Reply With Quoteif I was him, I would be embarassed to be playing in my home town in my home country while representing a home country.
Portuguese star happy to play at home
Portuguese star happy to play at home
TONY BOCK/TORONTO STAR
Steven Vitoria keeps his eye on the ball during a practice session with the Portuguese under-20 team on Thursday, June 28, 2007
Under-20 full coverageUnder-20 tournament previewMade in Canada
STEVEN VITORIA
Age: 20
Height: 6-foot-5
Position: Centre-back
Favourite players: Kaka, Ricardo Carvalho
First cap: Portuguese under-19 team vs. China, April 2006.
Last Canadian team: Woodbridge Strikers
Contract: FC Porto until end of next season (loaned to Tourizense for this season).
Steven Vitoria was born in Toronto but Canada ignored him until he decided to turn pro
Jun 29, 2007 04:30 AM
Matthew Chung
Sports Reporter
Alice Vitoria used to feel sorry for her youngest son.
She'd field calls from Steven's soccer buddies, who were inviting him to see a movie in Woodbridge or hoping to hang out.
But Steven would usually turn them down. Instead of popcorn and a flick, he'd go to the schoolyard behind his Mississauga house, put up an old mesh net a teacher had given him, and practise striking his soccer ball.
"This kid would go up a little step ladder and he would be on it with a bungee cord trying to make a perfect net," Vitoria's mother said.
"I'd say, `Steven, you know, the kids are calling. Maybe you should take a break and go with them.'
"And he'd say, `Mom, I really don't want to go.' He gave up a lot of personal stuff."
"I'm not gonna lie, it takes a lot," Vitoria, 20, and living in Portugal, said on the eve of playing for that country's under-20 World Cup squad. "I worked a lot to get to where I am today. We can't just sit and wait for things to happen. We have go to after our dreams."
Vitoria's dream – as he sprinted behind his house at 6 in the morning or fired shots into the net after school – was to play professionally in Portugal.
That Vitoria, a dual citizen, would don national team colours as a central defender so quickly was a surprise to him.
Vitoria was born in 1987 in Toronto to immigrant parents from the Azores and showed a passion for soccer from a young age.
"All he did was want to play soccer all the time," said his brother Jason, 22. "He slept with a soccer ball, too."
His family moved from Toronto to Sudbury, then Mississauga, where Vitoria was a lethal house league striker, sometimes potting 10 or 12 goals a game as a midfielder. He then went on to play rep soccer for Woodbridge Strikers.
At 16, with his heart set on a career in Portugal, he spent two months with Lisbon-based Benfica.
Vitoria says that while he was in Canada, he was never approached about playing for the national team.
At 18 and in his graduating year of high school, Vitoria missed his prom to travel back to Portugal, this time "for good," as he put it.
It was actually for a tryout with a third division team but soon he was trying out for first division powerhouse FC Porto.
At 6-foot-5, Vitoria stood, literally head and shoulders above the other players, so Porto's coach asked, "Can you play centre-back?"
"I wasn't going to say no, I wanted the chance to play," says Vitoria.
A jubilant Vitoria signed a contract with the club. He played his first season with their junior team and last season was on loan to second division squad Tourizense.
It was shortly after signing that he says Canada finally took notice.
Under-20 coach Dale Mitchell sent a fax to FC Porto requesting that Vitoria play for Canada at this tournament, his mom says. But Vitoria, like Owen ********** (England) before him, chose to play for Portugal.
"To be honest, when I was there for the 18 years that I lived there ... I played soccer for a while, right?" he said. "I was never asked ... no one really bothered with me and then after I signed here in Portugal that's when all of a sudden everyone started caring.
"I had the opportunity to represent Portugal and to be honest I didn't have to think twice ... it was a dream of mine and my family ... not to choose over Canada but to take this opportunity of representing Portugal."
Vitoria, who arrived with the team on Wednesday, said he is delighted to be playing two opening-round matches at home in Toronto.
"To have all this happen and then in my hometown it's something really special for me and my family," he said.
if I was him, I would be embarassed to be playing in my home town in my home country while representing a home country.
I suspect he may get a Rusedski-like welcome.quote:Originally posted by red card
if I was him, I would be embarassed to be playing in my home town in my home country while representing a home country.
