The ball was drilled – screaming at what, 70 kilometres an hour?–catching him right in the face.

And Malik Owolabi-Belewu didn’t even flinch. Stoic as a chunk of granite. For most of us, a mosquito bite generates more of a reaction.

Thwarting Cavalry FC’s Tobias Warchewski’s scorching opportunity was just one of several red-letter defensive plays made by Forge’s left centre-back in a season opener during which—had it not been for the sustained brilliance of Tristan Borges—he could easily have been the player of the match.

Owolabi-Belewu dove to clear balls, marked dangerous shooters in the defensive box without somehow fouling and nullified at least three, maybe more, significant scoring chances.

“It was just doing my job,” says the third-year Hammer who is still only 21. “That type of thing gives you a lot of confidence but it also gives a lot of adrenalin to the fans, which in the end helps us, because they’re like a 12th-man. They kind of impose that fear on the opposing team. It also gives confidence to the team as well: we don’t bend and we stay solid as a unit and then we flip the switch and go attack them.

“Our back unit all covers for each other and when I saw that he was driving in, it was just instinctive to make sure the ball doesn’t go in the net. If it had to come off my face, it had to come off my face. It just bounced off my head and I was like ‘Okay sweet, the ball’s not in the back on the net, so on to the next one.’”

This is the unadulterated mentality of the defence-first backliner and Forge has always had a lot of it: from the likes of David Edgar, Daniel Krutzen, Dom Samuel, Manjrekar James, Kwame Awuah, and Garven Metusala, among others.

But Owolabi-Belewu didn’t always think that way.

Growing up in London England, he was more concerned about the other end of the pitch. As a left-side, left-footed striker, he wanted to oil, not foil, offence.

But when his intriguing soccer path led him to Toronto FC’s Academy in 2018 as a 16-year-old, Danny Dichio – still famous in Ontario for scoring the first goal in TFC history—was his coach and strongly suggested Owolabi-Belewu would be much better suited as a defender.

“Danny told me that if I wanted to advance in my career it’s something that could help,” he recalls. “He said, ‘You’re left footed and you’re big’ and that was the start. Luckily I was blessed with some good genetics (6-foot-2 and muscular). I trusted in him, it worked out, and here we are.”

He played youth soccer in London, surrounded by some of the most historic teams and stadia in the game then, at age 13, moved with his mother and two younger brothers to the other London, in western Ontario. He joined the Vancouver Whitecaps affiliate there.

“London had cheaper housing than elsewhere,” he says in a soft British accent. “And to be fair, it’s been a great experience in Canada and it was an easy adjustment.

“What I knew about Canada was what I’d seen on Disney and those types of shows: I thought it was going to be like that: it’s decently similar but not all that similar. To me Canadians have an accent, the music was a lot different, the dress style is different as well. Even the sports culture is different. Obviously, both countries love sport but I’d say in the UK, football is like Canada’s hockey, it’s what everyone talks about.”

He headed to TFC, where Bobby and Costa Smyrniotis, then running Sigma FC, noticed him and kept track of him when he returned to Europe in 2020. He had interest from Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Sunderland, Roma and programs in Germany, France and Belgium, but COVID travel restrictions intervened.

He eventually signed with Italian Serie B club SPAL U-19s, and was promoted to the bench for two Cup matches with the senior team.

When his Italian contract ended, Owolabi-Belewu encountered the dilemma many promising young players face: some English clubs were interested but if they’d signed him to his first full professional contract, every organization he’d played for since age 12, including TFC and Whitecaps, would have a claim to financial compensation from his signing club.

But an agent contacted him and said a CPL team wouldn’t have to pay those fees and a trial was set up with Smyrniotis.

“Coach Bobby gave me a contract and he’s definitely been very patient with me and I can only thank him for that. He definitely looks to build players up to get accustomed to the system, to the play style, so that when you’re eventually called upon you’re ready.

“The first year it was just more, get an introduction to the league. Last year it was a similar thing and now it’s obvious there’s definitely a need for me to step in and take that bigger role.”

That’s an accurate assessment of Smyrniotis’s three-year process in which graduating or departing talent is replaced by players who’ve grown within the system and learned from the high and vocal expectations of veterans. Add that renewal stream to the steely core of consummate pros such as Kyle Bekker and Alex Achionoti-Jonsson, and when it works—which it so often does—you’ve got a palette of championships.

Born in England to Nigerian parents, Owolabi-Belewu counts as an “import” on the CPL roster but when he was under 21, by league rules in his rookie and sophomore seasons only half of his contract value went against the league’s salary cap.

“He was part of a scouting process,” Smyrniotis explains. “We always look to find a balance of experienced players and younger players. He’s played in important games for us in the past. He was good against Chivas and even going back a couple of years ago, in the Canadian final against TFC. He’s been good and it’s a matter of him just finding consistency in his game … and he’s showing a very good mentality for that.

“He knows there’s a spot there for the taking and that you have to keep working at it.”

Owolabi-Belewu hasn’t had any international experience but is eligible to play for either Nigeria or England. And with six years in the country, he’s also considering pursuing a Canadian passport. He’s a left-footed left back, which not every team has and recognizes that Canada’s senior team will soon be evolving into a new era on the rear line.

But that’s a consideration for another time. In the present, he’s working on elevating his game so he can reach a higher level, help bring Forge a fifth title and hone the defender’s relief-pitcher attitude that, as the last line of defence, you have to forget about errors and concentrate on the now.

“He loves defending,” Smyrniotis says. “In today’s football world — and sometimes I’m susceptible to this—we like all defenders to be able to pass, to look good and to attack. Sometimes we forget that they’re defenders. He’s one of those guys who takes a lot of pride in defensive work and you need those guys—Malik, Dom Samuel, Malcolm Duncan–who take a lot of pride in that.”

And who, for that pride, will nonchalantly take a leather missile squarely in the face.