Toronto FC coach Greg Vanney says Cyle Larin’s drunk-driving arrest is a teachable moment.
"Because the second you think it can’t happen to you, you find out quickly that it can," he said Friday.
"When it comes to situations like this, I always have a motto — ‘Don’t get comfortable thinking that you’re untouchable.’ So I think you use these moments to make people uncomfortable. How we go about doing that is a way we’ll select."
Larin, a 22-year-old star forward from Brampton, Ont., was arrested early Thursday morning coming home from an Orlando nightclub.
Major League Soccer speaks to its players every pre-season on a variety of topics, including drunk-driving.
"I think too many players, too many people in general, they get themselves in this position," said Vanney. "They know the out but they don’t take the out, because the league has given them outs in terms of getting rides or ways to — if you don’t want to pay for it — to get reimbursed for this stuff.
"So there’s ways to not get yourself in this situation and people just have to make mature decisions. It’s unfortunate for Cyle. This is a kid who was on a path to go somewhere and I’m sure this is a little bit of a black eye. On that hopefully it doesn’t affect his greater career but (it’s) a lesson that everyone around the league and everywhere else should probably take notice of."
Vanney, a father of four, has worked with youngsters in his role as coach and past role as academy director.
Under the league’s collective bargaining agreement, Larin will have to undergo an assessment by its Substance Abuse and Behavioural Health Program doctors and be cleared before he is eligible to play again.
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