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Ayo Akinola

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Ayo Akinola
Akinola with the United States U20 in 2019
Personal information
Full name Ayomide Bamidele Akinola[1]
Grant Jesus-Sultan-Akinola Ogundimu[2]
Date of birth (2000-01-20) January 20, 2000 (age 24)
Place of birth Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Toronto FC
Number 20
Youth career
2008–2014 Brampton East
2015–2017 Toronto FC
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2019 Toronto FC II 34 (8)
2018– Toronto FC 36 (12)
International career‡
2015 United States U15 7 (5)
2015–2017 United States U17 32 (24)
2018–2019 United States U20 12 (9)
2020 United States 1 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of June 26, 2021
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of December 9, 2020

Ayomide Bamidele Akinola (born January 20, 2000) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Toronto FC in Major League Soccer.

Club career

Toronto FC II

A product of the TFC Academy, Akinola was called up to the Toronto FC II set-up for the 2016 USL season.[3] On June 15, 2016, he made his debut as an 80th-minute substitute for Shaan Hundal in a 1–1 draw with FC Montreal. Akinola made his first start a week later in a 4–1 defeat to Louisville City.[4] On July 11, he scored a brace in a 4–2 win against the Harrisburg City Islanders and was named to the USL Team of the Week.[5] He finished the season with two goals from 10 appearances.

Akinola tried out for Eredivisie club PSV Eindhoven in November 2017.[6]

Toronto FC

On December 18, 2017, Akinola signed as a homegrown player with Major League Soccer side Toronto FC.[7] He became the 15th player to graduate from the TFC Academy and sign for the first team, and the 34th academy graduate to sign a professional contract for one of the Toronto FC teams.[8] On March 17, 2019, Akinola scored his first ever MLS goal in Toronto FC's home opener against the New England Revolution.[9]

Akinola scored his second and third MLS goals for Toronto on July 13, 2020 in the MLS is Back Tournament in a 2–2 draw against D.C. United.[10] He scored a hat-trick in his team's second game of the tournament against the Montreal Impact.[11] He finished the 2020 season as the co-leading scorer for Toronto with Alejandro Pozuelo, both of whom scored 9 goals, although Pozuelo played nearly twice as many minutes.[12]

International career

Akinola was eligible to play internationally for the United States as he was born in Detroit, Canada as he was raised in Brampton and Nigeria through his parentage.[13][14] Both the Canadian Soccer Association and the Nigeria Football Federation had reached out to Akinola regarding his future at the senior international level. In 2018, Akinola commented “No time to rush. But at some point, I’m going to have to make a decision which one is the best fit for me.”[15]

United States

In April 2015, Akinola made his international debut for the United States U15 national soccer team, appearing in a 4–1 victory against Costa Rica. The following day he scored his first international goal, netting four in a 6–2 win against Croatia. He also scored in his final appearances for the U15s in a 3–3 draw in England.[16]

In December 2015, Akinola was called up to the United States U17 squad and played 40 minutes in a 3–2 defeat to England U16s. He scored his first goal against Brazil in March 2016, before scoring a brace against Russia a few days later. In October 2017, Akinola scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over Ghana at the FIFA U17 World Cup in India.[17]

He was called up to the US Senior team for their friendly match on December 9, 2020 against El Salvador.[18] He scored a goal in his debut for the Americans against El Salvador, taking a knee and raising a fist in the air following his goal in a show of support for the racial equality movement.[19][20]

Canada

Akinola accepted an invitation to a Canadian senior national team camp held in January 2021,[21] but was forced to withdraw for health reasons.[22] He then accepted an invite to join the Canadian team for training prior to their World Cup qualifying matches On May 29, 2021.[23] A few weeks later on June 18 Akinola was named to Canada's 60-man preliminary squad for the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup,[24] and on June 30 Canada Soccer confirmed that Ayo Akinola had filed his one-time switch to represent Les Rouges internationally.[25]

