It was nowhere near as glamorous as his previous debut for a new club – but for Milan Borjan, it was a good start all the same.
Borjan made his entrance for Serbian side FK Radnički Niš on Monday, holding a clean sheet in a scoreless draw against defending champions Red Star Belgrade. The 27-year-old goalkeeper was picked up after parting ways with Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad, who had signed him on an emergency basis last September to play against Liverpool in the Champions League.
Neither Ludogorets nor Liverpool escaped their Champions League group, though Liverpool did qualify for the Europa League, where they were plopped in the Round-of-32 stage. It was there where they played the first leg of their knockout clash against Turkish heavyweights Besiktas on Thursday, coming away with a 1-0 win. Atiba Hutchinson went the full 90 for Besiktas in that match, then came on as a sub in a league match on Sunday.
Borjan wasn’t the only Canadian making a debut this week. Calum Ferguson, a 20-year-old striker who played for Canada at last month’s CONCACAF Under-20 Championship, made his first appearance for Inverness in the Scottish Premiership, coming on as a substitute in Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Kilmarnock.
Ferguson is the third Canadian, after Terry Dunfield (Ross County) and Dylan Carreiro (Dundee) to play in Scotland’s top flight this season. Neither Dunfield nor Carreiro played this week; Carreiro, in fact, has been loaned back to fourth-division Arbroath, for whom he had much success in late 2014.
Luca Gasparotto saw plenty of the pitch in Scotland, though; the big defender went the full 90 for Airdrieonians in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Stenhousemuir in League One.
Elsewhere in the UK, David Edgar went the distance for Huddersfield Town in their 3-0 win over Reading on Tuesday, while Marcus Haber put in a full day’s work for Crewe Alexandra in their 2-0 loss to Barnsley on Saturday.
Michael Petrasso started for Queens Park Rangers’ Under-21 side on Thursday in a 2-0 win over Colchester United. Then, on Monday, Junior Hoilett got the start for the U-21 side (as one of its three permitted overage players), while Petrasso didn’t play.
Up in the Nordic countries, cup competitions are getting underway, which means a bit of action for some long-dormant Canadian players.
Kenny Stamatopoulos held a clean sheet for AIK Stockholm in their 4-0 win over Landskrona in Swedish Cup play, while fellow goalkeeper Tomer Chencinski held down the fort for RoPS in Finnish Cup play on Thursday in a 2-2 draw with KTP.
And midfielder Charlie Trafford got the start for KuPS on Saturday in a 3-3 Finnish Cup draw with Ilves.
Elsewhere in Europe, Daniel Haber (Ayia Napa), Tosaint Ricketts (Hapoel Haifa), Nik Ledgerwood (Energie Cottbus), Pedro Pacheco (CD Santa Clara) and Randy Edwini-Bonsu (Stuttgarter Kickers) all saw action for their respective clubs this week.
Down in Central and South America, a week after his first professional goal, Keven Aleman went the full 90 for Belen in a 1-0 win over CS Uruguay in the Costa Rican Primera Division. In the actual country of Uruguay, Lucas Cavallini went the full 90 for Fenix in a 1-0 loss to Tacuarembo on Saturday.
