MNT players who were never given a chance

[Alberto7]

I thought I'd look back through the years at players who played with the MNT but were never given much playing time to prove their worth. My nominee is Mauro Biello.

He was capped a 4 times with the MNT. 45 minutes in a friendly against Chile (1995), 90 minutes in a friendly against Iran(1997). 9 minutes in a Gold Cup Qualifier against Haiti(1999) and 5 minutes in a friendly against T &T (2000). He sat on the bench on a couple more occasions too(I see from his bio on the CSA web site that he also played for Canada at the u-17 World Cup)

He was an excellent player and leader for the Impact and Rhinos(where he led the team in scoring in 1999), probably one of the best USL players of all time. I don't remember who coached the team in his first two games and I know Holger Osiek was leary of using USL players, but I feel he really wasn't given a chance. Why wasn't he called up for the 1996 or 2000 Gold Cups?

his CSA bio:

http://www.canadasoccer.com/eng/nationals/profile.asp?playerid=152⊂=3

Anyone agree? Any other nominees?

[CanadasBest]

Strange nominee, but the first person to come to mind has to be DeRo under Holger Osieck.

Remember how many times he sat on the pine in favour of others. When he came on he looked good and impressed but still he took a back seat to Corrazin and even McKenna when he was being used at the front.

He's obviously been given the chance now...

[Alberto7]

quote:Originally posted by gwallace76

Strange nominee, but the first person to come to mind has to be DeRo under Holger Osieck.

Remember how many times he sat on the pine in favour of others. When he came on he looked good and impressed but still he took a back seat to Corrazin and even McKenna when he was being used at the front.

He's obviously been given the chance now...

Why do you consider Biello a strange nominee? ( I am not questioning your opinion, I just want to know why)

[youllneverwalkalone]

I think he means DeRo because now he has been given a chance, but wasn't for a long time.

A lot of USL players fall into the Biello category. How bout Valente or Jordan?

The guy I'm thinking of is Stathis Kappos. He played at a pretty high level for some time.

[CanadasBest]

quote:Originally posted by Alberto7

Why do you consider Biello a strange nominee? ( I am not questioning your opinion, I just want to know why)

I meant DeRosario as a strange nominee.

There wasn't too many North American based players that were given a second look during Holger's time as coach.

Personally i've never seen Biello play so I can't really comment on whether he was good enough. I'm not sure if any of those 4 games were on TV.

That being said it wouldn't surprise me that talented players are slipping through the CSA's grasps. Our english friend who's name I refuse to speak is a good example.

[RS]

quote:Originally posted by gwallace76

Strange nominee, but the first person to come to mind has to be DeRo under Holger Osieck.

Remember how many times he sat on the pine in favour of others. When he came on he looked good and impressed but still he took a back seat to Corrazin and even McKenna when he was being used at the front.

He's obviously been given the chance now...

Agreed.

I remember games where I'd be screaming for DeRo to come in, but instead Holger persevered with McKenna, Corrazin, or someone equally undeserving up front.

[Alberto7]

I saw Biello play with the Impact a lot over the years and he was in his prime between 1999 and 2002 playing forward and attacking midfielder with the Rhinos and Impact. I wouldn't say he was good enough to be a starter with the MNT but easily a sub. I can't figure out why Holger didn't include him in the Gold Cup 2000 roster. He was easily better than Elvis Thomas or Robbie Aristodemo. Odd because Holger had him play in the qualifiers(barely, but that't another story). We all know that Holger didn't think much of the USL so i think that killed his chances. I wonder if Biello would have had a better chance with a coach like Yallop or Mitchell if they had coached the MNT at the time.

[rick titus]

Mauro should've had a better look, because in his prime he was very dangerous, and very good. I played many years against him, and he was always an excellent player. Holger to me, was absolute ****e for Canada. He overlooked alot of good players. I never got a chance to play for the National team, and never saw that materializing, so I went to play for Trinidad and Tobago. Even now, there are alot of good players not geting the chance like Charles Gbeke, and he definetly deserves a chance. Andres Arrango deserves a chance. Chris Williams, and Jamie Dodds deserve a chance. I hope Dale looks hard at all these players to help him in his quest to improve the MNT.

[nolando]

quote:Originally posted by gwallace76

.

Personally i've never seen Biello play so I can't really comment on whether he was good enough. I'm not sure if any of those 4 games were on TV.

I have a strong memory of seeing Bielo play on TV for Canada - I wonder if it was the Gold Cup qualifier?? That or the T&T game.

I remember because I think he was the guy who looked like Zach from Rage Against the Machine, while the other new face my friends I were laughing about was the guy warming up on the sidelines who looked like the team's rasta drug dealer - who of course turned out to be DDR. This was a LONG time ago, though... IIRC.

