The Footie Fool

The Wandering Canuck was in Belgium recently and snagged an interview with Canadian national Tomasz Radzinski. There are some choice cuts in the article, including this nugget on his future with the MNT.

Q: Have you officially retired from international football?
T: No I haven’t officially. I have been approached by the CSA to see where my future lies with the national team but right now I really don’t know.

Q: Would you consider a call up for national team for this years Gold Cup?
T: It all depends on whether Lierse SK has to play in the promotion playoffs or not. If we finish at the top of the league then we won’t have to. If we play the promotion playoffs, I won’t have a lot of vacation time which is important for me with a new baby and all.

Great news to me. I thought he had all but thrown in the towel. But he has, like any astute player, left himself more than a bit of wiggle room that, should the call come, he could be back for another round. With the way he played in the last round of WCQ, and with his club form this season (13 goals), he still has a lot to bring to the team.

While he doesn’t throw the types of bombshells other Canuck players have lobbed in the past year, Radz still manages to make his point on a few of the big issues MNT fans have had under their saddle for the past umpteen years. First, this latest failed WCQ round. He doesn’t name names, but he does question tactics and the positioning of some players, including himself, in Dale Mitchell’s lineup.

I am not one to point fingers, but I find it really unfortunate that with the team we had, indeed the best Canadian team I have ever played with, we still couldn’t qualify. Maybe there were problems on the pitch in regards to the player’s positions. For example, if I had been played upfront with De Rosario on the wings it would have changed things a little bit.

And then there is the question of the CSA.

Obviously there are always issues with the CSA. We have conversations with them every year about what we want and it’s always the same thing. We want to make one venue our home stadium so that when we play, we are at home and we get that advantage of being at home. Indeed those European teams who are accustomed to the same stadiums, hotels, travel and turf statistically win more games. Montreal would be a perfect venue since it’s closer to Europe and has a grass turf. Altogether we had conflicts with the CSA over the little things, which in the end make a huge impact.

It’s a good interview. Thanks to OOT for pointing me to it.