Guest Ed Posted November 6, 2008 Share Posted November 6, 2008 Thanks to Neil Davidson: Link here: http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/2008/11/05/7318801-cp.html Text here: Canadian Pat Onstad lives roller-coaster ride of soccer goalie By Neil Davidson, THE CANADIAN PRESS Canadian goalkeeper Pat Onstad has heard the criticism since giving up an unfortunate goal in World Cup qualifying. Now he gets to hear kudos in the form of induction into two halls of fame. The 40-year-old Houston Dynamo 'keeper is headed to both the United Soccer Leagues Hall of Fame and the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, which is inducting the 1992 Canadian Soccer League Mita Cup champion squad of which he was a member. Onstad will have to miss the Manitoba festivities on Saturday, however. He and the Dynamo have a previous engagement Sunday with the New York Red Bulls in the MLS playoffs. A successful playoff run and the MLS Cup could spoil the USL Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Tampa on Nov. 21, when he is due to join Amos Magee and Mo Sheta. Magee has served as a player, coach and technical director of the Minnesota Thunder while Sheta is owner of the Northern Virginia Royals. Magee and Onstad were chosen by a voting panel consisting of previous USL Hall of Fame inductees, receiving at least 70 per cent of the vote. Mo Sheta was inducted via the President's Selection. "I didn't realize I was that worthy," Onstad joked in an interview Wednesday. "So I was kind of honoured when I got that letter." On a more serious note, Onstad declined to talk about his reasons for no longer being involved with the Canadian national team. But coach Dale Mitchell, stressing he had no problem with Onstad, has said the big goalie had taken a lot of criticism back in Canada since knocking the ball into his own net on a frenetic corner during a 1-1 tie with Jamaica on Aug. 20. While Onstad has stayed mum on his World Cup qualifying experience, Canadian teammates Jim Brennan and Dwayne De Rosario have spoken out negatively about Mitchell in the media. Onstad spoke up for the beleaguered coach in a letter to the Edmonton Journal on Oct. 20 and offered some of his own analysis for Canada's failed World Cup campaign. In the letter, he took a reporter to task for erroneously stating he had left the national team because he was upset at criticism from the coaching staff. "Any criticism levelled at me by the coaching staff was deserved," he said. "I made a horrible mistake in the first game and nobody felt worse than I did." Onstad also suggested people look at the competition in Canada's qualifying group. "As for our 'terribly early elimination' we were drawn into a group that included Mexico (No. 2 CONCACAF and No. 24 world), Honduras (No. 3 CONCACAF and No. 50 world), and Jamaica (No. 13 CONCACAF and No. 116 world). "We are ranked No. 5 in CONCACAF and No. 84 in the world. Yes, we should have hung on until the last couple of games, but the games have shown that we are not at that level yet and when players 'obviously underachieved horribly' it makes it impossible to advance. "I find it hard to believe that one man is completely responsible for our failure to advance, just as I would find it hard to believe one man could be responsible for advancement." Onstad played for Canada 56 times from 1988 to 2008, tied with Craig Forrest for the Canadian record for a 'keeper. The six-foot-four 215-pounder had club stops in Toronto, Montreal, Toronto again and Rochester from 1994 to 2002 in the A-League, which went on to become the USL First Division. Onstad enjoyed the most success in Rochester, helping lead Raging Rhinos to the championship and U.S. Open Cup. He also earned all-league honours and was named Goalkeeper of the Year in the A-League. "It was a lot of fun," Onstad said of his time in Rochester. "We had a great group of guys, a great coach, good ownership. It was a really enjoyable part of my career." In 2003, Onstad made the jump to the MLS, starring first with San Jose and then Houston. He has twice been named MLS goalkeeper of the year. His career goals-against average in the MLS is a stingy 1.07. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superbrad Posted November 6, 2008 Share Posted November 6, 2008 Well stated by Pat. One thing about Onstad - he took full responsibility for his error. Something the coach and several players are lacking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbailey62 Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 quote:Originally posted by superbrad Well stated by Pat. One thing about Onstad - he took full responsibility for his error. Something the coach and several players are lacking. He did! He is a class act and really always has been. It's sad that it had to end as it did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stacks Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 Pat might have played great for his club teams over the years but his National team Play has been brutal at best. He has ruined 12 years of my soccer life. Move on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vancouver Fan Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 quote:Originally posted by stacks Pat might have played great for his club teams over the years but his National team Play has been brutal at best. He has ruined 12 years of my soccer life. Move on. It seems that most of the players have great club careers but underachieve when it comes to the national team. Sometimes it's a question of chemistry but sadly,after this past qualification round, it became very evident that they did not want to play for Mitchell. I did not support the players for criticizing Mitchell in public. I don't think Mitchell made any really bad decisions. I just feel that he was doomed right from the beginning. He couldn't get the players respect mostly because he was an unproven Canadian coach who was below the standard that the players are used to with their club team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Vancouver Fan It seems