eastcoaster Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 Just saw this! Thursday, June 24, 2004 Jazic to ride with the Cossacks By Carl Fleming Bedford’s Ante Jazic is about to visit the land of the Cossacks. Jazic, 28, signed a three-year-contract with FC Kuban Krasnodar yesterday, a lower echelon member of Russia’s 16-team premier soccer league. Located near the Black Sea, the city of Krasnodar Krai was founded as a military base in 1793. It has a population of close to one million, and is considered a centre of Cossack culture. “I’m kind of excited,” said Jazic yesterday, as he drove from Mannheim, Germany, (where he signed on the dotted line) to Vienna. “I’m going to a different culture. It’s going to be an educational experience. “It’s going to be a culture shock, though. No one speaks English. I did a lot of hand-waving (with FC Kuban officials).” The left defender/midfielder had been a free agent since last month, when he declined a contract extension from SK Rapid Vienna, his Austrian League team for the past 31#8260;2 seasons. Jazic briefly considered an offer from a German Second Division team, but the FC Kuban contract was too good to turn down. He was reluctant to discuss financial details, except to say the deal was “more lucrative” than the one he signed with SK Rapid in 2001. “I was nervous (during a recent three-week stint with Canada’s national team). I didn’t have a deal that I was comfortable with financially. I was thinking of my future, and I figured I have four or five years left in me. “Now I can enjoy my football, and whatever happens (after the contract expires in 2007), I can still live an enjoyable lifestyle.” FC Kuban was promoted to the Russian Premier League last season and, judging from their next-to-last 2-6-5 record at the mid-season break, is still enduring growing pains. To bolster fortunes, ownership has brought in eight imports, including two Brazilians. Training camp commences Monday, and FC Kuban will open second-half play on July 3 against Spartak Moscow. Russian teams play a home and away game against each opponent, making for a 30-game regular season. “It’s going to take time to adjust,” said Jazic, who helped the Dalhousie Tigers win a national championship in 1995. “I’m just going to come in, train hard and see what happens. Eventually I should start.” Adding to Jazic’s hectic schedule are his commitments with the national team, which has advanced to the semifinals of zone qualifying for the 2006 World Cup tournament in Germany. Canada is grouped with Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica in a six-game, round-robin home-and-away series that starts Aug. 18 and concludes Nov. 17. The top two teams advance to the final stage of zone qualifying, scheduled for Feb. 9 to Oct. 12, 2005. The top three teams in the final stage qualify for the 2006 World Cup, while the fourth-place team plays an Asian side for a World Cup wild-card berth. “I think we’re a darkhouse. I think we can beat anybody (in CONCACEF),” said Jazic. “We’ve got some real weapons up front. We have our first two (World Cup qualifying) games at home and if we get a good start we could be dangerous. “I told (FC Kuban officials) everything, and they are happy I’m playing for the national team. They said, ‘It’s in our interest you play in the World Cup. It’s good for the image of our club.’” Jazic doesn’t expect to return to metro until mid- to late November. “I’m blessed, in a way. I’ve travelled around the world, lived in different places, but in the end it makes me appreciate Halifax more, too. That’s where I want to live when my career is over.” cfleming@hfxnews.ca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David C. Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 Hope he doesn't mind the flights from Russia to Vancouver/Edmonton. Gosh, that might be further than what Menezes would have to cover from China. Good for him though. He has come a long way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luis_Rancagua Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 I hate to tell you this, but FC Kuban Krasnodar presently sits 2nd last in the standings of the Russian Premier League. Kuban's next game is on July 3rd/2004 against Dynamo Moscow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarrek Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 Hardly a centre of Cossack culture. The cossacks of the 17th century inhibited the steepe of southern and eastern Ukraine. Someone trying to twist history there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballboy Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 Playing against good Russian teams should improve Jazic as a player... ...I can only hope he settles off the field as well... ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 Am I mistaken or is soccer journalism getting better in Canada all of a sudden. After so many years of us bitching about the press I am seeing very competent, informative articles from all over the country. One more reason to work hard to try to spread out qualifying games over the country and give the nats men, women and toddlers national exposure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luis_Rancagua Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 If you could read Russian, here's the club's official website: http://www.fc-kuban.ru/ Can someone here speak Russian. I find it a very difficult language to read. How are we be able to read game reports or line-up listing??