Felix Steele-Masson has had a great week.

First he won gold in the B Pool at the Gothia Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Now, he has made the Vancouver Whitecaps U19 squad.

The Gothia Cup ran from July 16 to 22.

Steele-Masson played for Volf Soccer Academy, based in Vancouver. The U17 team was put together for the Gothia Cup. All the players were from Vancouver.

“I was actually doing some training with them before, so I was asked to join the team,” related Steele-Masson.

Approximately 1,600 teams participated in the tournament, making it the largest youth soccer event in the world.

“It was a very competitive tournament. Lots of very good teams. It was a very good experience.”

Steele-Masson said the tournament began with a group stage, followed by a round of 16.

Quarter and semi finals followed, and then of course, the final.

In the group stage, they won their first game 2-0 over IFK Uddevalla from Sweden.

“Then we played a German team (JFV A/O/B/H/H), and we tied them one-one, and the German team ended up actually going on to the final in the AAA bracket,” recalled Steele-Masson.

“Then we lost to a Swedish team (AFC Eskilstuna) 2-nil and we were knocked out of the A bracket by one goal on goal difference.”

Volf bounced back in the Round of 16 with a 5-0 win over Fellines Academy from Algeria.

They played a team from Switzerland (FC Black Stars Basel) in the Round of 8 and won that as well (7-nil).

“And then we played three Swedish teams (in) the quarters, semis and finals,” recalled Steele-Masson.

Volf beat Saltsjöbadens IF 3-0, Adolfsbergs IK 4-0 and Östersunds FK 5-4 in the final.

“We won the finals on penalties,” related Steele-Masson. All of the goals were scored on penalty kicks.

Steele-Masson scored on one of the penalty kicks for Volf.

“It was a good feeling.”

Steele-Masson took the fourth penalty kick.

“We scored on all five of our penalties. It was a good experience. It was fun,” said Steele-Masson.

“Good control of the nerves as well. It was actually my first time taking a penalty kick in a penalty shootout.

“I’d taken a few in a game before.”

Steele-Masson said it was definitely the biggest stage he’s taken a penalty kick on up to this point.

He said the rest of the tournament went well for him.

“I was pretty happy. I was playing centre-back the whole tournament and our team played really well defensively. We only conceded three goals the whole tournament. So one of the best defensive records in the tournament, so that felt good as well.

“That’s definitely a source of pride for us, six clean sheets out of eight games. So that was definitely a good thing.”

Steele-Masson said the key to victory was really coming together as a team.

“We had not played very much as a team before the tournament but I think as the tournament went on, we really kind of got together.

“And then at the end, we were a really cohesive unit, so it was good.”

Steele-Masson had never been to Sweden before.

“It was great to play there and experience playing different teams from different countries.”

Meanwhile, Steele-Masson has made the Vancouver Whitecaps U19 team, one level below the Whitecaps FC 2 club Yukoner Joe Hanson is playing for.

“I’m pretty pumped to get that going,” said Steele-Masson. “I’m very excited to get started and very happy.”

Steele-Masson sees the opportunity as a path to the pros.

“Definitely. It’s like a stepping stone in the right direction, I think, if all goes well.”