Signings, cuts, and true camp: FC Supra gets down to business

FC Supra Quebec is coming to life. For about a month now, Nick Razzaghi and his staff have been ramping up training sessions and friendly matches with two goals in mind:

1. To allow the players who will have an important role to play in the club's first season to get into shape and prepare for the season kickoff, which will take place on March 11 in British Columbia.

2. To reliably evaluate, over a fairly long period of time, the players who are with the group but do not yet have a contract. In short, to allow players on trial to earn a spot on the first team.

The camp, which will last a total of nearly three months, has been divided into two parts by FC Supra management. The first phase ended a few hours ago (with a trip to New Jersey), and the second will begin in the coming days in Laval.

About 50 players wore the FC Supra jersey during the first part of the camp, which we will refer to as the “pre-camp” for simplicity's sake. When the team returns to the Complexe Bois-de-Boulogne field in the coming days, there will be about 30 players. As you can imagine, several players will learn in the coming hours that they have been cut from the team. High-level sports can be cruel. Before talking about the second phase of the camp, let's wrap up the first one, if you don't mind.

After seeking a win and a draw in Ontario, FC Supra lost by one goal to the New York Red Bulls reserve team (which plays in MLS Next Pro), then fell 4-2 to the New York Cosmos, which is experiencing much the same kind of resurgence as Supra currently is.

“You have to understand that the Red Bulls II had four or five players from the first team with them on Saturday, and yesterday we controlled the game despite the loss. We had possession, even though we had several young players like Joel Baudly Kontchou Jahle, Alexander Makarova, and Isaiah Byer on the field. ” – Rocco Placentino, president of FC Supra

I can hear my colleague Sofiane Benzaza asking Rocco what the Expected Goals were in those two games…

I asked Rocco Placentino if there were any players who impressed him during pre-camp. Of course, he recognizes the talent and experience of Aboubacar Sissoko, Sean Rea, David Choinière, and Loïc Kwemi, but they weren't the ones who impressed him the most.

“One player who really, really, really impressed me is Matisse Chrétien. Omar Elkalkouli also showed me that he has great qualities as a midfielder. Gabriel Mathieu and Olivier Correa, both of whom came through the selection process in partnership with amateur clubs, were also very good. Olivier is versatile. He reminds me of David Testo; he never cheats on the field. Gabriel was playing in the LDIR just two years ago!”

Listening to Rocco, I would say that I would not hesitate to bet on Olivier Correa as the next player to sign a contract with the club. Especially since, according to my information, Olivier recently quit his job to devote himself fully to his soccer career. Remember that he has just graduated and completed his American university studies.

Time for the real camp
Nick Razzaghi and his assistants have obviously given their players some tactical instructions and fundamental playing principles, both in Toronto and in the New York area, but they haven't started the big teaching sessions yet. Those sessions are being saved for the real camp.

Among the 30 players who will be present for this second part of camp are:

Goalkeepers: Joakim Milli;

Defenders: Diyaeddine Abzi, Matisse Chrétien, Keesean Ferdinand, Thomas Lebeuf, and Ismael Yeo;

Midfielders: Charles Auguste, Alessandro Biello, Oussama Boughanmi, David Choinière, Omar Elkalkouli, Sean Rea, Aboubacar Sissoko, and Wesley Wandje;

Forwards: David Choinière, Bakary Kaboré, and Loïc Kwemi.

It should be noted that Biello (arm), Abzi (arm), and Kaboré (ankle) are each recovering from minor injuries.

What's next
The Supra should be able to play three or four more preseason games before flying to British Columbia in early April. It's likely that they will face off against Ligue1 Québec clubs, but perhaps also against Atletico Ottawa.

Testing yourself against the champion team of the league you're going to compete in would be an excellent idea…

Can we expect to see players we haven't mentioned yet sign with the first team?

“Ali Aruna was with the group in New York, and I would say we've had advanced discussions. We'll see.” – Rocco Placentino

What about Ibrahim Conde, Rocco? His name has been linked to Supra on social media.

“I'm not hiding anything from you, Max. We're still looking for a striker. There have been approaches, but he's not with the group at the moment.”

A loan from CF Montreal?
There is one striker with CF Montreal who is just asking for that: playing time. Owen Graham-Roache. Luca Saputo has agreed to loan him to the Canadian U20 team for the next few weeks, while he refused to do the same with Aleksandr Guboglo.

Graham-Roache is behind Prince Owusu, Daniel Rios, and Sunusi Ibrahim in Montreal. It will be difficult for him to get quality playing time in 2026. Why not loan him to Supra?

“We really like Owen; there have been conversations with CF Montréal… we'd like that, it's a possibility… we'd really like that, but it's up to CF Montréal to decide.” — Rocco Placentino. If Luca is reading this and you'll allow me: don't hesitate to send Graham-Roache to Supra. #WinWin.

How are ticket sales going?
According to the information circulating, the Supra has currently sold a few hundred season tickets.

“You have to understand that it's a little confusing to buy season tickets for a team that will play home games in Laval, Montreal, and Quebec City. Ticketmaster will be selling individual tickets for the first two games at CEPSUM in the next few hours. We're hopeful that they'll sell out very quickly.” – Rocco Placentino