Milan Borjan and Vanessa Gilles named Canada Soccer’s Players of the Month

Milan Borjan and Vanessa Gilles have been named Canada Soccer’s Players of the Month for February 2022. Borjan from Hamilton, Ontario helped Canada complete a perfect January/February window in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers while Vanessa Gilles from Ottawa, Ontario was a star for Canada at the Arnold Clark Cup including a historic first-ever clean sheet against former FIFA World Cup champions Germany.

Goalkeeper Borjan backstopped Canada to a third-straight clean sheet and victory in the most recent FIFA international window, giving Canada 25 points at the top of the table in the Concacaf Final Round of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. Following back-to-back 2:0 wins against Honduras in San Pedro Sula and then against USA in Hamilton, Borjan helped Canada secure a 2:0 win over El Salvador in San Salvador on Wednesday 2 February. Atiba Hutchinson and Jonathan David were the goalscorers against El Salvador.

Upon returning to club action with Red Star Belgrade in Serbia, Borjan captained his club side to three consecutive wins in the SuperLiga, most notably a 2:0 home win over rivals and league leaders FK Partizan from Belgrade. The clean sheet victory over FK Partizan on 27 February pushed Red Star to just two points back of the league leaders. In the Serbian Cup Round of 16 action, Borjan helped Red Star eliminate FK Radnički Niš.

Gilles, meanwhile, was Canada’s Player of the Match in a historic 1:0 victory over Germany at the 2022 Arnold Clark Cup. Gilles featured at centre back in both the Thursday 1:1 draw with England as well the Sunday 20 February victory over Germany. Alongside helping goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan and the backline keep a clean sheet against Germany, she also scored the winning goal on a header from a Janine Beckie corner kick.

Across Canada’s three matches at the Arnold Clark Cup, Canada drew 1:1 against England on 17 February, won 1:0 over Germany on 20 February, and then lost 1:0 to Spain on 23 February. In the opening match against England, Beckie scored the game-tying goal on a wicked left-footed curling shot from just outside the penalty area. Canada’s three Players of the Match were Jessie Fleming against England, Gilles against Germany, and Ashley Lawrence against Spain.

PLAYERS of the MONTH:
February 2022 – Milan Borjan & Vanessa Gilles
January 2022 – Milan Borjan & Deanne Rose