The moment Simcoe County Rovers step on the pitch on Wednesday at BMO Field, they'll have already made history. Their 2024 Canadian Championship tie on April 24 will be the first time a reigning League1 Ontario champion has taken on Toronto FC in Canada's domestic cup tournament. It's the kind of underdog story that makes cup competitions so magical all over the world. Simcoe County, who play their home games in Barrie just over an hour north of Toronto, have a chance to compete against one of the biggest clubs in the country. And it's all come together in just three years for the club. "When we started the club, one of our dream scenarios was to win the championship within the first four years and qualify for the Canadian Championship, with the dream draw of playing in our area at BMO Field against giants of Canadian soccer Toronto FC," said Peter Raco, CEO and President of the Rovers. "[It's] the only Canadian club that's ever won the MLS championship, and the club that these players grew up idolizing. Not only is it amazing for players, but I can't underscore enough how big of an event this is for the community of Barrie and Simcoe County." The Rovers earned their spot in this year's Canadian Championship by winning the L1O title in 2023, taking down previous Canadian Championship entrants Vaughan Azzurri in the semifinal before beating Scrosoppi FC to take the crown. To tell the full story, though, we have to go a little bit further back. Simcoe County Rovers were officially launched back in 2021 by Raco and co-founder, Canadian national team legend Julian De Guzman. Shortly after, a number of other Canadian soccer icons joined the fold and now Atiba Hutchinson, Janine Beckie, Cyle Larin and Doneil Henry all count themselves as co-owners of the club. The mandate was simple: To build a local, community-oriented football club that drew on all the lessons those experienced players had learned over the course of their illustrious careers. "It's a story about a group of Canadian national team players that came together to form a football club the right way," Raco said.
Henry, a three-time Canadian champion with 44 men's national team caps, echoed Raco's summation of Simcoe County's ethos. "It all came with the vision of my mentor Julian De Guzman, how passionately he talks about Canadian football, clubs of Canada, and what can we change to make the game better," he said. "When you think about a country like Canada, why we still don't have the success we should have with all this player talent, diversity and everything that we have in this country, we should be miles ahead. "The vision of Simcoe County Rovers was literally to do it our way. Through all of our different walks of this football career, we know what we liked, we know what worked, we know what didn't work and ultimately know what it would need for it to change. We just wanted to use our experience and our professionalism to make a club and have it run our way." Barrie and the surrounding area was a natural place to start. Huronia District, which serves the Barrie, Simcoe County and Muskoka regions, has over 10,000 youth soccer players, and according to Raco, before the Rovers arrived Barrie was the largest community in Ontario not served by a League1 club. The Rovers' men's and women's teams officially kicked off their inaugural season in April 2022, and both sides finished fifth in the league in just their first campaign. A year later, and the club had fully taken root; throughout the 2023 season they were selling out games at JC Massie Field -- including a double-capacity crowd well over 1,000 for the League1 semifinal. The Rovers are all over the local media; players are always seen surrounded by eager autograph-seekers after matches, and they're familiar faces when they show up at youth soccer clubs and schools in the area. Not only did the Simcoe County men's team win the 2023 L1O title to qualify for the Canadian Championship, but they did so with a cast of players that have endeared themselves fully to the people of Barrie. As is often the case in Canadian soccer, each player has a fascinating story that brought them where they are. Cuban-born players Orlendis Benítez and Alejandro Portal, for instance -- familiar names to Canadian Premier League fans after appearing for Forge FC and Halifax Wanderers, respectively -- have built new lives for themselves in Canada as semi-pro footballers with full-time jobs. This TFC match will be a particularly meaningful one ; it'll be their first visit to BMO Field since defecting from the Cuban national team after a 2021 match against Canada.
