Radzinski joins Hall of Fame

[Soju]

From the CSA: Soccer fans will have the opportunity to celebrate one of Canada’s all-time great strikers at the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Tuesday 16 October at BMO Field. Honoured member Tomasz Radzinski will officially be inducted in his hometown of Toronto at Canada Soccer’s upcoming home international soccer match. Radzinski will be inducted at half time of the Canada home match.

As Radz gets set for the hall of fame, let us share our fondest memories of him here, so new Voyageurs can better understand how it was in the long long ago times when we didnt have all these prospects at big euro clubs...oh no...we only had The Radz.

Edited September 29, 2018 by Soju

[David C.]

Awesome! That guy was one fantastic player. I mean, really fantastic.

[BrennanFan]

He's right up there with Hutchinson as the best player we ever produced.  

[Bertuzzi44]

Radzinski was a class above. Whenever he played for Canada it was plainly obvious.

Congrats Radz!

[BearcatSA]

He'd be the kind of guy who should write a no-holds-barred autobiography about his career.  He seems like the kind of guy who'd take off the filters and tell how he really felt about situations and individuals. 

[rob.notenboom]

Up the tow, Radz!

[Blackjack15]

Was this known from before?

another reason besides the Tabla commitment to buy tickets to attend the Dominica match at BMO next month 

 

[Blackdude]

10 hours ago, Blackjack15 said:

Was this known from before?

In May, they did mention that Radzinski and Chapman will be honoured at a men's and women's game respectively. The only question was how many home games we would play and that was the 1 that was guaranteed.

https://www.canadasoccer.com/class-of-2018-chapman-and-radzinski-named-to-canada-soccer-hall-of-fame-p161560

[cronaldo7]

Absolute legend. I remember watching him at Anderlecht and Everton. His speed was incredible. Well deserved Radz!

[jpg75]

"Hey remember that time when Radz left the Nats during WCQ and didn't come back til 5 years later?"

<crickets>

[Blackdude]

2 minutes ago, jpg75 said:

"Hey remember that time when Radz left the Nats during WCQ and didn't come back til 5 years later?"

 <crickets>

Geoff Aunger. 

[jpg75]

2 minutes ago, Blackdude said:

Geoff Aunger. 

The Legend.

[BrennanFan]

3 hours ago, jpg75 said:

"Hey remember that time when Radz left the Nats during WCQ and didn't come back til 5 years later?"

<crickets>

I recall he called out the CSA for not springing for first class flights, and that was one of the reasons he didn't play for a while.  

Seemed petty then, but things like that are real difference makers. Eventually the CSA got a clue, and it was Radz who blazed the trail.

[beachesl]

I like Radz, but his fake injury in September 2004 when he played for Fulham cost us going to Germany WC in 2006. 

[jpg75]

1 hour ago, BrennanFan said:

I recall he called out the CSA for not springing for first class flights, and that was one of the reasons he didn't play for a while.  

Seemed petty then, but things like that are real difference makers. Eventually the CSA got a clue, and it was Radz who blazed the trail.

He thought he would be better utilized at Forward instead of RM. Problem was we had Pesch and Bunbury at FWD. After the loss in Kingston (which put us on the brink of mathematical elimination) he bailed back to Belgium in the week between games (before the ES game). There was nothing trailblazing about it. I like the guy, he was an awesome player, but he acted selfishly at that point in his career.

[Admin]

I moved Soju's 2 stick graphic to the Graphics & Tifo forum.

 

[Soju]

On 9/30/2018 at 8:44 AM, beachesl said:

I like Radz, but his fake injury in September 2004 when he played for Fulham cost us going to Germany WC in 2006. 

I remember this very differently than you, then. Because I remember us not getting to Germany, because the team and coach sucked at soccer and made me throw my beer at the wall screaming in frustration as Carlos Ruiz castrated us in Vancouver in front of a pro Guatemalan crowd. Would Radz have helped? I dunno, maybe a little. But I'd argue that team was never going to Germany anyway, because aside from being abysmal in all of their home matches in a very winnable group, Jack Warner was making damned sure T&T were going instead. The less said about the Yallop era, the better.

[Soju]

On 9/30/2018 at 5:18 AM, jpg75 said:

"Hey remember that time when Radz left the Nats during WCQ and didn't come back til 5 years later?"

<crickets>

I remember that well, and what was especially odd about it was how he'd played in the cakewalk home and away qualifiers against Belize prior to that group stage.

Why would he play in those games if he had no intention of joining the squad for the proper qualifiers? Something must have happened between him and Yallop.

That wasn't the only instance of his disappearing from national team duty, either. He turned down Holger's call ups before that for the 2000 Gold Cup squad and wouldn't explain why. Something certainly happened between Radz and Holger...and Radz and the CSA...and Radz and David Moyes...the Radz had opinions and butted heads.