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luis_Rancagua Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 Here are some photos on the club's stadium. Seating capacity: 28,800 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 I speak Russian though not as well as German. There is still no mention of the Jazic signing on the site nor do the posters on the forum seem to have heard about it (maybe I will inform them if I have time-takes me a while to compose in Russian). Some of his games may be broadcast on the web as the Russian national tv station usually does a webcast on a few hours delay of at least one league match per week. I will keep an eye out for it. Although when I was talking to Jazic it seemed likely this would happen I am of course happy to hear it confirmed. Playing against the likes of Lokomotive, Spartak and Red Army (CSKA) on a regular basis should certainly be good for his playing level and is much better than the Austrian league or 2nd Bundesliga. Unfortunatly for me he will probably be with Canada when the team plays against Dinamo Moscow in August which I had planned to attend although I might be able to attend the July 7th game against Spartak. The team's attitude to his Canada commitments looks promising. He should not have much problem getting to Canada for games as Moscow has direct flights to Toronto and Krasnodar has a daily direct flight to Germany although the time difference between Krasnodar (GMT +3) and Vancouver is quite large. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussoccerfan Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 http://www.nssoccerleague.ca/jazic.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 The Jazic signing has finally been announced in Russia and can be seen at the site: http://fckuban.pfpl.ru. This is a fan site and the signing has still not been officially announced. I did manage to post the signing in bad russian on the fan forum on Thursday and included the article in english. This was the first that any of the fans had heard of the signing. They speculated that the club didn't want its signings overshadowed by the Euro and will announce them on Monday when there is no game. I must say that I am pretty impressed by the dedication of the club's fans as the thread now has 65 responses. The article was quickly translated and they then found the three articles on Jazic playing for Canada on their own and translated those as well. There was an analysis of his playing style (didn't state the source but stated he was fast and interacts well with the central defender and the defensive midfielder but is weak on headers) and the general response to the news was pretty positive. Then one fan reported yesterday that he had arrived at the airport and was picked up by the team bus and even reported who he was sitting with on the bus (another new player who probably arrived on the same plane). Pretty dedicated fans particularly considering that the majority of Russians don't have any access to the internet. An interesting aside is that the article on the signing has an error and states that Kuban is playing Spartak Moscow on July 3rd when they are actually playing Dynamo Moscow at home on this date and Spartak away on the 7th. This is stated on the club website but for obvious historical reasons Russians are very quick to distrust official sources of information. Thus the article set off a round of asking who are we playing on the 3rd and where. Funny to think that an article written in Halifax can create so much confusion on the other side of the world in Krasnodar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachesl Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Grizzly I must say that I am pretty impressed by the dedication of the club's fans as the thread now has 65 responses. The article was quickly translated and they then found the three articles on Jazic playing for Canada on their own and translated those as well.... Funny to think that an article written in Halifax can create so much confusion on the other side of the world in Krasnodar. Wow, Grizzly, that's pretty amazing stuff[8D]. The enthusiasm and dedication of the FC Kuban fans sure puts us to shame! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luis_Rancagua Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 Grizzly, Given the fact that Russian is extremely complicated to understand (in particular their writing), can you please provide Kuban game reports on a weekly basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 Luis, that is a picture of Jazic wearing a Rapid jersey whose colours are similar to those of Kuban (maybe Jazic signed with Kuban because he grew fond of wearing green). The bio on the fansite is taken from the Rapid website and translated into Russian. This can be seen in the out of date number of games played with Canada. I will try to post as much as I can about Jazic's games and will probably be able to see a number of them on tv as I will be in Russia within a week and will stay for 10 weeks. However, I will not be as often on the computer there as I will have to go to an internet cafe and will probably only go once or twice a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 I hope he knows what he's getting himself into. You don't get much further from Moscow and still remain in Russia or my old geography is all scrambled. The travel will be a real eye opener. Good news is he could always drive down to Grozny for a weekend holiday now and again. Heard the tracer fire at dawn makes for a beautiful sunrise... Ah, nothing's so romantic as a honeymoon in Grozny. The sweet scents of cordite in the air. The bullets singing in the trees. And the breathtaking orange and reds of the dawn mushroom clouds rising in the suburbs. That's amore, baby. Heard tell the unpaid Russian conscripts, drunk on the alcohol used to fuel their tanks, are even slightly less rude than the waiters of Paris. And less likely to rob you COMPLETELY blind. Fingers and toes crossed, Ante. Three years can be a lifetime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayWay Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 I've really grown to like Ante Jazic this past month. On top of witnessing his considerable ability on the field first hand and the promise he brings to the national team, I appreciate him as a person. In a number of interviews recently, he's shown that he's dedicated to Canada's world cup run, he's conscious of the problems that plague soccer in this country as seen in his concern regarding Austrian buisnessmen neglecting the local scene for more fashionable investments overseas, and he's expressed a sincere connetion to Canada as his home. Sign me up for the fan club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayWay Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 