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Posted by
Steve Bottjer,
March 24, 2013 |
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Email Steve Bottjer
Twitter @BottjerRNO |
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During four successful years playing in Major League Soccer with the Houston Dynamo, Andre Hainault was very much a symbol of the role that the North American top flight could play as a developmental platform for players for the Canadian Men’s National Team.
On the back of 104 appearances with Dynamo, with many of those coming during high pressure playoff run fixtures and postseason matches, Hainault vaulted himself into a position as a core player with Canada’s national team.
However, after the 2012 Major League Soccer season, Hainault declined to extend his contract with Houston and signed for Scottish Premier League club Ross County on a free transfer. According to the Canadian International, it was simply a case of a player looking for a fresh challenge, a new life experience and a change of scenery.
“I just wanted to change things up from MLS. I had been there for four years. I had a good experience there but was looking for something new and for a change. I wanted to get back to Europe and this opportunity came up. It’s been a nice change,” Hainault told RedNation from Qatar, where the Canadian national team is scheduled to play a friendly against Belarus on Monday. “It is a beautiful countryside and a beautiful country. It’s been slow to get going (on the pitch). The team has not stopped winning since I have signed. It’s been one of those situations but I am still happy to be here.”
Following a fantastic season that had been capped off by him being named Houston’s Defender of the Year in 2011, the previous summer had been one in which interest from several big clubs in Europe (French side Bordeaux, Spanish team Mallorca, Portuguese club Braga and Belgian side Anderlecht) suggested that the 26 year old defender would be heading back to Europe sooner rather than later.
With the names of those clubs still fresh in the minds of Canadian national team supporters, Hainault’s move to the Scottish Premier League took many by surprise.
“To be honest, the rumours were just rumours. My last couple of months in Houston was mainly me coming off the bench or sitting on the bench. That didn’t help me too much in terms of trying to make a move. I ended up not wanting to re-sign with Houston and that can happen sometimes when you don’t want to re-sign with your club,” Hainault explained.
“I didn’t have too many options when it came to the end of the season. I was looking to go to Ross County to be able play some games and maybe be seen and have some teams come over and see me. However, like I said, they have been winning. It has been great for the team and we’re pushing for top six and maybe getting into Europe. Sometimes things work out like that.”
Hainault made his debut for the club on 23 February 2013 against Motherwell as a 90th minute substitute for Paul Lawson. Given that he is only on short term contract until the end of the current campaign, the Canadian International is not sure how long he will be staying in Scotland.
“It is tough to say. I have not really got going with Ross County. I’ve been there for a couple of months and haven’t played. It’s hard to say if I see myself staying and signing a new contract because I haven’t really played. It’s kind of tough being in limbo, especially after four years in Houston where I really made some good friends and it was really good at the club. Now I’m in position where I am only signed for a couple more months and I haven’t really had a chance to play. It will be another exciting transfer window in the summer. My wife is with me and we have our little dog with us, so we’ll figure it out together.”
“I had been in the Czech Republic and it was good and then it kind of ended on a sour note, just in terms of how it worked when it is time to leave the club. I went to the MLS to get out of the Czech Republic and to try something new and it ended up being a great experience there. But there are also a lot of things (in MLS) that can drain you – a lot of travel, a lot of nights spent in a hotel. It is kind of a funny season because you just have to make the playoffs and then anything can happen from there. It is a different league and I sort of wanted a change. We knew with the last year of my contract coming up that we were going to make a push to go to Europe. It maybe hasn’t gone as smoothly as I wanted it to and sometimes that is the way it is when you come from MLS. You are starting over again in Europe a little bit. I’m sure it will all get figured out. I’m happy right now in Scotland. It is a beautiful change from Houston, so we are doing well.”
Asked what he is taking with him to Europe from four good years in Houston, the versatile defender was quick to talk about the competitive nature and winning mentality that was ever present at the Dynamo organization.
“I still keep in touch with a lot of the guys and with Dom (Head Coach Dominic Kinnear) via emails back and forth. It was a team that was always out to win and a strong group of guys that stuck together. Maybe we weren’t the Los Angeles Galaxy and weren’t winning The Supporters Shield and things like that, but when push came to shove, we always stood up and were counted,” Hainault said. “It was a team of winners. It didn’t matter if we were playing a 5v5 in training or something else, everybody always wanted to win and you were always keeping score. And we did win more games than we lost, so it was a really good time there.”
Regardless of where his club career takes him in the coming years, Hainault was also quick to express his pleasure at being back with the Canadian Men’s National Team and earning another cap with a substitute appearance against Japan on Friday.
“It is nice to be back with Canada. I wasn’t sure I was going to be called in for this one since I hadn’t been playing so much with my club in Scotland. It’s always nice to get called in and catch up with guys that you haven’t seen in a while. The last time I was in camp it didn’t end well with the Honduras game, but it is always nice to get together with the other players. It’s also nice to come to a place like Qatar. I had never been anywhere in this part of the world and it is a whole other world.”
The 6 foot 2 defender admitted that the players have been buoyed by the continued commitment that the Canadian Soccer Association has shown with respect to scheduling regular matches for the national team as it regroups and build towards the Gold Cup this summer and ultimately another World Cup qualifying run for Russia 2018.
“You want to have a good run of games because that experience is going to count when things get tough. You want games against CONCACAF teams that we will face in either the Gold Cup or World Cup qualifying and you want games in Europe as well because you need them. There are a lot of guys playing in Europe and it’s hard to convince clubs to let them travel down to Florida or something like that. So you need camps in Europe and this is one that is mainly European-based guys,” Hainault said. “We have these great games against Japan and Belarus and there are more coming up. It’s always nice to see and I know the guys appreciate the chance to test themselves against these teams. You want to test yourself against the best, so these are great games.”
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