Yet he came back to us and he played his ass off, bagged a good goal against Mexico and put on a Sack the CSA shirt among other proud moments. In the end the Radz isn't perfect, but I think Radz is one of us. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Edited October 4, 2018 by Soju
formatting

[BrennanFan]

1 hour ago, Soju said:

I remember that well, and what was especially odd about it was how he'd played in the cakewalk home and away qualifiers against Belize prior to that group stage.

Why would he play in those games if he had no intention of joining the squad for the proper qualifiers? Something must have happened between him and Yallop.

That wasn't the only instance of his disappearing from national team duty, either. He turned down Holger's call ups before that for the 2000 Gold Cup squad and wouldn't explain why. Something certainly happened between Radz and Holger...and Radz and the CSA...and Radz and David Moyes...the Radz had opinions and butted heads. Yet he came back to us and he played his ass off, bagged a good goal against Mexico and put on a Sack the CSA shirt among other proud moments. In the end the Radz isn't perfect, but I think Radz is one of us. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I think you have the timeline wrong. 

Radz left a CMNT camp during the 1998 Qualifiers when Lenarduzzi was still the coach.  I agree that there is no possible way to excuse this. 

He did not play at all during Holger's tenure, skipping the 2000 Gold Cup and the 2002 Qualifiers completely.  This is the time where I recall the issue about first class flights being discussed in the media.  Radz also made a comment to the media about not wanting to play for Canada in "Mickey Mouse games", anyone remember that?

He finally came back to the fold in 2003 once Holger was gone.  The Belize series you referenced was in June 2004.  He missed the first WCQ match later that year against Guatemala due to a questionable injury, but he did play the rest of the qualifiers under Yallop.

That first Guatemala game, though, was the first nail in our coffin.  We actually had a great team going into that cycle: 

Radzinski Hume

Brennan deGuz Imhof deRosario

Jazic deVos McKenna Stalteri

Onstad

But due to egos and injuries, Radzinski, Brennan, deVos and McKenna were not available.  And it was over before it begun.

He of course played all of the 2008 WCQ, but not before skipping the 2007 Gold Cup.  

 

Radz was the best of his generation, but with only 46 caps and 10 goals, one wonders what might have been if he had simply shown up and played consistently.  I'm not sure if he ever scored a crucial goal or game winning goal for us.  However, if he had played more for Canada, perhaps his club career would not have been as amazing as it was.  

At the end of the day, he did have the balls to put on a sack the CSA shirt on.  He did play in 3 WCQ cycles.  He was the first Canadian to play in the UEFA Champions League.  He earned his place in the Hall of Fame.   

[Soju]

Yes, but.

Edited October 4, 2018 by Soju

[jpg75]

Soju, i'm talking about when Radz left the team in Sept. 1997.

[Soju]

Sorry I see what you mean now Im mixing up your post with beachesl comment on Radz 2004 absence from that home Guatemala match you just mentioned, which wasnt the only qualifier he missed that cycle IIRC, though we were already eliminated when he skipped the Guatemala return leg (when DeRo scored that great lob.)

I realize now my comment wasnt well written, but what I was trying to say was since he flew out to play Belize in 2004, then missed the next match against Guatemala, if he wasnt actually injured, I guessed he must have taken issue with Yallop.

However, as you pointed out, he came back to play more under Yallop, further reason to believe he was legitimatley injured at that time. Faking an injury then skipping such a crucial qualifier, after otherwise showing commitment to that coach and squad, doesnt seem plausible. As another poster pointed out, it would be great to interview Radz about his whole CMNT tenure and clear the air.

 

And Im just going to add back then the nats had basically no prep time before that awful 2004 qualifying campaign, so its unfair of me to trash Yallop and that team when Guatemala had a load of playing time together and we only had Belize. That was a major reason the team were so disjointed and the lack of friendlies was a major topic here in the aftermath.

Edited October 4, 2018 by Soju

[BearcatSA]

I can't find the interview on the internet but I do remember Radzinski being critical of not being played centrally (in DeRo's spot) in Mitchell's WCQ squad.  At the end of qualifying he was moved into the central role alongside Gerba vs Honduras away (a loss with no offensive influence) and a home draw vs Mexico (with his being named MOTM, IIRC).  That's why he'd probably be a good read, because at this stage of his life he would probably be pretty frank.  I wouldn't take all of his opinions as Gospel, but we could use a good pot stir here.

[Toje]

Radzinski started up front in this match with Jan Koller.

[Soju]

Radz and Koller were a classic big man/quick man striker pairing and that was his natural position throughout his career. We saw later on at Fulham when Radz was played on the wing he never seemed as comfortable or effective. When Canada moved to a more modern 4-5-1 under Mitchell/Hart and had Friend or Occean as target men, Radz got pushed out wide. I think he was eventually pretty effective there for Canada, thinking back to strong performances particularly in friendlies against Austria and Brazil, but would have liked to have seen him in a higher central role to better influence the game.