SoccerThe Canadian Shield blooms for Toronto FC

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Introductions are by and large unnecessary. Serioux and Dwayne De Rosario have known each other since they were kids at Malvern Soccer Club in Scarborough, Ont., while Danny Dichio and Serioux were teammates at English club Millwall until as recently as 2005. Skipper Jim Brennan and goalkeeper Greg Sutton will also be familiar faces to Serioux from their time together on guard for the Canadian national team.

Serioux, of course, has been this way before – almost. And despite his keenness to join his compatriots back on home turf, he can be forgiven for perhaps thinking twice about what, at first glance, seems to be an obvious reconciliation.

Chance meeting

By chance, I ran into the big man at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in the late summer of 2007 while awaiting the return flight to Toronto after covering TFC's defeat to FC Dallas the previous night.

After congratulating him on the victory, conversation naturally turned to the possibility of him joining his hometown club – then the expansion team in Major League Soccer.

Serioux was originally picked by Toronto in the expansion draft late in 2006, but his hopes of actually playing for the club were dashed almost immediately when Johnston dealt him to Dallas, along with a second-round draft pick, in exchange for winger Ronnie O'Brien.

To say Serioux was not impressed by the trade would be an understatement, but since all MLS players are centrally contracted, he had no choice but to report for duty at Pizza Hut Park. Suffice it to say, Serioux was, at that time, in no mood to even consider a move back to Canada, despite the pull of family and friends.

The fact that Johnston no longer coaches nor picks the team may have been a factor in Serioux's reassessment of the situation and no doubt he will have spoken to De Rosario who, like his former Toronto Lynx teammate, was also forced to seek employment abroad before soccer repatriation became a viable proposition.

City he calls home

Serioux needs no reminding soccer can be a short career and the opportunity to link up with so many fellow Canadians in a city he calls home may not come his way again. After all, he's had his own share of injury problems – notably knee surgery which delayed his Dallas debut by four months. Johnston and Carver will be hoping the adjustment to FieldTurf will not be a major concern, but O'Brien was never comfortable on the artificial surface and eventually left for San Jose after only 13 appearances.

The game in Dallas apart, I have only seen Serioux play on a handful of occasions – most recently during Canada's opening World Cup qualifier against Jamaica. On a night which ended in disappointment for many, Serioux struck me as a dominant and assured central defender whose commitment to the cause could not be questioned. As David Beckham will attest, Serioux is not the kind of player to pull out of a challenge.

It is an attitude which will sit well with the fans and his new coach. Note to visiting strikers: consider yourself warned.

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