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Geplaatst op 29-03-2015 12:51
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VANCOUVER -- The Vancouver Whitecaps have been on life support several times during the teams history, but Bob Lenarduzzi has always been there to help resuscitate the franchise. Lenarduzzi has been the face of soccer in Vancouver since the glory days when 100,000 people gathered on Robson Street after the Whitecaps won the North American Soccer League championship in 1979. He has been a player, coach and executive with the franchise. He has celebrated championships, winced at name changes, and hustled to find investors when creditors were pounding on the door. When the Whitecaps play their first Major League Soccer game Saturday against Toronto FC (TSN, 6:30 p.m. ET), Lenarduzzi will have turned another corner in a long, twisting road. "I thought I had seen the best of times for professional soccer in this city," the Whitecaps president said this week. "I honestly believe the best is yet to come. As a club, I think the sky is the limit as to where we can see ourselves going. "Saturday will be the culmination of the journey that has taken up to now. In actuality, its only the start. Its the start of us building this franchise into one of the top 25 in the world." Lenarduzzi, 55, has always understood his place in soccers evolution in Vancouver. He never considered himself bigger than the sport, just a tireless advocate of where it could go. "The idea of a Vancouver team in MLS seemed a long way away in 2002 when it looked like we were going under," Lenarduzzi said. "Theres been people through the years that have played a significant part in allowing the franchise to stay alive to get to the point where we could seize this opportunity." Since playing their first game in the NASL on May 5, 1974, the Whitecaps have enjoyed success and wavered on bankruptcy. The one constant has been Lenarduzzi and his belief that a professional soccer team had a place in Vancouver. His dedication to building the sport at the grassroots has resulted in the development of many players through youth leagues and residency programs. Whitecaps midfielder and Vancouver native Terry Dunfield remembers being a five-year-old and climbing a tree outside of Swangard Stadium to watch Lenarduzzi play. "Bob is Mr. Soccer for Vancouver and probably Canada," said Dunfield, who spent 14 years playing soccer in England. "People listen to him, respect him. Hes been through it all with Vancouver. He was there when there was 100,000 people when they won the cup. He was there through the dark times." Paul Barber, the teams chief executive officer, has spent many a lunch hour tapping his foot waiting for Lenarduzzi while people approach him on the street. "Bobs a legend," said Barber, a former executive director of Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League. "He transcends generations. "Its great for him personally that we are going into MLS. There have been so many years of difficult times. He never lost faith and confidence. For that, he deserves what we are going into." Born in Vancouver, Lenarduzzi was a 15-year-old midfielder/defender when he began his professional career as a youth with Reading FC in England. He played 67 first-team games and scored two goals. He joined the NASL Whitecaps in 1974 and remained with the team until the league folded in 1984. He was NASL North American player of the year in 1978. Lenarduzzi also played 47 games for the Canadian national team. He was part of the squad that advanced to the quarter-finals at the 1984 Summer Olympics and qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. After the NASL folded, Lenarduzzi was part of a group that put up $500 each to put a team in the newly formed Canadian Soccer League in 1987. He would be the teams player-coach. "If that doesnt happen ... I may have had to look for a real job," Lenarduzzi said with a smile. The 86ers won four consecutive league titles starting in 1988 and enjoyed a 46-game unbeaten streak. Lenarduzzi retired as a player in 1989 but continued to coach until 1993. He was also the teams general manager from 1988 to 1993. Lenarduzzi became head coach of the Canadian mens national team in 1993 but failed in two attempts to reach the World Cup. He returned to be GM of the Vancouver 86ers in 1998. When the 86ers changed their name back to Whitecaps in 2001, Lenarduzzi became head of soccer operations. When talking about the teams history, Lenarduzzi always praises past owners like David Braley, who also owns the CFLs B.C. Lions and Toronto Argonauts; and David Stadnyk, who purchased the Whitecaps naming rights from former NASL Whitecaps director John Laxton. "Even when we were on deaths door, my objective was to always make sure we had someone that was prepared to pay the bills and someone that was prepared to be around for the long haul," said Lenarduzzi. The owner who has had the most recent impact on the team is Greg Kerfoot, who purchased the club in 2002 when the Whitecaps were again tee**** on bankruptcy. Kerfoot is a reclusive millionaire who didnt even attend the news conference when he bought the team. While rarely seen, Kerfoot hasnt hesitated to spend money on the Whitecaps. "I had no idea he was prepared to make the kind of investment that he has made in soccer in this city," said Lenarduzzi. "He has made this opportunity possible as a result of his vision and his investment in the sport." When the MLS decided to expand, Kerfoot was part of an ownership group willing to pay the US$35-million franchise fee. Other owners include NBA star Steve Nash, a huge soccer fan who grew up in Victoria; Jeff Mallett, the former Yahoo! president who is a part-owner of the San Francisco Giants; and businessman Steve Luczo, who is part of the group that owns the NBAs Boston Celtics. Seeing the Whitecaps return to North Americas top professional soccer league is more than a personal goal for Lenarduzzi. He believes its a step toward another dream, building a mens national team that can represent Canada at the World Cup. "What needs to happen, and is starting to happen, is the Canadian Soccer Association, provincial associations, the Whitecaps, Toronto and Montreal (the Impact will join MLS next season) need to come together and be systematic in how we develop players," Lenarduzzi