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Daniel Fernandes on TSN's Off the Record


tovan1

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I have no problem with Thunder Dan as he wanted to play for Canada but his case is one instance that the CSA dropped the ball IMHO. ( I blame Mitchell on that one.) The interview he gave was respectful and even stated that he`d be happy if Canada made it to the next WC.

Too bad the interviewer was a clueless Landsberg on the state of affairs of the CSA and soccer in Canada.

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  • 11 months later...
Lord Bob was pointing out on the SS board that DF is still eligible for Canada. I thought he was wrong, but looking through his wiki profile neither cap was in an official competition. Doesn't matter much to me now as I would start Borjan in every match for the next 15 years, but something to think about nonetheless.

Maybe see how he would feel about being our third keeper at the next World Cup? That would surely set some kind of record, no?

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Yes, Fernandes is not cap-tied to the Portuguese and has been surpassed by atleast 2 young Keepers on the pecking order as well as being firmly behind #1 Eduardo. I would welcome him back to the mix and I really hope Hart and Fonseca have explored this avenue (they've contacted Vitoria who is an inferior player).

I am not sold on Borjan as our de facto #1, he is way too unreliable in the aerial game to rely on comfortably during WCQ's. That also happens to be Thunder Dans strong suit, as well as being a decent shot blocker...

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Dan thinks he is cap tied to Portugal, funny guy he is. And that is where his ambition lies right now. Though he has not forgotten his roots, he is still an EastVanner.

Logically, though, a guy with chances at strong top flight teams would be in line for the Portuguese national team again, so to say that he has been surpassed by other younger keepers is simply not true. Keeping in Portugal is not locked up and there are a lot of questions always about who is on top.

If he had played for Panathinaikos last year instead of seeing so much bench he would be in the Portugal mix right now, no question.

Daniel played a friendly for Wigan in Austria last week, the fans went nuts trying to figure out who he was as he was called "Trialist", my favourite name for a player. If they work out a loan deal or even transfer for Kirkland he has a good chance there, though would have to fight to start over Al-Habsi. An EPL keeper not in the Portugal national team mix? Not likely.

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Al-Habsi is an excellent GK and I don't see many GK's surpassing him at Wigan....

True, Al-Habsi seems to be the starter, it is his spot to lose, but there are a lot of matches in EPL with Cups and all, and Al-Habsi in Asian WC qualilfying. So Fernandes would have a chance to play some games, most likely.

Only two ifs really, jpg75: if he'd been played last year for PAO he would be in the Portugal pool for sure right now. If the Kirkland deal goes through he is very likely to go to Wigan, where Martinez wants him. And I'll add a third: if he plays for an EPL team, even a few games as a starter, he'll go to the Eurocup next summer with Portugal.

But all of that still does not cap tie him to Portugal if they don't actually come out and do it.

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I know Jeffrey, there were only 2 ifs in your post and i exagerrated. I started to look at his situation and his career as a whole and saw a lot more if's. The first that comes to mind is if he had been able to keep his job at Bochum - still don't know why he lost his spot to that kid - would he be cap-tied with Portugal now? Then if he had been able to wrestle the starters job from Tzorvas at Panathinaikos, - but he didn't and there are probably worse things than losing out to a Greek international keeper - where would he be? Now he's hoping on if Kirkland transfers out, if he signs with Wigan and if he can beat out Al-Habsi for the starting job and if he can play well enough to keep it. If all those things happen he could play for Portugal again. That's if he can beat out Rui Patricio, Beto, Hugo Ventura or even Quim who has been recalled, for one of the 2 backup jobs behind Eduardo.

I don't know, maybe i still wonder if Dan would come to his senses and realize the Canadian #1 job would probably be his and stop relying on ifs to maybe one day get a few more Portuguese caps.

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Jeffrey, do you know if Dani has any interest in playing for the Whitecaps and whether he was ever contacted by them during this out-of-contract spell?

Yes, I do know.:rolleyes:

My take on that, my personal take, is that the highest paid keeper in MLS is Mondragon, at 400 grand US. About 40% lower than what Fernandes was making on his Bochum contract. And since in MLS you can play until you are into your 40s, there is time still. A further observation that I think we all see: you go back to your hometown to end your career and some dipstick decides to trade you away after a few months for no clear reason (Dunfield). So a contract is meaningless, whereas in any other league that could not and would not happen. So coming home to North American to play in a hometown, like Keller say, is a question of trust. And I do not see that the Whitecaps have yet to move into a trust mode in any respect, least of all for local boys.

About the ifs and buts, I can say that even when Dani was loaned out again by Panathinaikos at the end of last season to Panserraikos, a really tiny team he helped keep up in 1st Div Greece, he was scouted both by Portuguese national team people and scouts from major Portuguese clubs. I mean that they went to see him play. So that suggests he has most certainly not fallen off Portugal radars.

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Dani has signed with Romanian side Cluj, a solid option, good team, Jorge Costa is there, so does not fall off the Portugal radar. Was an option for the past month if Wigan was not going to pan out.

Good choice for playing reasons, he should be able to beat out the competition for the starters job. Romania is a similar level to the Greek league, stronger even, so if he does well with Cluj he'll be getting a sniff with Portugal again. Damn it.

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Good choice for playing reasons, he should be able to beat out the competition for the starters job. Romania is a similar level to the Greek league, stronger even, so if he does well with Cluj he'll be getting a sniff with Portugal again. Damn it.

Wasn't Cluj the side Hirschfeld signed with a few years back?

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  • 2 months later...

Decided to check and see how Dani has been doing at Cluj, unfortunately for him Cluj brought in another Portuguese keeper (Beto) on loan from Porto and he has taken the starters job from Dani. Beto is a direct competitor to Dani for the one of the spots on the Portuguese NT (Beto was called for the playoff games against Bosnia, Dani was not) as well so this is a double whammy for him...

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I'm still confused about his status. Can he still make the switch to Canada or is he cap-tied to Portugal? I don't think switching allegiance from youth level to another youth level in a different country counts as one-time switch?

He was never officially cap-tied by Canada so he didn't have to file the switching paper work, which means he can switch "back" to Canada.

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