Personal life

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Akinola moved to Brampton, Ontario, when he was one year old. Akinola's younger brother Tom is a member of the TFC Academy and has attended a Canadian under-14 camp.[21]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played June 26, 2021
Club Season League Cup[a] Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Toronto FC II 2016 United Soccer League 10 2 — — — 10 2
2018 16 5 — — — 16 5
2019 USL League One 8 1 — — — 8 1
Total 34 8 — — — 34 8
Toronto FC 2018 Major League Soccer 4 0 2 1 — — 6 1
2019 8 1 1 0 2[b] 0 — 11 1
2020 15[c] 9 — — 1[d] 0 16 9
2021 9 2 0 0 2[b] 0 0 0 11 2
Total 36 12 3 1 4 0 1 0 44 13
Career total 70 20 3 1 4 0 1 0 78 21
  1. ^ Includes Canadian Championship matches.
  2. ^ a b Appearance(s) in the CONCACAF Champions League.
  3. ^ Includes three appearances and five goals in MLS is Back Tournament group stage.
  4. ^ Appearance(s) in the MLS Cup Playoffs.

International goals

As of match played December 9, 2020. United States score listed first, score column indicates score after each Akinola goal.[4]
International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 December 9, 2020 Inter Miami CF Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, United States 1  El Salvador 5–0 6–0 Friendly

Honors

United States U20

Individual

References

  1. ^ "National team roster 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup" (PDF). CONCACAF.
  2. ^ "FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019: List of players" (PDF). FIFA. May 15, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  3. ^ "Ayo Akinola". Toronto FC. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  4. ^ a b "USA – A. Akinola – Profile with news, career statistics and history – Soccerway". Soccerway. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  5. ^ "Ayo Akinola Named To USL Team Of The Week". Toronto FC. July 12, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  6. ^ Grossi, James (November 15, 2017). "Toronto FC academy player, US U-17 Ayo Akinola takes trial with PSV". MLS Soccer. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  7. ^ "Teenage forward Ayo Akinola signs as Toronto FC homegrown player". Toronto Sun. December 18, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  8. ^ "Toronto FC Sign Ayo Akinola". torontofc.ca. MLS. December 18, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  9. ^ Boehm, Charles (March 17, 2019). "Dual-national US U-20 forward Ayo Akinola scores first MLS goal for TFC". Major League Soccer.
  10. ^ "D.C. United's late rally nets two goals earning 2-2 draw against Toronto FC". Fox Sports. July 13, 2020. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  11. ^ "Ayo Akinola hat trick lifts TFC past the Montreal Impact". Toronto Star. July 16, 2020.
  12. ^ Tierney, Mitchell; Bailey, Martyn (November 13, 2020). "By The Numbers: Where have the goals gone for Toronto FC?". Waking the Red.
  13. ^ Kingsley, Igho (September 19, 2017). "Toronto FC wonderkid Akinola set to follow in the footsteps of Man Utd's Olosunde". All Nigeria Soccer. Retrieved October 6, 2017.
  14. ^ "Toronto FC II's Akinola Ascending with U.S. U17s". USL Soccer. December 10, 2016. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
  15. ^ "TFC's Ayo Akinola has tough choice on international future". Toronto Star. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  16. ^ "Ayo Akinola". www.ussoccer.com. Archived from the original on July 8, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  17. ^ "TFC's Akinola scores as US U-17s edge Ghana in key U-17 World Cup clash". October 9, 2017.
  18. ^ Reid, Brady (November 30, 2020). "Ayo Akinola named to American squad for upcoming friendly vs El Salvador". Waking the Red.
  19. ^ "Mueller, Akinola lead US rout of El Salvador in exhibition". TSN. December 9, 2020.
  20. ^ Singh, Michael (December 9, 2020). "Ayo Akinola takes a knee after scoring 1st goal in 1st appearance for U.S. national team". Waking the Red.
  21. ^ a b Davidson, Neil (December 23, 2020). "TFC's Ayo Akinola accepts invite to Canadian national team camp". CBC.
  22. ^ "Toronto FC's Ayo Akinola unable to attend Canada camp due to injury". Sportsnet. January 14, 2021.
  23. ^ Singh, Michael (May 31, 2021). "Ayo Akinola among 6 Toronto FC players named to 'extended' Canada squad". Waking the Red.
  24. ^ "Canada names 60 man preliminary roster for Gold Cup". June 18, 2021.
  25. ^ "AYO AKINOLA JOINS CANADA SOCCER'S MEN'S NATIONAL TEAM PROGRAM". June 30, 2021.
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