As Simon Triantafillou and Syracuse broke the huddle ahead of their season-opener against Pitt and jogged into their positions, a new backline emerged. 

The biggest surprise wasn’t 6-foot-4 Sondre Norheim shifting over from center to right back. It wasn’t freshmen Kyle Gruno and Abdi Salim starting their first games for SU in the heart of its defense, either. It was Simon. After becoming a fixture in the starting 11 last season, playing in midfield and at right wingback, he was slotted in at left back.

“There’s not too many right-footed left backs out there,” Simon said.

Despite matching up against Pitt’s “pacey” Bertin Jacquesson, Simon thought he fared well. He rarely let Jacquesson get in behind. He blocked a number of crosses and produced several key switches of play as he pinged cross-field balls to Norheim, his fellow fullback.

But Simon said he can still do better. After training, he stays on the pitch with Syracuse (0-2, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) assistant coach Sean Lawlor and his roommate Gruno to work on receiving the ball, pushing past the opposing fullback and delivering crosses and cutbacks on his weaker left peg. He knows he needs to improve his runs and delivery going forward to contribute goals and assists this season.

For the versatile Simon, though, it’s just the latest position he’s been asked to master.

“It’s not just a matter of, ‘Hey, we need this guy out here today to plug a hole,” his former club coach Bobby Smyrniotis said. “He’s going to do the job, and he’s going to do it very well.”

Back in 2004, Peter Triantafillou set up the family’s television on their deck and turned on the UEFA Euro championship. It was July 4, and Simon, just five at the time, joined his father at their Burlington, Ontario home to watch Greece defeat Portugal on home soil,1-0, in the final.

After the victory, Peter took his son down to Ontario’s Greektown, called “The Danforth,” where they joined the celebrations and parade. It was around that age when Simon started playing youth soccer, and Peter and Linda Triantafillou, Simon’s mother, said the national team’s victory triggered a competitive streak he’s never lost.

“Just seeing how they took it there (in Greece) was amazing,” said Simon, who is half-Greek and vacationed there every summer growing up. “They lived and breathed soccer, so I aspired to play on the Greek national team, something I still want to do now.”

Though the focus of Simon’s early leagues was more on “building community and fellowship,” Linda recalls her son constantly dribbling down the field before popping the ball in the back of the net. Those early years gave him a chance to “showboat,” he said. “Like, a lot.”

Simon always dominated the ball, stopping on a dime and baiting a defender toward him before beating his man with ease, he said. It was clear to his parents that he needed an environment that would challenge him. When he was around 11 years old, Simon joined Sigma FC, an Ontario-based youth academy and club team that also produced former SU stars Tajon Buchanan and Chris Nanco.

Simon originally joined Sigma’s elite training program. But when it came time for Sigma to select its youth rosters, he was someone they wanted to build their U-12 team around, current head coach and technical director John Zervos said. His athleticism and technical ability were apparent when he joined, Zervos said, but much of Sigma’s program focuses on teaching its players the tactical side of the game.

As his team broke down game film, Simon had “homework” every week. Even though he mainly played in defensive and box-to-box midfield roles at Sigma, the expectation Smyrniotis set was that each player needed to understand the responsibilities of every player on the pitch, Simon said.

“It wasn’t that, as an 11-year-old, you came in as a midfielder and said that’s all you were going to be,” said Smyrniotis, who’s now the head coach and technical director at Canadian Premier League club Forge FC.

On the pitch, Smyrniotis and Zervos worked to improve his ball skills and dribbling while challenging his tactical intelligence by playing him not only in different midfield roles but also as a center half and right back. To prepare him for the next level, whether that was collegiate or club academy, coaches at Sigma often made Simon play up an age group or two.

“At that moment, you’re playing him out of his comfort zone,” Smyrniotis said. “And not only is he doing well, but he’s excelling. Then you know you have a future prospect.”

In ninth grade, Simon also started playing for his high school, Corpus Christi Secondary School. He’d go to Corpus Christi practices at 4 p.m., then to Sigma practice at 7 p.m., before coming home around 10 p.m. to do homework.

For Simon, Corpus Christi represented another team and another new position: striker. In that position, he scored 23 goals and assisted on 10 in his senior season. It was also a chance for him to once again play with more freedom and flair, as it was an “easier level” for him compared to the teams he faced playing for Sigma, he said.

In his first game, Simon scored what Corpus Christi head coach Rob Biturajac said might’ve been the fastest goal in program history. Straight from kickoff, Simon noticed the opposition keeper was way off his line, talking to his center backs. As soon as the referee’s whistle blew to start the match, he collected a lay-off from his teammate and fired a shot into the back of the empty net.

“(The opposing players) were like ‘screw you,’” Simon said, adding that Biturajac told him later, “Simon, don’t do that.”

By that point, Simon’s eyes had long been set on a professional career. Each summer, top European academy coaches — including ones from Ajax, Tottenham and Celtic — would come to watch Sigma’s annual “ID Camps,” hoping to identify potential talents for their youth teams. But it was Belgian club K.R.C. Genk, which made the trip to Canada several summers in a row, that took a keen interest in Simon.

Months after one of the camps had ended, Simon turned up for Sigma practice, and Smyrniotis told him Genk had arranged for him to go on trial the following week. The news was initially “nerve wracking,” Simon said. While Genk’s academy may not have the prestige of Ajax’s “De Toekomst” academy or the name recognition of Barcelona’s “La Masia,” coaching circles in Europe regard it as a top-five academy, Smyrniotis said.

As Peter dropped his son off at the airport for his two-week trial in Belgium, he told him to enjoy his first extended period away from home — before adding that Simon had to call his parents at least once at Genk. Simon made the roughly 3668-mile trip with Abdul Musa, his Sigma teammate, who helped settle his nerves during the trial.

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Despite playing at what Simon called the “best academy in Canada” with Sigma, Genk was at a different level. The academy wanted him to join by the end of his trial. Simon was initially keen to join, but the Belgian club was unable to guarantee first-team opportunities. Looking at the path former Sigma player Kyle Bekker took from attending Boston College to becoming captain at Forge FC, Simon and his parents decided Atlantic Coast Conference soccer would be his best route, giving him a degree to fall back on as well.

At that time, Simon had already received plenty of collegiate interest, with coaches often emailing him after watching him play at United States tournaments with Sigma, Linda said. Considering the success of Bekker and Nanco in the ACC, Simon knew that’s where he wanted to play. Ultimately, Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyre left the biggest impression, Peter said.

“Coach Mac must’ve done, honest to goodness, driving up for a practice to Toronto and then driving back after, probably six, seven times to see Simon,” Peter said. “It was unbelievable to see his commitment to Simon.”

As he adjusted to the frenetic pace of ACC games, which Peter joked “aren’t for the faint of heart,” Simon gradually grew into the team, starting 17 of a possible 33 games in his first two campaigns. But by his junior season, he became a mainstay in McIntyre’s side, starting 17 of the Orange’s 20 matches.

During the summer, Simon returns to Sigma to train and keep match-fitness, but he’s also spent time training with his old coach and idols at Forge FC. Even when surrounded by players from the back-to-back Canadian Premier League champions, he fits right in, Smyrniotis said.

In his senior season, Simon again finds himself transitioning to a different position. But now, one step closer to a professional career, he’s been in that spot before.

“He came in as some of our Canadians do as a 17-year-old, turned 18 in his first year and has benefitted by being in this environment,” McIntyre said. “Now he’s more than just a good soccer player — he’s one of the important cultural architects for our team.”

Published on October 12, 2020 at 12:16 am

Contact Alex: athamer@syr.edu