Tuesday’s OneSoccer Player and Pundit Hangout session featured Canadian international and Inter Miami CF midfielder Jay Chapman, who joined hosts Asa Rehman, Kurt Larson, and Oliver Platt for a chat about his time at Toronto FC, as well as his thoughts on the CPL.
The show began with a brief discussion of MLS’s return to individual training, as well as a recap of Alphonso Davies and the Bundesliga’s matches over the weekend.
From there, Chapman explained his off-season move to MLS expansion side Inter Miami, saying that he’d been exploring his options as he struggled to get into the lineup at TFC.
“It’s David Beckham’s team,” Chapman said of Inter Miami. “He was my favourite player growing up, so I had to explore that and see what that offer was about.”
After a lengthy discussion of Chapman’s attributes as a player, wherein he explained how he’s tried to diversify his game over the years to try and carve out more minutes for himself, the group took on a few trivia questions that pitted the cities of Miami and Toronto against each other.
Following that, Chapman answered a fan question about the Canadian Premier League, and what he’d thought about the league’s inaugural season.
“Super excited about the CPL,” he said. “There’s a lot of guys that I actually grew up playing with, whether it was they didn’t end up going to school, or didn’t have the right pathway, they didn’t end up trying to go pro. … It’s awesome to see them get a chance at a professional team.”
Chapman added that he was keenly watching when Forge FC won the league’s first championship last year.
“I know a lot of guys on that team that were really good players,” he said. “It’s just fantastic that Canada actually has a league and Canadians that may have fallen through the cracks are able to have a shot.
Asked which, if any, CPL club Chapman would most want to play for, the midfielder had an answer ready to go.
“I think I would have to go with York9 to be honest, just because that’s closest to home,” he said. “I grew up playing around the York area, it’s close to Toronto, I love the city. Jimmy Brennan, who’s the head coach there, was an academy coach at TFC as well, so I have a lot of respect for Jimmy.”
To watch Tuesday’s OneSoccer Player & Pundit Hangout in full, click here.