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Fernando Aguiar Listen Up! (we support you)


Guest Georgio

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I think everyone would be supportive of Aguair making himself available. Then it would be up to Yallop to decide whether to call him or not. Past history with the team should not and probably does not matter to Yallop. While everyone is going to have his opinion on this matter and every coach has some controversial decisions to make, Yallop has seen Aguair train, met him personally and hopefully at least seen some video of recent Benefica games. This is something that very few of us with opinions on the subject can say. I think everyone on this site would be happy if Aguair made himself available, was called, came with a good attitude, played great and helped us qualify for the WC.

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quote:Originally posted by Luis_Rancagua

Fernando, if you are out there, please reconsidred your options. I would love to see you back on the national squad. There's an old saying about Blizzard players, they never turn their backs on the fans. They always walk with pride, dignity, and loyalty. This is the old moto that the greats such as David Byrne, Roberta Bettega, Ace Ntsoelengoe, Jimmy Nicholl, Bruce Wilson, etc... have always deeply respected. Please Fernando don't forget where your roots lie. Blizzard forever.

Help me - I can't breathe.

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I hope Fernando comes back, but regardless of whether he does, I support whatever direction

his soccer career takes him, especially in Sweden. (I got an email from him that was sincere

and revealed a lot more to his position with the MNT. He wishes the Voyageurs well,too.)

With respect, we must move on ... if he rejoins, that's great. If not, that's understandable.

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The guy has scoed three goals to force a 3 - 2 victory over LA for the blizzards. He slide tacled some of the best players in portugal. He has earned playing time on Benfica over players that are regularly on the Portuguese national team. He has scored (although he is defensive first) against some of the best teams in portugal on a variety of teams in that league. He played a significant role in Benfica beating Porto (the champions league winners)and held the Portuguese cup over his head in victory. He has scored for Canada amongst huge home crowds at away games (El Salvador). And still finds time to be a responsible father, courtious friends, and community member. His favourite hockey players are Dougie, and Wendel.

How can anyone question how he responds to the treatment he has received from the Canadian MNT. All good athletes have a chip on their shoulder! It is a human characteristic that drives them to succeed. Fernando has had to work his way onto every team that he has played for. He was never given a free ride anywhere! He has had to deal with adversity his entire life! In my mind, he has more than earned a free ride onto the CDN MNT. He has proven his value to such historic soccer minds like Jose Antonio Camacho - a legend for god sakes! But he gets persecuted for his pissed off comments against a Canadian team that has frustrated him for over a decade? Granted, he is no diplomat. But give me a freakin break, and get him on the damn team in a starting position that is his to lose. It's not a leap of faith with his credentials.

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quote:Originally posted by frostman

The guy has scoed three goals to force a 3 - 2 victory over LA for the blizzards. He slide tacled some of the best players in portugal. He has earned playing time on Benfica over players that are regularly on the Portuguese national team. He has scored (although he is defensive first) against some of the best teams in portugal on a variety of teams in that league. He played a significant role in Benfica beating Porto (the champions league winners)and held the Portuguese cup over his head in victory. He has scored for Canada amongst huge home crowds at away games (El Salvador). And still finds time to be a responsible father, courtious friends, and community member. His favourite hockey players are Dougie, and Wendel.

How can anyone question how he responds to the treatment he has received from the Canadian MNT. All good athletes have a chip on their shoulder! It is a human characteristic that drives them to succeed. Fernando has had to work his way onto every team that he has played for. He was never given a free ride anywhere! He has had to deal with adversity his entire life! In my mind, he has more than earned a free ride onto the CDN MNT. He has proven his value to such historic soccer minds like Jose Antonio Camacho - a legend for god sakes! But he gets persecuted for his pissed off comments against a Canadian team that has frustrated him for over a decade? Granted, he is no diplomat. But give me a freakin break, and get him on the damn team in a starting position that is his to lose. It's not a leap of faith with his credentials.

Yes, his credentials are superb, but a crappy attitude can be cancer on any team, and FA has made it pretty clear that when it comes to the national team, his attitude is one of the crappiest. If he had issues with the national team in the past, fair enough--perhaps he had good reason. I do not know the circumstances of the past, and I don't think they matter in this discussion, primarily because this is a new coach with a new vision, and if FA cannot get his head around that, then perhaps it is better he's left off the team. We do not need his prima donna antics poisoning a very young, very raw team; a team that has some decent potential, and one that has no room for rank, selfish individuals. FA, when posting here not so long ago, betrayed his ME, ME, ME attitude, and if I were Frank Yallop, I would also be wary of carrying such a potentially burdensome player. We have some nice chemistry developing on this team, why kill it with negativity, even if FA's credentials speak for themselves?

