Liam Millar, the starting left winger for Hull City, is going to the English Premier League. Hull defeated Middlesbrough 1–0 in the EFL Championship playoff final on May 23 to secure promotion to England’s top tier.
Millar’s achievement must come as a surprise to many in online CONCACAF circles, where his abilities have often been described as closer to bush league than the Premier League.
It is true that Millar has not excelled for the Canadian Men’s National Team (CanMNT), but the 26-year-old from Brampton, Ontario, has just reached English football’s promised land. Could his club form finally translate into success with Canada at this summer’s World Cup?
Looking for a Breakthrough with Les Rouges
Millar has had strong seasons with FC Basel (Swiss Super League) and with Preston North End and Hull City (EFL Championship), but he has never had an extended run of high-quality performances with the CanMNT.
As a winger, Millar has always had to compete with a wealth of wide talent when joining the national team. Players such as Alphonso Davies, Tajon Buchanan, and Junior Hoilett have generally kept him out of a starting role. In Millar’s sporadic substitute appearances during the John Herdman era, he sometimes appeared unsettled as he tried — perhaps too hard — to make an impression that could land him in the starting eleven.
When Jesse Marsch became Canada’s head coach in May 2024, Millar got a better opportunity to shine. The American coach viewed Davies as a left-back, and Millar was Marsch’s first choice to start further up the pitch at left wing.
In Marsch’s first four matches with Canada, he started Millar against top opponents: the Netherlands, France, Argentina, and Peru. Millar is a feisty presser, which Marsch likes, and he combined well with Davies down the left flank. His tendency to cut inside onto his stronger right foot opened up space for Davies’s overlapping, lightning-fast runs.
In Canada’s 0–0 draw with France, Millar sent a curling, long-range shot past goalkeeper Mike Maignan and off the crossbar. Had that strike been a few inches lower and helped Canada secure a historic 1–0 win, it would have been a defining moment for Millar. The denial by the crossbar epitomizes how his international career has often come frustratingly short of a major breakthrough.
Losing the Starting Role to Shaff
Millar’s string of four starts could have established him as a regular starter for Marsch’s Canada, but fellow winger Jacob Shaffelburg caught fire at the 2024 Copa América. As Millar’s sub against Peru in Canada’s second match of the tournament, Maritime Messi sent a brilliant assist to Jonathan David for the CanMNT’s first goal and first win of the Marsch era, the game ending 1–0.
In the next match, against Chile, Shaffelburg started at left wing. Millar was back on the bench, and he has never had another run of consecutive starts for Canada.
Scoring in international matches has never come easily to Millar. His only goal for Canada came in a 2023 Gold Cup group-stage match against Cuba. Shaffelburg, on the other hand, made scoring look easy with five international goals in 2024. The most monumental of these came in the Copa América quarterfinal against Venezuela, which Canada won on penalties after Shaffelburg’s goal earned them a 1–1 draw.
Millar came agonizingly close to being the hero against Venezuela. As Shaffelburg’s second-half sub, he made a blistering run down the left flank, received the ball, cut towards goal, and fired a bad-angle shot. The effort nearly gave Canada the 2–1 lead, but the slightest touch off the goalkeeper’s leg deflected the ball wide. Once again, Millar was mere centimetres from a historic goal for Canada.
One of Millar’s best moments in a Canada shirt was a superb assist to Jonathan David for the 2–1 match-winner in a BMO Field friendly against Panama in October 2024. The moment seemed capable of igniting his international career, but he collapsed with an ACL injury a week later while playing for Hull City.
Hustling for Club and Country
Millar missed the first several weeks of the 2025/26 Championship season, and his first start came against Leicester City on October 21, 2025, about a year after his ACL injury. He scored in the sixth minute of that match and helped push Hull to a 2–1 win. Now, after 25 starts and 11 appearances as a sub, Millar has finished the season with three goals and five assists.
These offensive stats are not amazing, but Millar is a smart, energetic, two-way player who also makes important defensive contributions. In Canada’s most recent match, against Tunisia, he got his first start since 2024 and showed off his best trait: hustle.
On a Tunisian counterattack, Millar sprinted the length of the field and made a sliding block in front of Canada’s open goal. On the sideline, Marsch raised and pumped both arms emphatically, confirming that hustle is among the things he values most. If Canada had fallen 1–0 to Tunisia instead of maintaining the scoreless draw through Millar’s phenomenal recovery run, morale would be lower heading into June.
Will Millar play an important role at this summer’s World Cup? Will he score his first big international goal? Although Marsch has a wealth of talented wingers, the door seems to be opening for Millar to at least appear off the bench.
Alphonso Davies and Ali Ahmed are dealing with injuries, Junior Hoilett is no longer at his peak, Jacob Shaffelburg has not thrived since 2024, Jayden Nelson has not established himself as a key contributor, and Marcelo Flores is very new to the CanMNT and to Marsch’s tutelage. At the moment, Tajon Buchanan appears to be the only locked-in starter on Canada’s wings.
Playing on the Big Stage
The EFL Championship playoff final is known as “the richest match in football” because of the enormous financial consequences for the clubs involved. Hull City’s manager, Sergej Jakirović, gave Millar the start in this crucial match in front of the 84,500 spectators at London’s Wembley Stadium.
Millar gave a good account of himself in the pressure-packed atmosphere, producing dynamic dribbles and precise passes. How much playing time he will get at the World Cup is uncertain, but he looks ready for Canada’s upcoming high-stakes battles.