Emergence of Alistair Johnston is proof that there are diamonds in Canada's soccer rough

Alistair Johnston sat in a Toronto hotel lobby on Sunday, still a little bleary-eyed from the seven-hour flight home from Suriname, where he earned his 50th cap for Canada in fitting fashion last week: a 1-0 win in sweltering conditions in a country he struggled to find on a map.

My goodness, it borders Brazil, he thought when he discovered it.

The 26-year-old Johnston has made an equally surprising arrival on the soccer scene.

In 2019, he was playing collegiate soccer at Wake Forest and spending his summer with Vaughan Azzurri in League1 Ontario. Five years later, he is a principal actor in the Canadian men's return to form and recently captained Scottish club giant Celtic.

"A perfect day," he said of his afternoon with the armband, a 3-0 win over Motherwell in which he scored for good measure. "The outpouring of love and support I got from Celtic fans and back here, it felt like such an important and special thing."

In Europe, most future stars sign contracts when they're as young as eight. The same is becoming true in Canada, where virtually all national youth team picks play in Major League Soccer academies. Talented children on the outside can feel like they're hopelessly behind.

Johnston is proof they are not. 

"I was never silver spooned like that," he said. "I just really loved the sport. If you are a good player, a good person, you work hard and do all the right things, you will get opportunities. People will see you. It doesn't really matter where you are."

His slow build was helpful in some ways. He had always been a midfielder, but during his senior year in college he was converted to fullback, a position of constant, considerable evolution. At 21, he was still an amateur in every sense. 

He excelled in his