Noah Abatneh was playing EA FC in his room when his phone lit up with an unexpected call from his agent, saying he had some good news.
The 21-year-old central defender had no idea what to think when Atlético Ottawa General Manager J.D. Ulanowski was added to the call. The news was indeed good. Great, even.
Abatneh had received his first call-up to the Canadian men's national team. "I was just shocked, to be honest. I wasn't expecting it at all," he told CanPL.ca.
Out on the west coast, Tiago Coimbra woke up to a text from Canadian men's national team manager Jesse Marsch saying that he, too, would be joining the senior team for the first time. "It was good to wake up to that," said the Halifax Wanderers forward with a grin, "to start the year like that."
While those texts may have roused him, Coimbra can't help but feel like he is still dreaming.
"This is just crazy, I still don't think it's real," Coimbra told CanPL.ca. "I feel like every kid growing up dreams of this moment, like Jesse Marsch texting you. Like, I have his phone number, I can call him, and I can text him, and this is just unreal.
"This is a dream come true for every kid playing soccer in Canada."
Coimbra and Abatneh are two of the three Canadian Premier League players called up for the Canadian men's national team's January camp. The other is 17-year-old Inter Toronto attacker Shola Jimoh.
The squad for the camp, which begins on Jan. 8 in Irvine, California, is primarily made up of North America-based players. It includes a friendly against Guatemala on Saturday, Jan. 17 (7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET on OneSoccer).
The trio aren't alone in representing the league, as Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. and Atlético Ottawa goalkeeper coach Romauld Peiser joining Marsch's technical staff for the window. With this being the first camp of a World Cup year, it is testament to the level of talent across the CPL.
"This is what people should look at the league as, it should be a league that promotes young players," said Coimbra. "Just for other countries to have better visibility of the young Canadian talent."
Three former CPLers are also part of this camp, including a first-time call-up for former Atlético Ottawa and Valour full-back Matteo de Brienne, as well as Joel Waterman (formerly Cavalry FC) and goalkeeper James Pantemis (Valour FC).
Abatneh believes that seeing himself, Coimbra and Jimoh get these calls will only push other players across the league to dream bigger as well.
"I think it definitely will, because it shows that it's possible to do well enough in this league and get recognition from the national staff," said Abatneh. "I think anyone in the CPL could take motivation from it."
Coimbra, who won the league's Best Canadian U-21 Player award this past year, is a natural fit for Marsch's high-energy system. With 12 goals in the 2025 campaign, he is a player who loves to make life difficult on opposing backlines, with or without the ball.
"I've heard [Marsch] likes strikers that press and players that run a lot, so, I mean, he's gonna get that a lot from me," said Coimbra. "But I'm open to everything, I just want to learn and get used to everybody, get used to the national team environment and learn from everybody."
Only one active CPL player has ever scored for the Canadian national team: defender Amer Didić, during a 4-1 win over Barbados on Jan. 10, 2020. Coimbra would love to add his name to that list.
"We'll see," says Coimbra with a big smile. "Jan. 17 is my birthday and we play that day. So who knows, maybe a birthday gift would be nice."
Abatneh, meanwhile, will get the chance to train and play alongside established Canadian international central defenders like Waterman and Kamal Miller, both of whom were part of the 2022 World Cup team.
"I'm excited to be able to learn from them and the things they do best," said Abatneh.
But while he knows the standard of football played at the camp will be high, Abatneh understands how crucial it is to just focus on the abilities that got him there in the first place.
"I just want to show the best that I can every day in camp and get as much time as I can, learn as much as I can, and improve a lot," said Abatneh. "And just do my thing; I don't think I need to overcomplicate things. It's just playing my own game, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm excited."
For Abatneh, Coimbra and Jimoh, they've already proven to be stars for Canada's national league, now they look to establish themselves with Canada's national team.
