Shola Jimoh’s incredible 2024 continued on Monday down in San Jose, Costa Rica where he scored his first goal for Canada in a 2-1 victory over Mexico in a U-17 friendly.

After Mexico opened the scoring through Máximo Reyes in the 42nd minute, Canada scored twice in the second half to take the victory. Andre Ali-Gayapersad, who plays for CF Damm Academy in Spain had the other goal.

Canada also defeated Costa Rica by a score of 3-0 on Friday. Fulham U-18’s Aidan Evans, Leicester City academy’s William Daniels and CF Montréal’s Aghilas Sadek scored in that match.

The 16-year-old Jimoh is coming off his first professional season with York United, where he scored four goals, including against Atlético Ottawa in the CPL Playoff quarter-final.

Prior to joining the U-17 team, Jimoh participated in his first-ever senior national team camp, where he earned high praise from manager Jesse Marsch for how he was able to integrate into the group.

The U-17 national team are preparing for the 2025 Concacaf U-17 Men’s Qualifiers, where they have been drawn in a group with Bermuda, Curaçao, Anguilla and Turks and Caicos. If they top that group, they earn a third consecutive appearance at the U-17 FIFA World Cup, to be played in Qatar in 2025.

Those matches will take place between Feb. 9 and 16, 2025, with Canada’s group being played in Bermuda.