[Daniel]

quote:Originally posted by rick titus

Even now, there are alot of good players not geting the chance like Charles Gbeke, and he definetly deserves a chance. Andres Arrango deserves a chance. Chris Williams, and Jamie Dodds deserve a chance. I hope Dale looks hard at all these players to help him in his quest to improve the MNT.

Gbeke has always said he was waiting (hoping?) for the Ivory Coast.

I liked Williams a lot when he was with the Impact, but I haven't seen him in three seasons.

[Marc]

What is Dodds doing? CPSL?

[rick titus]

Dodds should've been on TFC this past season, he is a very good player, but is frustrated with the selection process in pro soccer, and chose to forget about trying anymore. Not like anyone hasn't heard this story before, it is just a small effect of what happens when there is improper leadership at the countries highest level of play.

[Guest Ed]

quote:Originally posted by rick titus

Mauro should've had a better look, because in his prime he was very dangerous, and very good. I played many years against him, and he was always an excellent player. Holger to me, was absolute ****e for Canada. He overlooked alot of good players. I never got a chance to play for the National team, and never saw that materializing, so I went to play for Trinidad and Tobago. Even now, there are alot of good players not geting the chance like Charles Gbeke, and he definetly deserves a chance. Andres Arrango deserves a chance. Chris Williams, and Jamie Dodds deserve a chance. I hope Dale looks hard at all these players to help him in his quest to improve the MNT.

Your name came to mind on this topic. You went for T&T after you had made the Colorado Rapids roster right? That was the season after you had done very well with the Whitecaps (USL defender of the year?).

[CanadasBest]

Under the Lenarduzzi era there were also rumours of many East Coast Players not getting a good look over for our National Team. I remember hearing many accusations that Lenarduzzi called many of the players he had connections through the Whitecaps but off the top of my head I can't think of any players that were missed out.

*Edit* By East Coast I mean anything East of the Prairies, not just the Maritimes.

There were definitely a few posters on this board that suggested at the time that Rick should have been called up to the team during the 2002 WCQ campaign.

[BearcatSA]

quote:Originally posted by rick titus

Mauro should've had a better look, because in his prime he was very dangerous, and very good. I played many years against him, and he was always an excellent player. Holger to me, was absolute ****e for Canada. He overlooked alot of good players.

I would enjoy your thoughts on this thread:

http://www.canadian-soccer.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14158

[Guest Dave]

I think that Rick Titus (who I suppose might even be considered a "Voyageur" due to his number of posts here... how about that?) is certainly among those who deserved a better chance with the MNT. Also in that category, Fernando Aguiar, who seemed to have been more or less shut out of selection after he spoke up once about the selection process during 98 WCQ. I also agree that Dwayne deserved a better shot early in his career... although I disagree with Rudi in that I certainly would not call Kevin McKenna "undeserving" of the time he got playing forward... he still is among our all time leaders in terms of strike rate when actually playing upfront, and I'm open to the possibility of using him in that role again. Others? What about Sita-Taty Matondo, around 5 years ago. I have no idea what he's doing these days, but back then I would have liked to see him get a try, if only to force the opposition to give our MNT a bit more time and space on the ball, out of respect for Matondo's pace.

[Grizzly]

Under Ossieck: Jason Jordan who was in good form at a time when we were having trouble scoring goals yet his senior national team career consisted of watching the game against Germany from the bench

Under Yallop: During WCQ, half of our best players. Overall though the most glaring lack of a call up which ended up costing us was Daniel Fernandez.

[Bill Ault]

Early 90s - Frank LoFranco

[Ian Kennett]

I clearly remember chatting several times with Les Wilson at the end of the 90's or so, and we both lamented more than once the fact that Mauro Biello was not getting the calls for the MNT. At the time he was playing terrific soccer for Montreal and scoring goals regularly. Other players who should have been given more opportunity were Fernando Aguiar, and Nick Desantis.

I recall, under the Lenarduzzi era, a WCQ mtach vs the USA at Swangard. At the half, the game was 0-0 and very evenly played. The midfield included Jason Bent and Nick Desantis whose combined speed and skill plagued the Americans to no end. Desantis was very effective with his vision and distribution and was playing a marvelous game. Bent was at his best too. Lenarduzzi, for some inexpliciable reason, removed both from the match replacing them with Colin Miller (near the end of his career), and the butcher, Geoff Aunger. Miller was promptly beaten to a loose ball by Ernie Stewart leading directly to an American goal, and Aunger did what he did very well - committed lots of fouls as he could not keep pace with the then faster Americans. The game ended 3-0 for the US.

