Center Line Soccer

Former Earthquakes goalkeeper Pat Onstad says that the team’s 2003 playoff run, which featured come-from-behind wins against both Los Angeles and Kansas City, is “like nothing I’ve been a part of since or before.” Photo: Michael Pimentel, isiphotos.com

BUENOS AIRES — Thanks to a string of lucky coincidences too long to recount here, I’m in Argentina this week, at the same time Canada’s national team is in town to play La Albiceleste in a special match on Monday commemorating the 200th anniversary of the South American country’s birth. I took the opportunity to catch up with long-time Team Canada goalkeeper Pat Onstad, who was twice named to the MLS Best XI and MLS Goalkeeper of the Year while winning both MLS Cup and the Supporters’ Shield with San Jose before going on to win two more MLS Cups with Houston. It’s always a treat to talk to Pat, who isn’t afraid to joke around a bit when the microphone is on but also does his best to answer every question.

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JH: Before we get into MLS, why don’t we talk a little bit about the task at hand. You’re here with Canada’s national team to take on Argentina on Monday at River Plate Stadium. What are your thoughts about the match?

PO: Well, I hear they’re a pretty good team, so it should be interesting — we’ll have to see.

JH: They have a couple well-known players.

PO: They’ve got a few players — I’m not quite sure how to spell their names or who they play for.

No, obviously it’ll be a very difficult match for us, one I think we haven’t had in a long time. A couple years ago we played Brazil up in Seattle, but they were probably not at full strength and they definitely weren’t in their own country. Argentina’s gearing up for the World Cup, they just named their (roster of) 23 a few days ago, and I would think they’re one of the three or four favorites going into the World Cup. It’s going to be a tremendous match for us and certainly something that I’ve never experienced and very few of our guys have as well.

JH: What are some of the bigger crowds that you’ve played in front of?

PO: Well, I played in Azteca in a (World Cup) qualifier where the place was packed, so I’ve had the big crowds and a few of our guys have had that experience, but I think, as good as Mexico is, they’re probably still not at the level of Argentina. So we know the challenge that’s ahead of us, but I think the nice thing is the guys are here to really try to gain some experience and perspective in terms of where we are and how far we need to go, not necessarily to be at Argentina’s level but just to be in the World Cup picture. Hopefully this will be a good building block for us.

JH: One of Argentina’s biggest stars in Lionel Messi. Will this be the first time you’ve played against a reigning FIFA World Player of the Year?

PO: I believe so — it will certainly be the first time I’ve been on the field with a player of that quality. We’re hoping that maybe Diego Maradona decides that he only needs about 45 minutes of playing time — that’s our strategy going in.

You can focus on one player and then you’ve got nine other guys on the field who will kill you, so it’s a match where I think we just have to be at our best and, by the same token, I think we’ll get the opportunity to try to play some soccer, to keep the ball. If we just try to lump it up, I think we’ll be in big trouble. It’s a game that I think presents a lot of opportunity for a lot of guys.

JH: Casting our attention back on MLS, Houston is facing a lot of challenges this year. You lost Stuart Holden and Ricardo Clark to clubs overseas, Geoff Cameron is out for the year with an injury. How are things going there?

PO: We haven’t really replaced Geoff. He was having an adjustment period before he got hurt, and he was starting to show signs of grasping the position. I think that’s a big loss for us, obviously, to lose him for four months. At first, they thought his PCL was ruptured but when they did the surgery they found it wasn’t, so the good news, I guess, is that he’ll be back by about mid-September and could even be back playing in late August.

In terms of Ricardo and Stuart, one guy signs with Bolton in the Premiership and the other guy signs in Germany with Eintracht Frankfurt and they both just signed extended deals, so all the power to them, but those are two very important players that we haven’t replaced at this stage. We’re still going through some growing pains — we’ve definitely played up and down this season so far, so we’ll see where it takes us from here.

JH: I wanted to talk to you a little bit about your time in San Jose. You guys don’t often get a chance to reflect on previous accomplishments but given the circumstances, I thought we might indulge ourselves a bit. You were around for San Jose’s second MLS Cup-winning season, 2003. What are some of your thoughts about the highlights of that season?

PO: 2003 for me, I think, there’s some lowlights too. My own goal against Kansas City was not a good way to start and I’m sure it didn’t endear me to the fans of San Jose, but I think as the course of the season went on I think I proved that was really an anomaly, it doesn’t happen very often in my career, although I’ve given up some howlers. Unfortunately it was bad timing on my part, so it does stick out in my head.

JH: Punching the ball into your own net is probably not the best way to introduce yourself to a team’s supporters, no.

PO: I think it might have been better if I had punched it instead of just one-handed flicking it over Troy (Dayak)’s head, who was about to head it away. That was the embarrassing part. But we had a great group of guys. For me, it was an eye-opening experience, the standard of MLS. I had played a level below in the A-League at a good club in Rochester — we had played friendlies and had a good U.S. Open Cup run in 1999 to win it, but there was no comparison to playing week in and week out against some of the better players in the U.S. For me, I think that’s what stuck out the most and, in the end, I thought I proved that I could be successful at that level and that was good for me personally. I’m very happy that Frank gave me the opportunity and believed in me, and I also had some big shoes to fill. Joe Cannon was a fantastic goalkeeper and still is at this stage, and left as MLS Goalkeeper of the Year. Those were big shoes to fill but I think I did my best for that club and it was an enjoyable experience.

JH: You won Goalkeeper of the Year that season, didn’t you?

