Steve Milton: Milan Borjan went from Hamilton minor soccer to the World Cup

Nikola Borjan has no problem choosing his most treasured moment of his famous older brother's career.

Many Hamilton soccer fans would likely pick the same instant - on January 30, 2022 - because it was created by a Favourite Son in his long-awaited homecoming at Tim Hortons Field.

In a pivotal World Cup qualifying game, Canadian goalkeeper Milan Borjan, who steadfastly refers to Hamilton as his hometown, leapt high to reactively punch away a goal-bound header from Team USA's Weston McKinnie and preserve a 1-0 Canada lead.

That save propelled Canada to a 2-0 victory on its way to a stunning first-place finish in the North American qualifying region for the 2022 men's World Cup, which opens next week in Qatar.

I watched that game on TV from Europe," says 18-year-old Nikola, a goalkeeper for Graficar Belgrade, a feeder team for Belgrade Red Star, one of Europe's most famous soccer teams, for whom Milan Borjan is the undisputed No. 1 goalie, captain and most recognizable player. Nikola and Milan didn't grow up with each other but can now go to each other's games.

When I was little and watching highlights of his games in Europe I got the idea to start goalkeeping myself," Nikola told The Spectator. I want to follow in my brother's steps and do what he's doing: play for the national team and repay Canada for what it did for my family."

Nikola was born in Burlington and raised in Hamilton, playing minor soccer for Hamilton Serbians. Borjan was born in Knin in then-Yugoslavia, in a Serbian-heritage section of what eventually became Croatia. The Borjan family left for Belgrade during the Croatian War of Independence, when Milan was eight. Four years later they immigrated to Canada, first Winnipeg, then a few months later joined his mother's relatives in Hamilton.

The family - Milan and his siblings Nikolija and Nikola, mother Mirjana, father Bosko - built an active life here and have never forgotten the debt they feel to the country that welcomed them.

Mirjana works at the City of Hamilton animal services and Bosko has a trucking business, but both carried more than one job in their early Hamilton years to help provide their children with a better life than they had left.

It's really hard to talk about the (Croatian) war," Mirjana says. We are thankful for Canada to allow us to come. There was a bad economic crisis in Serbia; that's why we brought papers to the Canadian embassy in Belgrade: and we waited for three years."

Milan Borjan recalls living in a Winnipeg hotel, paid for the government, before moving to Hamilton. He had already started playing soccer in Serbia. His father, a goalkeeper himself, was a coach with the Hamilton Thunder of the old Canadian Professional Soccer League and influenced his son's game. Milan played a bit with East Hamilton, and then regularly at Mount Hamilton.

He showed such promise that he left home for tryouts in Uruguay at the age of 16 and later returned to South America to start a long journey that would lead to the stratosphere of world soccer: pro teams in Uruguay, Argentina, Serbia, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and finally, his family's beloved Belgrade Red Star. He has been Canada's No. 1 goalie for over a decade and holds the national record for most international shutouts.

We had a lot of very fine players on Mount Hamilton," Borjan recalls. When I was a kid I always wanted to play pro, and Mount Hamilton was one of the big steps along the way to that."

Josh Bennett, who played professionally in Austria, was his teammate and friend on the Mount Hamilton under-18s and says that, even as an amateur goalkeeper, he was already a professional; It was only a matter of time."

He's always been a leader, always worn his heart on his sleeve and played with so much passion.," Bennett said. He always had the best interest of the game at heart. At a young age, you could just tell he was something special. It was almost like, You shouldn't be in Hamilton, you should be playing in South America or Europe.'"

Mirjana says that when her son went to Uruguay for the first time at 16, It was very hard for us. He didn't speak Spanish and nobody spoke English where he was. He called home every day. It was always his wish to play in a World Cup, but we never thought about that. But when it came time ... he did it."

The Borjans own a home in Belgrade and had been there since February until leaving for Qatar last week. Fittingly, Canada's second World Cup game will be against Croatia.

Hamilton's John McGrane, a national team player from 1977 to 1981, says, Milan is definitely the reason that they got to the World Cup, even with the brilliance of Alphonso Davies and others. If there's any chance of squeezing through the group, he has to perform at the very best. He's what you call a money goalkeeper."

Borjan, 35, is extraordinarily popular with his coach John Herdman and mostly younger teammates, and takes on the seemingly contrasting roles of injecting passion into his teammates while also cooling that passion when it threatens to overtake them.

My job is to send positive energy to everybody," Borjan explained in a recent CTV video. When they're going down, to push them up, to hold them not to fall. When they fight, to be there to fight with them. And try to save everything that comes at me."

Teammate Samuel Piette added, He's so important. He's 30-something and he acts like he's 19, but in a good way, eh? The energy that he brings, the foolishness that he has. But when it comes down to business in training and games, he's serious, with real passion."

Having Borjan starring for the national team for more than a decade and 20-year-old Theo Corbeanu nearly making the Qatar cut, creates an updraft for Hamilton soccer, say both Carl Horton of Mount Hamilton and Tom Walsh of the Hamilton and District Soccer Association.

Kids in the game see that a hometown kid has made it to the world stage," Walsh says. And I think it just ignites the passion even more ... that it is a possibility for them, too."

Borjan lives in Belgrade with his wife Snezana Filipovic, and their five-year-old son, Filip. Mirjana says her son can't walk down the street without being mobbed for autographs and pictures.

He'll remain in Serbia, but there is no doubt that his passport, and more importantly his heart, are Canadian.

That's my way of returning the favour for taking my family in during the war," he told The Spec years ago. It is the country that I grew up in, and I didn't have to think about wars."

Back to that January save in Hamilton: the grey sweatpants Borjan turned into a fashion statement during the qualifying run and wore that day, as well as his team captain's armband, are now in the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame.

When you see a save like that," his mother says. You are so proud."

Steve Milton is a Hamilton-based sports columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: smilton@thespec.com