2012 was truly a roller-coaster year for Canadian soccer. The Women’s National Team buoyed supporters with an outstanding display at the London Olympics lead by Christine Sinclair, as well as Diana Matheson and Melissa Tancredi. Unfortunately, the year ended off with despair as the men’s team completely collapsed in their final match of World Cup Qualifying to extend their streak that is closing in on thirty years without going to the tournament.
With that looming over the men’s program, it makes is difficult to look across this year’s nominees and find someone who stands apart. A handful of players had very good domestic campaigns, from Patrice Bernier’s comeback in starting the year on the bench to becoming the lynchpin in their summer surge. Atiba Hutchinson continues to be one Canadian competing at the highest level each week and his importance to the national team earning results was evident when he returned from injury. Olivier Occean will certainly be a contender for his outstanding scoring rate in the 2.Bundesliga that helped his club Greuther Furth gain promotion to Germany’s top flight for the first time ever.
It is not quite as easy as the last few years where Dwayne De Rosario, Atiba Hutchinson and Julian De Guzman put in campaigns that clearly set them apart from their national team counterparts. We asked a handful of contributors to RedNation Online their thoughts on this year's award and who, if anyone, deserves the accolade in 2012.
RNO Roundtable: Who is the Male Canadian Player of the Year?
These are the nominees:
Patrice Bernier | CAN / Impact Montréal / Brossard, QC
Julian de Guzman | USA / FC Dallas / Scarborough, ON
Dwayne De Rosario | USA / DC United | Scarborough, ON
André Hainault | USA / Houston Dynamo | Hudson, QC
Lars Hirschfeld | NOR / Vålerenga Fotball | Edmonton, AB
Atiba Hutchinson | NED / PSV Eindhoven | Brampton, ON
Kevin McKenna | GER / FC Köln | Calgary, AB
Olivier Occean | GER / Eintracht Frankfurt | Brossard, QC
Gavin Day: Atiba Hutchinson
As disappointing a year as it's been for the Canadian men's national soccer team, Atiba Hutchinson has proved how important he is to the team.
In action this season, he's proved that when he's on his game for Canada the team has performed while when he's not having a great day, Canada has suffered as well. In the 8-1 debacle in Honduras, Hutchinson was the best performer on a team that laid a collective egg in the biggest game of each of their respective careers.
On the club side of things, Hutchinson is playing day in day out for a team that's one of the leaders in the Eredivisie with PSV Eindhoven. No other Canadian is playing at such a high standard and he's a mainstay for the club. He still does have a few years left in him so he could still make another go for another World Cup cycle which would benefit Canada greatly.
Ian Clarke: Olivier Occean
The last few years have been much easier to single out a player, whether it be Dwayne De Rosario winning the MLS MVP, Simeon Jackson continuing his ascent in England or Atiba Hutchinson establishing himself as the best player in Denmark, then jumping to the Netherlands with top side PSV Eindoven. Unfortunately this year the collapse in the World Cup Qualifying is a dark cloud over all of these players and makes it much more difficult to find that player who excelled for both club and country.
Of all the players on that list I think one of the most significant developments was Olivier Occean’s standout season with Greuther Furth where his 17 goals were instrumental in getting his team promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time. That was followed up with Eintracht Franfurt, a much bigger club who were also promoted, buying him for the start of the 2012/13 season. While Occean’s first third of the season has not been as strong as his previous two years in Germany, looking back over the last year, he stands out as the player competing and performing at the highest level.
For the national team, one cannot help but look at the games he missed and wonder if his presence up top could have made a difference with the team’s confidence as well as lacklustre attack. In this last round his goal in Havana got Canada off on the right foot for a critical three points and at least kept them in the hunt beyond the second game, as seen in 2008.
His combination of performances at the club level in getting Greuther Furth promoted and into the Bundesliga as well as emerging as Canada’s only real target threat up top is why I see him as this year's player of the year.
Armen Bedakian: Patrice Bernier
There are plenty of strong candidates on this list, but what Dwayne De Rosario or Atiba Hutchinson have going for them is consistency - we know what they're capable of, so when they do their job, it's expected, not always exceptional. That's why my pick is for Patrice Bernier. He was relatively unheard from when he was in Germany: sure, he was in the national team fold, but really, how many people cared about Bernier before he moved to Montreal? His career took a huge upswing in Quebec with the Impact, and he was named the club's MVP for 2012. It's a credit to his rise from obscurity that he is getting more regular national team call-ups too. In a way, Bernier is to Montreal as Dunfield is to Toronto this year, except Bernier is actually a good footballer.
He's my pick for Canada's Male player of the year!
Steve Bottjer: Olivier Occean
I have to agree with Ian in going with Olivier Occean as my Male Canadian Player of the Year. Patrice Bernier had a fantastic first season in the MLS and Atiba Hutchinson had another solid year for both club and country. However, Occean’s accomplishments in Germany and his late career renaissance as he has risen up the ranks and established himself as a Bundesliga quality striker in my opinion set him apart from the other nominees. It also doesn’t hurt that the Canadian National Team attack looked much less dangerous in the matches in which he was injured or suspended.
Outside of my selection of Occean, I have to admit that I was a little bit surprised when I did not see Milan Borjan listed among the nominees. While on loan from Turkish club Sivasspor to Romanian side FC Vaslui, the 25 year old keeper played a major role in his team’s surge to a second place finish and a qualification for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in club history. Furthermore, once he returned to Turkey for the beginning of the current European season, he quickly asserted himself as the number one keeper and as one of the most consistent and impressive Canadian players in Europe. Borjan was also solid in the appearances that he made for Canada in 2012.
Kamal Hylton: Atiba Hutchinson
My pick for Canadian Male Player of the Year is Atiba Hutchinson by the thinnest of margins over Patrice Bernier; this is mainly down to their production and overall importance to the Canadian Men’s National Team over the course of the year.
His club side PSV Eindhoven is currently top of the Dutch Eredivisie standings and although he hasn’t had the chance to play in many league games so far this season he has picked up valuable experience in UEFA Europa League and has shown his versatile throughout playing both in midfield and at right fullback.
However his bigger impact has come in international play, as one of Canada’s best players throughout FIFA World Cup qualifying he showed steady form and along with Will Johnson and Julian De Guzman made up a solid midfield core. His importance to the squad was arguably felt more when he was absent due to injury, although he was able to come back in time for the third round of World Cup Qualifying the overall makeup of the team and the formation was affected with the likes of Terry Dunfield and Nik Ledgerwood filling in with mediocre results.
Lars Lowther: None of the above
In a year where Canada has flamed out in the World Cup, in such an embarrassing fashion, not a single one of these players deserves the award. Of the ones there, the most deserving is Dwayne De Rosario, who did not participate in that 8-1 massacre under withering Honduran fire. It's
been a rough year for Canadian soccer. If we want to be crowning male players of the year, we should be looking to younger age groups, or even our futsal team.
But we should not be rewarding those who, not just failed when it mattered most, but played embarrassing football... with awards they do not deserve.
|