said. "The rest of the world isnt wrong. The pro teams develop players." nfl jerseys china . Ryan Bolta (@TSNBolta) and the case for Ohio State: If in fact Ohio State completes an undefeated season and wins the Big 10 title on Saturday, they deserve to play for the BCS National Championship. Cheap New York Mets Jerseys .C. -- No lead was safe for either Pittsburgh or Carolina until James Neal ended a back-and-forth game in overtime. http://www.jerseyscheapnfl.us.com/ . Schalke general manager Horst Heldt said Thursday that he made an offer to extend Rauls contract, which expires at the end of the season, in an email to the Spaniards representative, Gines Carvajal. wholesale nfl jerseys . This is Lillys third trip this season to the DL, which is retroactive to June 5. He has made only five starts, going 0-2 with a 5.09 ERA. He missed the first 19 games while recovering from left shoulder surgery, and also was sidelined for 17 games from April 30 to May 20 with a strain in his right rib cage. Cheap Florida Marlins Jerseys . The New York point guard who in the span of five games has gone from a seldom-used player to NBA phenomenon arrived at the Air Canada Centre on Tuesday as his Knicks set to battle the Raptors -- and Linsanity prevailed.Significant victories by Chelsea at the Emirates and White Hart Lane will count for absolutely nothing when the Barclays Premier League hands out the trinkets next spring. Instead, history tells us that for the European Champions to reign supreme domestically this season, they must defeat Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Recording the home win against Sir Alex Ferguson has been a consistent for each of the titles the West London club has amassed during this House of Abramovich era. A title birthright - if ever there was one that Ferguson wont need to be reminded of. Nor the fact no other club has got a better head-to-head record against Manchester United in the Premier League than Chelsea. Its now over a decade since the last time in the league that United left the swanky Royal Borough of Kensingston and Chelsea packing the three points for the trip back up North. One of the scorers that day back in April 2002 was Paul Scholes. Globally patented mistimed tackles aside, Scholes will have a pivotal role as his club looks to disrupt a swashbuckling Chelsea midfield. A divide and conquer mission is required Sunday. Mata, Hazard and - to a lesser extent - Oscar have played with the grace and purpose that runs rampant in a certain club Chelsea defeated in the semi final of last years Champions League. Underpinning it has been Obi Mikels coming of age - his football maturity having announced itself that Munich May evening. With Chelseas transformation from the more direct and physical approach to a faster passed more attractive style that came at great expense to Abramovich - and with it the opportunity cost of an almost complete overhaul to their long serving midfield - most pundits predicted pre-season that the clubs new signings and system would need time to bed in. How wrong they were. Hazard leads the league in assists, Oscar tops the oh my table and no other player this season has shown more consistency and value to his team than Juan Mata - who earlier in the season was very shrewdly only used sparingly by Di Matteo. Tellingly, the clubs only better start to a season was when they retained the title in 2005-06 - when they recorded nine straight victories to kick off the campaign. As dominating as Chelsea has been in the league where they seemingly are scoring goals for fun, the same does not hold true in Europe. Setting aside Tuesdays disappointment in Donetsk, Atletico Madrid schooled Chelsea in Augusts UEFA Super Cup and Juventus deserved more than the point at Stamford Bridge and the score line against Nordsjaelland certainly flattered to deceive. Its safe to say a Jekyll and Hyde type Chelsea has emerged under Di Matteo. If a Euro trash Chelsea show up Sunday then the outcome will not be any different to the time the two clubs met in the first leg at the quarter-final stage of the 2010-11 Champions League. A Rooney marker was enough to secure the win for United at Stamford Bridge that particular April evening. Although last years runners-up go into Sundays match on the strength of a mid-week victory in the Champions League, the story of their season is conceding early and often. Alarmingly for Ferguson, this familiar pattern has occurred in four of their last five games. Not always like Tuesday night have United responded and gone on to collect the points. Decimated at the back with long term injury setbacks to Smalling and Jones and combined with the loss of Vidic late last month for upwards of two months has piled way too much pressure on a very weary playing Rio Ferdinand. Rested in the week by Ferguson is a sure sign the manager knows to get the best out of the soon to be 34-year-old he has to provide his ex-captain with a comfortable seat in the directors box when the occasion merits. Especially so, ahead of big moments like Sunday. Although hell never admit it publicly (neither will John Terry) but the year-long racism saga the two have been embroiled in has taken a psychological toll on them both. Now mercifully, the searing feud is at an end following the statement released by the Ferdinand brothers Wednesday night. Allied to this, there will be no pre-match histrionics around the traditional handshake greetingg.dddddddddddd Terrys confined to the directors box as he serves out his four-match ban. You cant get though keep the Chelsea captain out of the headlines. He is after all the only man in European football history to not play in a final but then in full kit, shin pads included, march his team up to the seats where the jewelry resides to hold aloft the European Cup. Much pre-match conversation will centre on the reports out of a Spanish radio station Thursday that had an agent claiming to be working on Terrys behalf shopping the player around for the January window. With Valencia mentioned as a possible destination, Chelsea were very quick to deny their captain would be leaving SW6. Although a Chelsea- Manchester encounter could not ever be mentioned in the same breath as an El Cl |
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Geplaatst op 28-04-2015 04:28
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