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Not only that, but I have to take issue with the thinking that he has "earned a free ride" on the nat'l team, and that he should have a "spot to lose". Nobody should ever have a free ride on a team, especially a national team, where there are people challenging for your spot every day, and rightly so.

Yes, Fernando may have played at the highest level out of our current defensive mids, but that doesn't mean squat if he trots into the camp with a sense of entitlement. And now he can't even say that he plays at a higher level than most of our midfielders, as DeGuzman (Bundesliga), Brennan (Premiership) and even Bircham (English 1st) play in a better league than him. Not to mention Hutchinson who is a full 11 years younger and plays at the same level.

From what I can tell (from my limited means) is that Yallop took over and wiped everybody's slate clean. Guys like Bircham, Pesch, Watcson and Aguiar were invited back into the fold, and for whatever reason Fernando decided that he was treated so badly that he'll never play for Canada again. This despite overwhelming reports of new team unity and happiness in Yallop as the new coach. Something is obviously not right.

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I agree that Landskrona is not as big of a club as Benfica. And that attitude is very important to team initiatives. We all know about teams like the Rangers in hockey, this years Real Madrid team, and other examples of big name clubs loaded with superstars falling to the wayside because of poor chemistry. But understand that the CDN MNT is not that type of forum, and that although Fernando's public comments indicate that he is a 'primadonna' (or whatever one word term you can use to sum up an entire person's character) I assure you that he has proven many times through his extreme work ethic that he can compete on a very high level. Of course he (like all great soccer players) wants most to be a starter, and play as many minutes as possible. But he has patiently played the political game and sat out while other players (like Petit on Benfica) played ahead of him, and then earned a right to play. He can play a role off of the bench if needed. But, (and that's a big BUT), he would be an excellent defensive midfielder that can run the field all day. He has a strong cross. He is big enough to rough it up in front of the net on corners. And if given the chance, can come up with a big goal under very stressful circumstances.

Also, if you were developing a team from a 'clean slate', why would you not start him given his resume. I am confident that Fern would have proven himself as a quality player, and confident leader on the field if he were to be able to make it to the Ireland and Czech friendlies. But his wife went into labour.

Regarding his attitude: The only real contact he has had with anyone in the MNT was the occasional phone call. How can you truly guage his attitude. He was always on the defense of his history.

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quote:Originally posted by frostman

Regarding his attitude: The only real contact he has had with anyone in the MNT was the occasional phone call. How can you truly guage his attitude. He was always on the defense of his history.

I, of course, cannot truly gauge his attitude, other than his poor remarks on this board a while back.

But Yallop has spoken with him on a number of occassions, not to mention his inclusion in the initial Manchester camp. I'm sure Yallop would love to have six or seven more months to play around with his lineup and get to know his players on a better level, but the fact is that we are already into WCQ and Yallop needed to make quick decisions and stick with them.

Not only that, but did anyone consider team chemistry when jumping on Yallop's back for not starting Aguiar simply based on where he played his club soccer? Perhaps Fernando's style of play didn't jive with the system that Yallop thought was best for the team. You brought up the NY Rangers and Real Madrid as examples, and perhaps the same thing applies here. While Fernando may have been the best defensive mid we have, perhaps his style of play didn't compliment the rest of the team. And despite how good he is, he is not the type of player that a coach changes his system for or builds his team around (as opposed to a Julian De Guzman).

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Not a lot of Canadian players have FAs credentials. Yallop is inviting criticism from fans and media by dealing with FA in such a cursory manner.

If he is bad, which would be shocking considering who he has played for and the salary he is commanding, play him against Wales and Belize for all of us to see!!

If he is a cancer or lacks dedication,let him prove that too.

Lets be honest you certainly cant get a true sense of either characteristic (character and dedication) after one mini camp. The least Yallop could have done was play FA in a meaningless game against Wales or against fodder like Belize to see if his first impressions were correct. The fact that FA wasnt even given this opportunity suggests to me that the decision was political.

Canada has a lot of talented DMs, but I cant help but think that somehow FAs experience makes him ideally suited to play those difficult away games in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras. Its a shame that Canadian soccer fans will never get to see if FA is the real deal!!