that most of the players have great club careers but underachieve when it comes to the national team. Sometimes it's a question of chemistry but sadly,after this past qualification round, it became very evident that they did not want to play for Mitchell. I did not support the players for criticizing Mitchell in public. I don't think Mitchell made any really bad decisions. I just feel that he was doomed right from the beginning. He couldn't get the players respect mostly because he was an unproven Canadian coach who was below the standard that the players are used to with their club team. I blame Mitchell as much as I blame the fact that the players could have had an extra year of experience playing together under their WCQ coach if the CSA hadn't waited for over a year to chose a coach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 ^ Apart from the fact that I don't believe DM has the charisma to inspire players, many of those he is/was coaching have already achieved more than he did during his professional playing and coaching career apart from one losing appearance at a World Cup. Hardly a glittering example for players to follow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vancouver Fan Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 Does it really matter,Richard,how good a player a manager used to be? Very few great players go on to be great managers. I think it is more important for Canada to find a manager that the players can relate to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snake Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 jason devos is canads's next best choice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 quote:Originally posted by snake jason devos is canads's next best choice I don't see how a man with no managing experience at all can be our best choice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyola Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 Stacks, Onstad wasn't really to blame in 2000, maybe Forrest would've saved one of the T&T shot (and it's a big maybe) but that was far from being Onstad's fault. In 2004, his only blunder happened in game 5 when we had 2 points in the first 4 games....he was at fault that time but we needed a lots of luck to qualify. This year, he was to blame again but we had a great chance to recover against Honduras but our players didn't showed up in that second half. Some like to say that Onstad never won us a game but it's the same thing for all the players who have played in front of him since 2000, none has ever won us a game either... Richard, while I agree that DM might not have the charisma to inspire players (well, he did it 3 times with 2 different U-20 groups) can you tall me what's the difference between Mitchell playing\coaching career and a Bruce Arena or a Bob Bradley before they were hired as USA MNT coach? BTW, you forgot the biggest achievement in DM playing career...being part of a SUCCESSFULL WC qualifying effort... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Vancouver Fan Does it really matter,Richard,how good a player a manager used to be? Very few great players go on to be great managers. I think it is more important for Canada to find a manager that the players can relate to. No argument from me there, I was merely putting myself in the players' shoes. Even if management skills are mediocre it helps to have something to fall back on when it comes to relating to and motivating the current crop of players. Nice enough guy as he is, I was alarmed when DM was first appointed as I never believed he had what it would take to be a successful MNT manager. But he was a cheap, quick fix for the cash strapped CSA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vancouver Fan Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 The Million dollar question then is who would make a good MNT manager? Are we done looking at ex Canadian team players? Can we afford a foreign candidate? Everyone knows who they don't want but I don't here anyone mention someone suitable. Someone who also makes economic sense. Surely there must be another Tony Waiters out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snake Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 like this guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Batistuta or this guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_van_%27t_Schip has he ever been approached by the csa? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Richard No argument from me there, I was merely putting myself in the players' shoes. Even if management skills are mediocre it helps to have something to fall back on when it comes to relating to and motivating the current crop of players. Nice enough guy as he is, I was alarmed when DM was first appointed as I never believed he had what it would take to be a successful MNT manager. But he was a cheap, quick fix for the cash strapped CSA. Going into the player-to-manager theme a bit, I think it is especially more difficult to make the jump into the management role of this game in circumstances where your flexibility is handicapped. Like at the club level when your team is broke and forced to work with what they've already got or with a national team where your legitimate player pool is very limited and you really don't have the time to train the team into being something they're not. Doubly so when you're managing at the senior international level because you need the players. They do not need you. It's black and white. I sometimes think a recently retired MNT player who is popular and respected within the current crop of Canadian internationals could fill the role if he had a knowledgeable and diplomatic coaching team to "mentor" him as he learned his craft but honestly, I can't think of any MNT player ever who could/would have fit that bill. No, not fair. Maybe Randy Samuel. But I'm guessing and he (as an example) wouldn't really be relevant to our current situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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