Will he actually play or sit on the bench?
Not sure that we needed a second thread on this guy, but now having read this article, I think it is safe for us all to puke now. The guy admits at the end of the article that he's fulfilling a dream of his & his family's to play for Portugal. If that is what his dream was, then that's his prerogative. But spare us the crap about Canada not paying any attention to him until he became a pro as an exuse to turn down Canada's invitation to play for the country that he was born in, grew up in & learned to play the game in. That's an even more lame excuse that those who claim it was ok for ********** to turn his back on his country because he was cut from the U17 program. If he was truly interested in playing for Canada he would have leapt at the opportunity to do so. If he's not a very patriotic Canadian that's up to him, it has nothing to do with Stephen Hart or Dale Mitchell.
"steve",quote:Originally posted by Jarrek
Portuguese star happy to play at home
TONY BOCK/TORONTO STAR
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.
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Vitoria, who arrived with the team on Wednesday, said he is delighted to be playing two opening-round matches at home in Toronto.
"To have all this happen and then in my hometown it's something really special for me and my family," he said.
Canada obviously means nothing to you... stop refering to it as your "home" and tell the media to say porto is your hometown despite being born in Canada to parents who will live here the rest of their lives. Also, you spent 18/20 years of your life in Canada and learned how to play soccer (which is now how you make your living) in Canada.
Leave your Canadian passport at the door. Thanks for comin out[xx(]
WHY? no reason whatsoever to be embarrassed...you all who talk smack should be embarrassed at how nasty you are all being...
quote:Originally posted by red card
if I was him, I would be embarassed to be playing in my home town in my home country while representing a home country.
I don't suspect that all, in fact I suspect the complete opposite...quote:Originally posted by Can. in UK
I suspect he may get a Rusedski-like welcome.quote:Originally posted by red card
if I was him, I would be embarassed to be playing in my home town in my home country while representing a home country.
quote:Originally posted by Bertuzzi44
"steve",quote:Originally posted by Jarrek
Portuguese star happy to play at home
TONY BOCK/TORONTO STAR
.
.
.
Vitoria, who arrived with the team on Wednesday, said he is delighted to be playing two opening-round matches at home in Toronto.
"To have all this happen and then in my hometown it's something really special for me and my family," he said.
Canada obviously means nothing to you... stop refering to it as your "home" and tell the media to say porto is your hometown despite being born in Canada to parents who will live here the rest of their lives. Also, you spent 18/20 years of your life in Canada and learned how to play soccer (which is now how you make your living) in Canada.
Leave your Canadian passport at the door. Thanks for comin out[xx(]
Give me a break!! Canada is his home and where his family resides and where he was born..Portugal offered him an opportunity and he went for it, the opportunity for Canada came too little too late and now you guys cry....put a sock in it...
Sounds to me like he always wanted to play for Portugal.
In defence of Steven, he probably isn't good enough to play for the u-20 Canadian side anyway. David Edgar is obviously miles ahead of him, and although I havent seen too much of Haber, I doubt there's much difference between the two. Good for him for getting a chance to play at a big tournament.
Too bad he'll disappear and never get capped by the Portuguese senior side.
At least he'll always have Canada 2007 to look back on fondly, especially sitting at home watching Canada play in South Africa 2010.
quote:Originally posted by eva
quote:Originally posted by Bertuzzi44
"steve",quote:Originally posted by Jarrek
Portuguese star happy to play at home
TONY BOCK/TORONTO STAR
.
.
.
Vitoria, who arrived with the team on Wednesday, said he is delighted to be playing two opening-round matches at home in Toronto.
"To have all this happen and then in my hometown it's something really special for me and my family," he said.
Canada obviously means nothing to you... stop refering to it as your "home" and tell the media to say porto is your hometown despite being born in Canada to parents who will live here the rest of their lives. Also, you spent 18/20 years of your life in Canada and learned how to play soccer (which is now how you make your living) in Canada.
Leave your Canadian passport at the door. Thanks for comin out[xx(]
Give me a break!! Canada is his home and where his family resides and where he was born..Portugal offered him an opportunity and he went for it, the opportunity for Canada came too little too late and now you guys cry....put a sock in it...
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