As for Aguiar, I saw him play against El Salvador in Burnaby in the 90's. He was the best player on the field, but once again was replaced by Lenarduzzi for no apparent reason. I recall that Aguiar was incensed when he was taken off the field, as were many of the fans.

Desantis, Biello, Aguiar - amazingly underused talents.

Incidently, I agree completely that Rick Titus was ripped off. When he was the USL defender of the year, he could have easily played for Canada.

Cheers!

[BearcatSA]

quote:Originally posted by Ian Kennett

Miller was promptly beaten to a loose ball by Ernie Stewart leading directly to an American goal, and Aunger did what he did very well - committed lots of fouls as he could not keep pace with the then faster Americans. The game ended 3-0 for the US.

Ian, you have provided an adept description of what I meant when I described these two guys as being as mobile as World War One vintage railway artillery!

I only ever saw Aguiar play once, as a sub vs the US at Stanford during the WC 98 qualification (one of our all-time worst performances, IMO) and he didn't make an impact nor really impress me. However, the guy went on to play some top Portuguese club football and that kind of pedigree has to be both acknowledged and respected. I guess being outspoken was his downfall with the MNT and I remember reading a lot of discussion about that on this board. I saw DeSantis play an away WCQ match in the Central America, I believe, and he impressed me as a playmaker type which I felt the team really lacked. I regret not having seen more of him. I never saw Biello play so I can't comment.

I find this an interesting thread because of the scope of it: in my mind I'm trying to narrow it down to guys who never got a consistent chance with the national team yet demonstrated in their professional careers that they could play at a very high level in a top league or at least keep moving up to a higher level of play despite not featuring with their MNT. An example from another country might be Le Tissier, perhaps (though I'm sure others could legitimately argue that he did earn enough caps to give him the opportunity to prove himself and he never took it). From this narrow perspective I would say a guy like DeRosario semi-fits my criteria because he was able to move onto MLS though not a fixture in Osieck's teams. And with Aguiar, regardless of his ostracizing during the Lenarduzzi regime, he eventually was able to work his way up the ladder at club level and get on Benfica, so you'd think an MNT coach would consider another look at him. So I think these two players stand out for me, though obviously DeRosario has moved onwards and upwards with the MNT now.

[CanadasBest]

quote:Originally posted by Ian Kennett

I recall, under the Lenarduzzi era, a WCQ mtach vs the USA at Swangard. At the half, the game was 0-0 and very evenly played. The midfield included Jason Bent and Nick Desantis whose combined speed and skill plagued the Americans to no end. Desantis was very effective with his vision and distribution and was playing a marvelous game. Bent was at his best too. Lenarduzzi, for some inexpliciable reason, removed both from the match replacing them with Colin Miller (near the end of his career), and the butcher, Geoff Aunger. Miller was promptly beaten to a loose ball by Ernie Stewart leading directly to an American goal, and Aunger did what he did very well - committed lots of fouls as he could not keep pace with the then faster Americans. The game ended 3-0 for the US.

Well reliving that one just ruined my night. The game itself was quite dull including the first half. Our tactic was very similar to our current Women's Team tactics. Kick the ball down the field and hope our Strikers manage to get it. That game was very frustrating to watch.

Easily the worst Canada game I have attended. 30 or so Sam's Army made all the atmosphere while the rest of the home crowd watched in Silence.

I'm not sure about Aguiar. Wasn't his exclusion voluntary?

[snake]

marc bircham

[gator]

Couldn't agree with you more snake! Bircham was the stabilizing midfielder we needed in the last WCQ, however Yallop for whatever reason chose to leave him off the roster! Considering how poorly the midfielders played, this was a crucial error! Bircham had done the business for QPR in their run up to promotion to the Championship, he was man of the match for their last crucial six games, none of the others in our midfield had that pedigree! I also agree with you guys who mentioned Aguiar, I don't think he got a fair shake, I sure hope these personality conflicts with the manager don't keep talented players from being selected for the MNT!

[Wilfrid Laurier]

Although I never saw him play, I've heard about him from others and I nominate: Branko Segota

Segota scored 73 goals in 147 regular season NASL games to rank 13th in the history of the league. He also scored 12 goals in 13 play-off games, including 11 in the 1981 play-offs.

I don't understand how he managed only 19 caps.

[Bill Ault]

quote:Originally posted by Wilfrid Laurier

Although I never saw him play, I've heard about him from others and I nominate: Branko Segota

Segota scored 73 goals in 147 regular season NASL games to rank 13th in the history of the league. He also scored 12 goals in 13 play-off games, including 11 in the 1981 play-offs.

I don't understand how he managed only 19 caps.

Branko had major tie-ups with availability due to his indoor career - his teams just often refused to let him go.