quote:Originally posted by beachesl Wow, Grizzly, that's pretty amazing stuff[8D]. The enthusiasm and dedication of the FC Kuban fans sure puts us to shame! It does? I'd say it's actually fairly similar. Unfasionable teams. Small, core fanbases. Internet nerds who are willing to scower the net for distant, obscure, and often poorly translated articles in order to gain a pinch of perspective on even the lowliest of players. In fact, I think we've found our bizzaro Voyageurs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 Kuban is holding a press conference today in which I imagine the Jazic signing and any other unanounced signings will be announced. They had previously announced four other signings of two Brazilians (Jefton and Ricardo), A Bulgarian (Petrov) and Lithuania (Trakis-all names may not be exact because there are various methods of translating from Cyrillic to Latin alphabet). These players all played in their training camp and friendlies in Germany and Switzerland last week which is probably the reason that they were publicized earlier. I agree with JayWay in that I wouldn't say their fans on their forum put us to shame but rather are similar to the Voyageurs in their dedication. The only difference is that they do it under more difficult circumstances as most Russians don't have computers either at home or at work and those that do often don't have internet access. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcaout Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 It's good he's moved a level in his league play. Russia is better then Austria any day for quality. Just hope he doesn't end up at the bottom when the season is all done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted June 29, 2004 Share Posted June 29, 2004 Photo of today's training session. A bit too small to pick out Jazic but he is there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Kuban's website (http://www.fc-kuban.ru/) finally mentions the signing of Jazic (Àíòå ßæè÷ in cyrillic alphabet). He and the other new players were introduced in a newsconference yesterday. He will be celebrating Canada Day by signing autographs tomorrow at a sports store in Krasnodar where the public will be introduced to the team and its new players. I'm not sure if our site supports the cyrillic alphabet so it may be better to look at the club's site if you want to see the announcement, Jazic is the first player named in bold print. Ïðåññ-êîíôåðåíöèÿ 29 èþíÿ 2004 | 12:15 Íà ñîñòîÿâøåéñÿ ñåãîäíÿ ïðåññ-êîíôåðåíöèè, ãëàâíûé òðåíåð Ñîôåðáèé Åøóãîâ ïðåäñòàâèë æóðíàëèñòàì íîâè÷êîâ, êîòîðûå çàêëþ÷èëè ñâîè êîíòðàêòû ñ ÔÊ "Êóáàíü". Ýòî: ïîëóçàùèòíèê Àíòå ßæè÷ (1976 ã.ð., ÔÊ "Ðàïèä", ã. Âåíà, Àâñòðèÿ), çàùèòíèê Äæåôòîí (1982 ã.ð., ÔÊ "Ïîñóøüå", ã. Ïîñóøüå, Áîñíèÿ-Ãåðöåãîâèíà), ïîëóçàùèòíèê Ðèêàðäî (1980 ã.ð., ÔÊ "Øèðîêè Áðèñã", ã. Øèðîêè Áðèñã, Áîñíèÿ-Ãåðöåãîâèíà), ïîëóçàùèòíèê Ñâÿòîñëàâ Ñòåôàíîâ (1978 ã.ð., ÔÊ "ÖÑÊÀ", ã. Ñîôèÿ, Áîëãàðèÿ), íàïàäàþùèé Ìàðüÿí Âóêà (1980 ã.ð., ÔÊ "Ìàðñîíèÿ", ã. Ñëàâîíñêè Áðîä, Õîðâàòèÿ), íàïàäàþùèé Âàëäèñ Òðàêèñ (1979 ã.ð., ÔÊ "Îñíàáðþê", ã. Îñíàáðþê, Ãåðìàíèÿ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 Most of what I read on Jazic at Kuban seems to indicate that they plan to use him mostly as a left side midfielder. When I posted the signing on the board I stated he was a left back and a few posters wondered why they signed him because it was not one of their weak spots. The club's releases states that he can play both positions but interviews with the coach and other press refers to him mostly as a left midfielder. We will have to wait and see where he is used. A few years ago we would have been happy about this but with the state of our defence it would probably be better for the national team if he was regularly playing left back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 Most of what I read on Jazic at Kuban seems to indicate that they plan to use him mostly as a left side midfielder. When I posted the signing on the board I stated he was a left back and a few posters wondered why they signed him because it was not one of their weak spots. The club's releases states that he can play both positions but interviews with the coach and other press refers to him mostly as a left midfielder. We will have to wait and see where he is used. A few years ago we would have been happy about this but with the state of our defence it would probably be better for the national team if he was regularly playing left back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nufc87 Posted July 3, 2004 Share Posted July 3, 2004 I heard that Ante was thinking about going to Russia in a local paper here in Halifax a couple weeks back, and thought that it was a pretty daft move, but thought that the Moscow clubs are relatively strong and thought that he would sign for one of them. But to find out he signed for this bottom dwelling club was a shock, it looks likely that they will get relegated this season, why would Ante want to waste away in the russian 2nd div? the money? I thought russia had a bad economy ...I honestly don't understand why he didn't look for a club in England, I think he'd do brilliantly there, playing in Hartlepool sure as hell would beat playing in the frigid wasteland that is Russia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nufc87 Posted July 3, 2004 Share Posted July 3, 2004 I heard that Ante was thinking about going to Russia in a local paper here in Halifax a couple weeks back, and thought that it was a pretty daft move, but thought that the Moscow clubs are relatively strong and thought that he would sign for one of them. But to find out he signed for this bottom dwelling club was a shock, it looks likely that they will get relegated this season, why would Ante want to waste away in the russian 2nd div? the money? I thought russia had a bad economy ...I honestly don't understand why he didn't look for a club in England, I think he'd do brilliantly there, playing in Hartlepool sure as hell would beat playing in the frigid wasteland that is Russia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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