Motherwell striker Theo Bair is aiming to score as many goals as possible as he tries to secure a place in Canada's Copa America squad this summer – and that could be bad news for Aberdeen on Saturday .
The 24-year-old received a call-up for the crucial qualifying match against Trinidad and Tobago last month, which qualified Canada for the tournament in America from June 20 to July 14, and it was his first appearance in four years.
Bair is desperate to participate not only in the tournament – in which they begin against World Cup winners Argentina on June 20, before facing Peru on June 25 and Chile four days later – but also in the matches friendly matches against the Netherlands on June 6 and France in Bordeaux. on June 9.
To do that, Bair needs to be in top form, with five league matches remaining, starting at Pittodrie on Saturday, where he hopes to add to his tally of 13 goals in 36 games.
He said: “My focus is on Motherwell and Canada this summer – those are the two things I’m constantly thinking about.
“We want as many points as possible. Aberdeen have taken a little too much from us this season, and it's time we took some back.
“We have five very important games, we want to finish in seventh place, that's all I'm thinking about, to be honest.
“I know that [Canada call-up] I will depend entirely on my performances, so I want to have the best performances possible, score as many goals as possible, to make sure I have a chance of achieving that.
“There are two great friends just before, and I would really like to be involved in that, but again it will entirely depend on how I perform in the next five games.
“It's the size of the game, and being able to play against Argentina in itself – not just against Lionel Messi, as everyone keeps saying – and against the other teams as well.
“It's an incredible experience, and if you come out of this group you also play against even bigger teams.
“It’s definitely a dream for a player.”
Bair says he has never been happier in football than he currently is at Motherwell, which has been reflected in his inclusion in the PFA Scotland Premiership squad.
The striker believes he still has a lot to learn and hopes to improve further.
“It’s a huge honor for me to be recognized by my peers,” he said.
“I’m really excited about it, and it’s a big change for me as well.
“I always knew I could score goals in this league, so having the opportunity, the platform and all the tools to do that was what I needed.
“The coach, his staff and all my teammates really helped me achieve this.
“I think I'm just learning, there's a lot of things I need to improve on, but still a lot of things I can improve and perfect, and things I haven't even learned yet.
“I’m excited to continue learning and growing as a player.
“If I hadn't played with my teammates, the goals wouldn't have come, right, so all the team's performances earned me goals.
“I wouldn’t say it’s just me scoring goals miraculously. Blair Spittal was probably involved in about 50 percent of my goals, so I had a really good season because of that.
“There wasn't really a lot of pressure, it was just to go and enjoy your football and that's how you're going to get the most out of it.
“I have never enjoyed my football so much. This is definitely the best football period of my life and I want to continue and see how far I can go.
“It’s Motherwell as a whole. The coach got the best out of his players, a lot of people really succeeded this season, there were a lot of very good individual and collective performances.
“It’s a great place for the players, it’s a very friendly environment, everyone is very open, very united, and we have a very good dressing room, we train well and hard and we work hard.”
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