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A player of FA's quality can only do wonders for our depth going into this all important time. But I feel introducing him now into a team that looked so together in Kingston might spoil our WCQ effort. Come back FA if you can put your country and teamates, before your sore feelings.

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quote:Originally posted by George

Not a lot of Canadian players have FAs credentials. Yallop is inviting criticism from fans and media by dealing with FA in such a cursory manner.

Cursory manner?!! Where do you get this idea? And contrary to your opinion, I believe it is very possible to gauge an individual player's attitude and usefulness at a mini-camp. Yes, perhaps FA should be looked at more thoroughly, but the lines are open and from all accounts the ball is in FA's court. (Sorry for the mixed metaphor). Time for FA to step up and show his quality. (Boromir, where art thou?) As for criticizing Yallop, the only medium that may be doing so on the FA issue is ours, the Voyageurs. Who else has taken issue with the FA situation? Who even knows about FA? Did you read Beaches' kick-ass article on Yallop?

I would love to see a functional FA on this team. I think his strength and experience would benefit the team, but only if he willingly joins the team, and only if it is out of passion for the game and his country, and out of comraderie and teammanship for his fellow players. If he is waiting for Yallop and the CSA to prostrate themselve before his Holy Altar, apologize for all the historical injustices he has suffered at the hands of the CSA and former national team coaches, then I think he is much deluded, perhaps blinded by ego-mania, and in the end not much use for our team.

What I really want to know, and I beg those of you who have had real contact with FA to offer their answers, is what does FA need or what does Yallop and the CSA have to do to make him willing to play for Canada (in a constructive manner)? I want to believe that FA WOULD really be good for the team. I know his pedigree on the field, but I need to know about this head and heart and attitude. I think we all want to know.

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Maybe drifting a little off here but it realy is expecting a lot of our players thinking that they should be up for national team duty from craddle to grave.

There are periods in all players lives where NT dutys are destructive to their careers.

There are points during a player's career as well when their usefullness to the NT program is minimal or unrequired.

The luck of it is, I suppose, in getting these players when their careers and the NT program both benefit the most. Or at the least the players career isn't harmed by inclusion into the NT program.

For some players when they're at their best they're not required by the NT (or unwanted). Or their career's are too tenative or unstable to allow for joining the NT. It realy is a crap shoot sometimes.

What I'm saying is, with FA who's looking like he's finaly made the move to 1st team starter at a decent level of football, that window of opportunity may have passed us by. He's only got so many years left in him and the possition he plays I think can be very aptly filled by others.

That's just the way it is. This nature of things is far from being unique to Fernado Aguiar.

ZenCheeta

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quote:Originally posted by Cheeta

Maybe drifting a little off here but it realy is expecting a lot of our players thinking that they should be up for national team duty from craddle to grave.

There are periods in all players lives where NT dutys are destructive to their careers.

There are points during a player's career as well when their usefullness to the NT program is minimal or unrequired.

The luck of it is, I suppose, in getting these players when their careers and the NT program both benefit the most. Or at the least the players career isn't harmed by inclusion into the NT program.

For some players when they're at their best they're not required by the NT (or unwanted). Or their career's are too tenative or unstable to allow for joining the NT. It realy is a crap shoot sometimes.

What I'm saying is, with FA who's looking like he's finaly made the move to 1st team starter at a decent level of football, that window of opportunity may have passed us by. He's only got so many years left in him and the possition he plays I think can be very aptly filled by others.

That's just the way it is. This nature of things is far from being unique to Fernado Aguiar.

ZenCheeta

Nicely put, Grasshopper. (In summary, now that FA is as old as I am, he is pretty well horse-glue. But then again, would that not also be the case for a Mr. Mark Watson?)

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  • 16 years later...
On 6/24/2004 at 12:52 PM, Winnipeg Fury said:

 

 

Search the archives, we don't want to dredge up that muck. I'm sure FA regrets his action on that day, because it hasn't happened since and redhat stated that he was contacted personally. Perhaps it was a bad day, we've all had them and stated things that we latter regret.

 

The ball is in your court Fernando. Call Yallop and make peace with him and the rest of the team. There's no reason to burn your bridges.

 

Do it for the Canadian fans who have been following your career since you first laced-up your boots for the Toronto Blizzard in the CSL.

 

Do it for your family, fans and friends that are all proud of being Canadian (as you are).

 

Most importantantly, do it for yourself as you deserve a better ending to your international career, and we know you love Canada.

 

 

ok now i want to know what happened to Aguiar

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