PO: Yes, yes I did. It was a great year, it’s a beautiful — actually, “beautiful” is probably not doing justice to that part of the country, if we could figure out a way to get back there, we would. From my family’s standpoint, we had our second child there, so we feel like we have some connection to the Bay Area. It was a great three years.

In ’05, it was disappointing the way it ended, losing in the playoffs to L.A., but I thought that season, my memory of that was that it was probably my most enjoyable season of professional soccer in 24, 25 years. That season we lost four games, and we just had such a good team that when we would go down 1-0, guys would look around and say, “OK, how are we going to come back and win this one?” We just had a really good team, great character and a good bunch of guys. The memory of San Jose is just a really good memory and a very happy time in my career.

JH: I wanted to ask you about that playoff run in ’03. Certainly coming back from four goals down aggregate against the Galaxy was an accomplishment, and then you guys came back again the next week against Kansas City. What was it like for you to experience that? Has anything else come close to that?

PO: No. Certainly not the two comebacks. I just think we had the character on that team and the leadership that we had, through Jeff Agoos and a little bit of Troy Dayak, some of the older veterans like Manny Lagos, and obviously Landon (Donovan) on the field and Richard Mulrooney, we just had some really good players who had no quit in them. Even when we went down 4-0, guys weren’t pointing fingers, guys weren’t yelling at one another, guys just said, “we’ve still got a job to do. We’ve got 70 minutes of soccer; let’s see what we can do. If we can get one back before the half, hopefully two, we can make it a game.” You could tell at half time when we were in our locker room — granted, we still had two goals to come back from — but we were completely confident that we were going to win the game one way or the other. In fact, I think we were shocked that it took so long for us to tie it. That was the type of confidence that that group had. You know, we trained hard, we prepared for each and every game; things obviously didn’t go our way for the first game and 20 minutes of that one, but it was an incredible, incredible comeback, like nothing I’ve been a part of since or before.

JH: And then, of course, in MLS Cup against Chicago, you got out to an early lead and I think that was the first time the team actually had a lead in that run.

PO: Yeah, and I don’t think we played very well with a lead, either — we almost blew that one and messed it up. The start is what I remember — Ronnie (Ekelund) hitting the free kick, I think it was six minutes in, and I just thought we were playing good soccer. By the same token, I think Chicago was playing good soccer; I think it was a very entertaining match. Wide open, which you don’t really expect much in an MLS Cup final — maybe it was the goal scored so early. It was one of those games that could have ended up 5-5. We were lucky in the end, we had the better finishers and punked Chicago for their mistakes in the end. It was a great win for us, really enjoyable.

JH: You’re being a bit modest here — you did save a PK in that match.

PO: Yeah, it was nice to contribute. That was the thing with that team, that ’03 team — and I think the other thing I enjoyed about the ’05 team, too — is that it wasn’t ever just one player, even though we had I think the best player in the country on our team (in ’03), Landon, and granted he had a fantastic game for us, but Dwayne (De Rosario) stepped up and set him up, Ronnie Ekelund scored a great free kick, in the back Jeff Agoos and Ramiro Corrales, it just goes on and on. Everybody contributed to that win and it was the same in ’05 — everybody had a role to play and played the role well in both seasons. Even if we didn’t win (MLS Cup) in 2005, both seasons were really enjoyable.

JH: What’s next for you? You’ve probably exceeded your own expectations at this point, still playing at 42.

PO: Yes, I have. I don’t know — we’ll see. Dom (Kinnear) and I have had a pretty good relationship from the get-go, and since we’ve kind of always been honest with one another in terms of my role in the game and even to a certain extent with his coaching, I think we’ve had a good relationship and in the end he’ll probably be the one that says, “You know, Pat, I’m going to go another route,” and I’ll hold my hand out, shake his hand, and that’ll be the end of it. It’s been a great run, it’s been enjoyable, and I still think I’m playing at a pretty good standard in terms of when I look around the league, I think I’m still kind of holding my own in the nets. Hopefully I can keep playing — I love the game, I love the competition, I enjoy the locker room, so it’s going to be tough when it’s finally over but it’s been a fantastic run. To be at 35 and play eight years in this league is an accomplishment I’m very proud of and something I’ve worked very hard to attain.

JH: Well, speaking as someone who is also in his forties and has a little grey at the temples, it’s nice seeing someone out there like that still doing it.

PO: I’m a little more grey, but I take care of that a little bit illegally. If there’s any illegal substance that I’ve been using that we’re not going to talk about, it’s all for my hair. We keep the greys out. But it’s been a great experience. I’m very proud of the fact now, too, that I’m the oldest guy to have played in the league — I did that a couple weeks ago — and granted, I’m a goalkeeper, it’s a little different from running around like Preki did, but still at the same token to have that longevity, at times I’ve kind of surprised myself.

JH: It seems like you’ve always taken a pretty scholarly approach to the game. When you do quit playing, do you have any ambition to coach?

PO: I want to stay in the game, certainly. I’d love to get into coaching at the professional level, although having said that it’s a lot like playing: it’s not an easy job to find and it’s difficult, probably more difficult than playing the game. I was also heavily involved with the new CBA that we agreed to and which I think for both sides is a big step forward for the league and for the sport, and I think that CBA is going to give us an excellent opportunity to really get engrained in the American sports scene — if we’re not already there, we’re really going to get a chance in these next five years to see it really grow, so I’m excited about that. That side of it interests me as well, so we’ll see where that takes me after my career is over.