The New Mother Of All Canadians Abroad

[nolando]

First Canadian to play for the first team of a top Romanian side?

[deschamp86]

First Canadian to play for the first team of a top Romanian side?

Hirschfeld

[Juby]

First Canadian to play for the first team of a top Romanian side?

Lars played for CFR Cluj for a year, if I recall it didn't work out so well for him.

edit: beat me to it

[loyola]

Lars played for CFR Cluj for a year, if I recall it didn't work out so well for him.

edit: beat me to it

He pulled an "Onstad" during a derby game putting a corner kick in his own net and he never played again for the first team.

Good move for Ricketts, let's hope he does well in Romania.

[forster01]

Here is an exert of Tosaint's press conference ( a bit rough since it is translated)

Tosaint Ricketts (23 years) passed today, November 22, medical tests and was presented in the afternoon, the conference room at the stadium Păltinişanu Dan. " President C.D. the Polytechnic, Mr. Chivorchian George announced that the Canadian international player signed for the next three and half years. Who worked most extensively in this transfer, team manager Daniel Stanciu said in turn that Ricketts talks were facilitated by the immediate availability of striker to come to Timisoara. We recall that Ricketts was the one who gave us headaches in the "double" with MyPa-47, pointing out three times in clashes that have mattered to three preliminary round of the UEFA Champions League. "We opted for the Police, even though I had offers from several leagues, such as in Turkey or Major League Soccer," said the striker, whose qualities have been praised and coach Cosmin Contra, who attended the press conference.

"I have a preference for the number on the shirt. Maybe I'll wear the number 87, referring to the year of my birth," said Ricketts, who immediately after the meeting with journalists made its first workout at Politehnica Timisoara.

Every intersting maybe the whitecaps/TFC wanted him

[maccaliam]

^ What I find more interesting than the fact the MLS wanted him is the fact that Turkish clubs were interested and he opted for the Romanian league. I obviously don't know the ins and outs of what was offered re: Turkey, but I would think the Turkish league would be a higher standard of play than the Romanian but I guess in Romania he may have more chances at playing in Europe.

Is nice to see more and more Canadians at least attracting attention from Turkey. The Aussies have been using the Turkish league as a development stepping stone to Europe (and their national side has definitely benefit from it), may we can start to do the same.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Coach is Cosmin Contra, he was a superb player, and still v. young, from what I see he is a player-coach. Originally from Timosara. Quite a complement to Tosaint if Contra was interested in him. Nice move.

[canucklefan]

^ What I find more interesting than the fact the MLS wanted him is the fact that Turkish clubs were interested and he opted for the Romanian league. I obviously don't know the ins and outs of what was offered re: Turkey, but I would think the Turkish league would be a higher standard of play than the Romanian but I guess in Romania he may have more chances at playing in Europe.

We don't know if there were clubs in the second division. Unless these clubs were actually 1st division clubs then yes, it's sounds odd. Another possible factor could be also that he did choose where he has more chances of playing time.

[nolando]

I find this all so unusual - here Frank Jonke more-or-less goes unnoticed after a very good season in a league that most have tisked tisked as not being up-to-snuff, and yet Ricketts, who by most accounts had an unremarkable season in the same league, is courted by respectble leagues around the world. Football is a funny game sometimes.

Great for Tousaint, regardless.

[Juby]

I find this all so unusual - here Frank Jonke more-or-less goes unnoticed after a very good season in a league that most have tisked tisked as not being up-to-snuff, and yet Ricketts, who by most accounts had an unremarkable season in the same league, is courted by respectble leagues around the world. Football is a funny game sometimes.

Great for Tousaint, regardless.

I know nothing about frank jonke but athleticism can go a long way, you can teach a young athletic player alot of skills, but it's really hard to train a technically sound player to run faster or jump higher (it's possible but it's slow, hard work)

[Keegan]

I find this all so unusual - here Frank Jonke more-or-less goes unnoticed after a very good season in a league that most have tisked tisked as not being up-to-snuff, and yet Ricketts, who by most accounts had an unremarkable season in the same league, is courted by respectble leagues around the world. Football is a funny game sometimes.

Great for Tousaint, regardless.

I'd guess it has a lot to do with Ricketts contract expiring and Jonke is still under contract

[jpg75]

I find this all so unusual - here Frank Jonke more-or-less goes unnoticed after a very good season in a league that most have tisked tisked as not being up-to-snuff, and yet Ricketts, who by most accounts had an unremarkable season in the same league, is courted by respectble leagues around the world. Football is a funny game sometimes.

Great for Tousaint, regardless.

Tosaint didn't play as much this season as he did last year. Alot of that could have come down to him not signing a contract extension and the club deciding to move on and leaving him on the bench since he was leaving anyways.

