him as a future player for us, but a young CB getting an MLS appearance at 16 is really exciting. Has there been any talk of him sticking around with TFC for a bit, or is the expectation that he goes right back down to TFC II? I know they had to play Laryea at CB a few times this year (Kaye also played CB against Montreal I think?), so with Laryea maybe being gone, or just needing CBs in general, I wonder if they give him some other games in the near future.

Signed a short term agreement, so at least one more game he’ll be up for. After that I’m not sure what happens (if they can extend it or something else).

[InglewoodJack]

44 minutes ago, Borjans Sweatpants said:

Signed a short term agreement, so at least one more game he’ll be up for. After that I’m not sure what happens (if they can extend it or something else).

Oh that’s great. I thought the short term deal was just for that one game. 

[rydermike]

Short terms are just for one game. I know they get called four days, but Luka Gavran had to sign one for every game. His second one he signed was three days after his first but he still signed a new one. 

[Stoppage Time]

2 hours ago, narduch said:

MLS Next Pro is not that great a level. Basically a glorified reserve league.

A real league would have more a competitive feel to it.

So it would be better to have your better prospects playing elsewhere.

Plus TFC 2 is pretty bad in general. You probably want your players in a more winning environment than what TFC 2 offers.

Which league provides the best level of quality, MLS NextPro or CPL? Has anybody hear watched a  of both? In terms of minutes, would, for example, Jordan Perruzza, who is getting no minutes at TFC, be better off getting minutes in CPL or in NextPro? IMHO, nether league has a very high standard.

[VinceA]

Isn't there another dude jn the pool whose name is Stefan Lazarovic?

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

56 minutes ago, Stoppage Time said:

Which league provides the best level of quality, MLS NextPro or CPL? ...

Certain people on here are going to answer that only one way for reasons of nationalism when I suspect the honest answer for most of us is I don't know because I'm not in a position to judge.

At 16, if TFC rates Stefanovic in a big way they are going to play him regularly in NextPro and not care too much what that does to the number of points TFC II gain along the way.

Meanwhile a CanPL coach is going to view that question very differently because points gained definitely do matter to whether he gets sacked at the end of the season, so the 16 year easily could wind up playing down a level for some League 1 team most of time.

Later down the road in career terms when that's less likely to be an issue I'd lean more towards the argument that the greater competitive edge that CanPL probably provides is the key. 

[Borjans Sweatpants]

3 hours ago, rydermike said:

Short terms are just for one game. I know they get called four days, but Luka Gavran had to sign one for every game. His second one he signed was three days after his first but he still signed a new one. 

Ah I don’t know, I just took what I saw from Toronto FC’s press release when it happened (https://www.torontofc.ca/news/toronto-fc-sign-gavran-and-stefanovic-to-short-term-agreements) :

“Toronto FC announced today that the club has signed goalkeeper Luka Gavran and Lazar Stefanovic to short term agreements from Toronto FC II for the club’s next two MLS matches against Real Salt Lake and Orlando City SC.”

 

Edited July 3, 2023 by Borjans Sweatpants

[narduch]

4 hours ago, Stoppage Time said:

Which league provides the best level of quality, MLS NextPro or CPL? Has anybody hear watched a  of both? In terms of minutes, would, for example, Jordan Perruzza, who is getting no minutes at TFC, be better off getting minutes in CPL or in NextPro? IMHO, nether league has a very high standard.

The problem Next Pro has is that because it's reserve league the games are not as meaningful. 

Most of the matches are played in empty stadiums in front of family.

So yes I will argue CPL is a higher level. There is more on the line in CPL. 

Take a listen to the Scuffed podcast where guest Matt Hartman rips Next Pro.

 

The good part starts at about 8:30

 

Edited July 3, 2023 by narduch

[Floortom]

From what I've seen, CPL matches have much more quality than Next Pro. Next Pro is a nice league for kids I guess but there is zero defense played and half the time they're just going through the motions. 

[Kadenge]

3 minutes ago, narduch said:

The problem Next Pro has is that because it's reserve league the games are not as meaningful. 

Most of the matches are played in empty stadiums in front of family.

So yes I will argue CPL is a higher level. There is more on the line in CPL. 

Take a listen to the Scuffed podcast where guest Matt Hartman rips Next Pro.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7wNRZmihwHPCwcqFsgjK2o?si=5ORlYMr8RGKPiwVWacq5FA

 

 Plus in CPL he would  be playing vs older, more physical & experienced players, many with current or prior national team caps. So it seems that  CPL may be a better, not perfect yet,  bridge/pathway to get a player ready for MLS but it all depends on the player and where they are developmentally. 

[gigi riva]

If he can secure monutes in MLS then he should stay up with the team . But I think it will be logical for him to be loaaned out Im sure all six teams in CPL will love to have him