Atiba Hutchinson

[Dominic94]

Shame he isn’t going to play at home, but I get it.

[maplebanana]

Congrats on a great career to Hutch, and may he enjoy his retirement years always being onside. 

[gator]

2 hours ago, EJsens1 said:

Was hoping he’d maybe play gold cup and play Toronto one last time but what a career. Most under appreciated male athlete this country has had the last 20 years IMO. 

Selfishly I was hoping the same, it would have been great to give him a send off at BMO but tbh every time I was fortunate enough to see him play there in the last couple of years I knew that could be it! Such a class player who did so much in advancing the status of our MNT, I thank him and wish him all the best!

[BrennanFan]

Saw it coming a mile away and still it hurts.  

Greatest Canadian Footballer of All Time. 

What a truly remarkable career.    

[frmr]

The boys will be playing for Atiba this tournament.

[frmr]

2 hours ago, Borjans Sweatpants said:

GOAT for sure, always sad to see the legends move on but we all knew this time was coming, and just helps get newcomers up into the squad.

Now, what role do we get him in Canada Soccer? I hope he stays involved, there’s an important role he could play having the knowledge of what players need.

He probably has offers in Turkey.

[Cblake]

Still think the Gold Cup is a possibility for him , giving him a proper sendoff at home, how fitting would that be (  :

[Corazon]

Congratulations Atiba on such a great career.  I'm so glad he was able to experience a World Cup.  He deserved it.

A final home game in his hometown city against the country of his ancestry Trinidad & Tobago would have been a fairytale ending to an international career but its all a moot point now anyways thanks to Nicaragua.

Edited June 13, 2023 by Corazon

[Cheeta]

A trophy would be a fine retirement gift for our Uncle 'tiba.  Don't you think?

Have to say I'm a bit upset.  Everyone knew it was coming but it's different when it's there in black & white.

Here's to you, Captain.

 

[Cheeta]

This one is quite handsome.   Maybe the lads could get him one of these somewhere.

[FreddyCanuck]

Hopefully he gets honoured at BMO at the Gold Cup opener so we can give him a proper sendoff.

It's going to be so weird not seeing him regularly with the national team anymore but maybe Herdman convinces him to jump onto the coaching staff or something.

[MauditYvon]

What a career. He played 637 games for Copenhagen, PSV and Besiktas. Won 6 trophies at Copenhagen, 2 at PSV and 5 at Besiktas. Imagine adding one with Canada. 

[Aird25]

I wish he'd join a playoff bound CPL team

[footballfreak]

Has anyone ever done a daisy-chain of overlapping CMNT careers from the birth of the team to today? I don’t mind having a go at it, but I don’t want to repeat someone else’s work.

I wonder who the last person playing who played with Atiba will be? Davies, David, and Kone are probably favourites, but you never know.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

3 hours ago, BrennanFan said:

Saw it coming a mile away and still it hurts.  

Greatest Canadian Footballer of All Time. 

What a truly remarkable career.    

You really thought he wouldn't play in the Gold Cup?

Like others here, I thought he would retire in July at the earliest.

[Kent]

2 hours ago, footballfreak said:

Has anyone ever done a daisy-chain of overlapping CMNT careers from the birth of the team to today? I don’t mind having a go at it, but I don’t want to repeat someone else’s work.

I wonder who the last person playing who played with Atiba will be? Davies, David, and Kone are probably favourites, but you never know.

I've never seen it, and it might be a bit awkward because in the early days there were some huge gaps between games if Wikipedia is to be believed. A 30 year gap, an 11 year gap. I have no idea how consistent the roster would have been in those days.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_men's_national_soccer_team_results_(1924–1977)

But a few years back I saw the result of that for NHL players. It was ridiculous, something like 5 players to cover about 100 years of NHL hockey.

[Kent]

The Hutchinson retirement news is on the ticker on TSN. I don't know if Sportscentre will ever get to the news since the Stanley Cup was handed out tonight.

[footballfreak]

23 minutes ago, Kent said:

I've never seen it, and it might be a bit awkward because in the early days there were some huge gaps between games if Wikipedia is to be believed. A 30 year gap, an 11 year gap. I have no idea how consistent the roster would have been in those days.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_men's_national_soccer_team_results_(1924–1977)

But a few years back I saw the result of that for NHL players. It was ridiculous, something like 5 players to cover about 100 years of NHL hockey.

Good point. I managed to get from 2023 to 1988 with Atiba and Onstad, but I lost patience going through missing or incomplete lineups to try to find the next logical link in the chain.

[SthMelbRed]

5 minutes ago, footballfreak said:

Good point. I managed to get from 2023 to 1988 with Atiba and Onstad, but I lost patience going through missing or incomplete lineups to try to find the next logical link in the chain.

Bruce Wilson may have still been playing in '88. He'd probably get you well back into the '70s.

[footballfreak]

24 minutes ago, SthMelbRed said:

Bruce Wilson may have still been playing in '88. He'd probably get you well back into the '70s.

Retired in 86 sadly. I only looked through the first few Canada caps Onstad played, but they all seemed to feature younger lineups with players at or around Onstad’s age. Some post-WC turnover is to be expected, but there must be a few from the old guard who made it to 88. I may do some more digging tomorrow, but for now I’m taking a break.

If anyone feels like picking up the torch, the rules I’m going with are the two players overlapping must play in the same game for Canada.

* TBD, 2023 - Atiba’s last game

* 08/21/2008 - Atiba and Onstad’s last game together (1-1 vs Jamaica, WCQ)

* February 12, 2003 - Atiba and Onstad’s first game together. (4-2W @ Libya, Friendly)

* March 30, 1988 Onstad’s first CanMNT game. @ Colombia (0-3 L) (I’ve forgotten the context, friendly I think).

Edited June 14, 2023 by footballfreak

[finchster]

Great career, great guy, and gave his all to our program. When he found this program, it was a mess- it is less of a mess now, and he has left it in the hands of world class players. His play was a part of that.

[tarnado1555362291]

The end of an era. I first watched him link up with De Guzman in the midfield at the 2007 gold cup. Huge fan ever since. From an attacking player at Copenhagen, and getting many minutes at right back with PSV…. And finally holding down the midfield for ten years at Besiktas. World Cup. Exemplary career and longevity at a high level. Great he was able to play alongside and be a role model for this new generation of men. Long live Tiba! 
 

straight to coaching badges please

[Unnamed Trialist]

I think you announce NL to keep the focus, and they'll add BMO afterwards, to not have fans or players getting ahead of themselves.

Also because that Toronto game looks to be manageable, we should be able to give him minutes.

[Shway]

Definitely needs a proper sendoff....

We got a month to get some funds in an honour the Canadian GOAT with a proper tifo. 

[Bigandy]

12 hours ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

You really thought he wouldn't play in the Gold Cup?

Like others here, I thought he would retire in July at the earliest.

He said he probably would retire.... he could still very well be on the fence about the Gold cup. If we win nations league then he gets "injured" for the gold cup and hes replaced. If we dont win, he tries for a gold cup. I mean, he probably retires after nations league regardless but hes left the door open which seems odd....