[Keegan]

Tosaint didn't play as much this season as he did last year. Alot of that could have come down to him not signing a contract extension and the club deciding to move on and leaving him on the bench since he was leaving anyways.

Ya it seems pretty obvious what happened here, Ricketts club played Poli back in the summer twice and Ricketts scored 3 goals. Obviously thats where their interest (and interest of other clubs) started he might have even signed his Poli deal back in the summer

[Unnamed Trialist]

Could we get this cleared up: what club does he play for? Acc to Wiki and others there was a name dispute and the club is actually called FC, with no Polytechnic, but maybe they use the other name as they would really prefer it. Any takers?

[Juby]

their two seperate clubs AND the same club (just after a certain year its fc and before it's not), its officially fc timisoara, some sort of copywright rebranding issue in the early 00's but everyone calls it poli timisoara, it claims the history, and the people of romania consider it legit.

actually just looked it up, the politehnica is still officially in there between fc and timisoara

[tarnado1555362291]

Can't wait to see this guy on the field in Romania, killer speed !

[Standard]

Awesome pic, he's going to rip it up!

[jpg75]

Ricketts reminds me of a young Samuel L. Jackson.

[tarnado1555362291]

Karl Martens was with Trinity Western University in 2009-2010. Not sure where he is now but I can't find any indication he is still at Tubize in Belgium.

http://www.twu.ca/athletics/mens-soccer/player-rosters/2009-2010/karl-martens.html

[nolando]

Karl Martens was with Trinity Western University in 2009-2010. Not sure where he is now but I can't find any indication he is still at Tubize in Belgium.

http://www.twu.ca/athletics/mens-soccer/player-rosters/2009-2010/karl-martens.html

He's in Leeds: http://karl-martens.com/ (note I didn't say "at Leeds," because it's Richmond University (International Academy of Soccer and Academics), in Leeds, England )

[kyam]

Apologies if this has already been posted...

But Ricky Gomes has already stated that his childhood dream has always been to play for the Portuguese National Team. Not Canada. He hold's dual citizenship.

http://news.therecord.com/article/424279 (see last paragraph)

Having a ton of Portuguese friend's that played soccer as youth's (but born in Canada), pretty much all of them would play for Portugal if given a chance over Canada. One of my close friend's here in Ottawa summed it up well (paraphased)

"I'm Canadian in everyway, growing up, I dreamed of following the footstep's of Wayne Gretzky and Doug Gilmour in the NHL and one day putting on the Canada Jersey. But when you put a soccer ball on my feet in the summer, I dream of following in the footstep's of Luis Figo, NOT some Canadian player. Since I sucked at hockey, the goal of playing for Portugal seems a lot more attainable than playing for Canada in hockey. Can't imagine giving up the opportunity to play in packed stadium's in Europe, for empty stadium's in Canada. I feel Portuguese when playing soccer. I feel Canadian every other way."

[Loud Mouth Soup]

I feel Portuguese when playing soccer. I feel Canadian every other way.

[yomurphy1]

^ This article is two years old. Wonder if the kid is still at Porto?

[jpg75]

Apologies if this has already been posted...

But Ricky Gomes has already stated that his childhood dream has always been to play for the Portuguese National Team. Not Canada. He hold's dual citizenship.

http://news.therecord.com/article/424279 (see last paragraph)

Having a ton of Portuguese friend's that played soccer as youth's (but born in Canada), pretty much all of them would play for Portugal if given a chance over Canada. One of my close friend's here in Ottawa summed it up well (paraphased)

"I'm Canadian in everyway, growing up, I dreamed of following the footstep's of Wayne Gretzky and Doug Gilmour in the NHL and one day putting on the Canada Jersey. But when you put a soccer ball on my feet in the summer, I dream of following in the footstep's of Luis Figo, NOT some Canadian player. Since I sucked at hockey, the goal of playing for Portugal seems a lot more attainable than playing for Canada in hockey. Can't imagine giving up the opportunity to play in packed stadium's in Europe, for empty stadium's in Canada. I feel Portuguese when playing soccer. I feel Canadian every other way."

I had never seen that article before. Took a quick look at the FC Porto site (i hadn't checked since last season) and it looks like Gomes is no longer there. Ferreira (the turncoat) is still there however:

http://www.fcporto.pt/JogadoresStaff/Formacao/Sub19/sub19_plantel.asp

[redhat]

"I'm Canadian in everyway, growing up, I dreamed of following the footstep's of Wayne Gretzky and Doug Gilmour in the NHL and one day putting on the Canada Jersey.

I feel Portuguese when playing soccer. I feel Canadian every other way."

(Heavy Sigh.) Well ... as Cee-Lo Green would put it: "Forget You".