Meanwhile, the Rovers have afforded a different kind of opportunity to 16-year-old Allen Saye Blegay, who earned two caps with the Canadian U-17 team against Brazil on the back of his performances at Simcoe County. "These are not just players for a team," Raco said. "They're representing the community, they're representing their club, and they're really providing inspiration to a whole generation of players that have never seen it before. They are their local heroes; these young players don't get to go see big matches in Toronto or New York or Europe. On a week-in, week-out basis they get to see the Rovers." After coming out in droves last year to support the Rovers at home, several thousand of the Simcoe County faithful will now be following their club to BMO Field to watch them play the biggest club in the province. Raco says he's expecting over 2,000 away fans in attendance supporting the Rovers, which would be the largest section of travelling fans for a non-MLS match in Canadian soccer history. This will be the first time a team from Barrie has played a top-tier professional team in any sport, and the community is intent on showing up -- they've already sold out the full north end of BMO Field to be packed with Rovers blue, and they've added an additional section in the east stand for away fans. Barrie mayor Alex Nuttall announced recently that he's declared April 24 to be 'Go Rovers Day', recognizing the club for how much of an impact it's had already. While the excitement builds off the pitch, however, the team itself is laser-focused on putting its best foot forward against TFC. Since winning the title in 2023, the club has promoted Zico Mahrady from assistant to head coach after previous gaffer Jason Beckford departed in October. Otherwise, though, things are largely the same within the squad, which has managed to keep a level of consistency that's traditionally been quite rare at the League1 level. Nine out of 10 starters from the 2023 L1O Final are returning, including players with CPL experience like Shawn-Claud Lawson (formerly of Atlético Ottawa), Portal (Halifax Wanderers) and Ijah Halley (York United). Benítez, who played three games for Forge FC in 2022, is back as the Rovers' key attacking threat after scoring 15 goals last year. Naturally, they've added quality too; replacing the departed Baj Maan in goal is another former Forge 'keeper Rimi Olatunji, and they've brought in a U SPORTS standout from Guelph in Alex Zis.
The team has been training since early February in an effort to be as prepared as possible to take on TFC; they played Ligue1 Québec champions (and fellow Canadian Championship entrants) CS St-Laurent and beat them 2-0, and they played CPL side York United to a very close defeat in preseason action. Now, as final preparations are made, the Rovers' national team co-owners have been as involved as possible; Hutchinson has sent the team messages of support, and Henry has been working with them on the training pitch to provide his own wisdom. "Now they get to go against the big boys in Canada, now they get to go skin for skin, body for body, blood, bones, whatever you want to call it," Henry said. "They're going to see where they are and how far they are from becoming a professional. This is the ultimate test. You can tell them everything, you can let them see it, they can watch it on TV, but until they get to step on the field and earn that right, ultimately it means nothing. This is going to be where they get to see where they are, and if this is their dream, how much more sacrifice they'll have to give." Obviously, this matchup has particular significance to Henry, who was the first Toronto FC Academy player ever to sign for the first team. He played over 100 games for the club, including 13 in the Canadian Championship where he'll now be hoping to beat them. "TFC gave me everything," he said. "They gave me the opportunity to be a professional, to also leave and go live my dream and become a Premier League player. I was even able to live my wildest dreams being at a World Cup. It's all the boxes that I wanted to tick as a young boy; having those conversations with my mom, watching World Cup football growing up. I talk about it all the time, I say, 'Doneil, sometimes you can't see how much you've done in this game, but you've lived your dreams. You should be proud of yourself.' So when it comes to stuff like that, I just know that the boys will relish opportunities like this for sure." Regardless of his history and affinity for Wednesday night's opponent, though, Henry has thrown himself fully into the Rovers' campaign. He, along with over 2,000 travelling fans -- and, for that matter, the 100,000-strong city of Barrie -- will be fully behind this underdog League1 club as they attempt to make some more history.
Simcoe County Rovers take on Toronto FC in the Canadian Championship this Wednesday, April 24, at 7:30 p.m. ET, live on OneSoccer.
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