Onstad announces his retirement as a player

Canadian soccer legend Pat Onstad has officially made the switch from the active roster to the coaching staff. The 42-year old Major League Soccer goalkeeper has announced his retirement from Houston Dynamo to become an assistant coach alongside Chad Ashton with D.C. United.

Onstad spent 23 years as a member of Canada's national team, having made his debut at age 20 on 18 February 1988 in Hamilton, Bermuda. His last international appearance was 24 May 2010 in front of 66,000 fans at River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In all, he made 57 appearances for his country, a national record for goalkeepers. He also established national records for most clean sheets (21) as well as most clean sheets in FIFA World Cup™ Qualifiers (8).

"Pat is an inspiration to many through his dedication to his profession and for his achievements in the game," said national coach Stephen Hart. "Never hesitant to answer the call to represent Canada, Pat remains a model to many aspiring young players."

Onstad participated in one FIFA Confederations Cup (2001), six cycles of FIFA World Cup™ Qualifiers (18 matches), and five CONCACAF Gold Cups (1993, 1996, 2000, 2003 and 2007). He helped Canada win the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2000, the country's second confederation championship.

He also participated in the 1991 North American Nations Cup, the 1987 Pan American Games, the 1987 FIFA U-20 World Cup, and the 1986 CONCACAF Men's Under-20 Championship (gold).

In Major League Soccer, Onstad won three MLS Cups, one with the San Jose Earthquakes (2003) and two more after the franchise moved and was renamed the Houston Dynamo (2006 and 2007). He was MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 2003 and 2005, was part of the MLS Best XI in 2003 and 2005, and produced the MLS Save of the Year in 2009.

Along with his three MLS Cup championships, he also won an A-League title (1998) and a U.S. Open Cup (1999) with the Rochester Rhinos, a Challenge Trophy senior men's championship with the Vancouver Westside Rinos (1993), a Canadian Soccer League championship with the Winnipeg Fury (1992), and three Sam Davidson Trophy national championships with the University of British Columbia.

Onstad holds a USSF A Coaching License. He has already been engaged this past season as an assistant coach to Tony Fonseca with Canada's men's U-23 / Olympic program.



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PAT ONSTAD SAYS GOODBYE TO CANADA

For a new segment on "Full-Time" called "MLS Corners", I had the chance to catch up with Houston Dynamo goalkeeper Pat Onstad. Onstad is also a former Canadian goalkeeper. Now when I say former, I'm not trying to push Pat into national retirement, he's done that himself. When asked whether he would take a call to represent Canada at the Gold Cup this summer, Onstad responded by saying, "I can't see that happening anymore, if the coach did that he might get into a little bit of trouble". Which means he's not expecting a call from the Stephen Hart. Pat went on to say, "I think I'm done with the National team, but it's been a fantastic ride and I've enjoyed every minute of it". So there you have it, the Canada number 1 job is up for grabs, although it would seem that Lars Hirschfeld has that spot wrapped up right now. I've written about the potential replacements before, and now it would appear that those replacement can now fight it out in the years to come.

In other news, despite the fact that he would be 43 in 2011, Onstad said he would love the opportunity to play in Vancouver, "At this stage it would be pretty surprising, but it would be great to finish up in Vancouver, but a little unrealistic."

To listen to the interview, tune in to Full-Time: Vancouver's Soccer Show this Sunday, June 7th at 10pm PT on TEAM 1040am.

MLS Corners is a new feature on Full-Time that will dive into the world of the MLS. With Vancouver entertaining the MLS in 2011, we decided that we should get the fans of the game up to date with some of the players around the league. You will hear from the likes of veteran players like Pat Onstad and Kansas City Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad and young players like Columbus' Eddie Gaven. Plus those currently building an MLS team, like Peter Nowak in Philadelphia.

Canada's goalkeeping situation + more

Asmir Begovic is getting some good action to close out the season for Portsmouth. David James is set for shoulder surgery, which means that Begovic will likely start next weekend. He did do enough to get the job next week. The chance for Begovic at the end of the season has provided an opportunity for his to show his stuff of what he can do against some of the best players in the world. With that experience, does he get into the mix as the starting goalkeeper for Canada at the Gold Cup this summer?

His competition will try and show that they should get the gig and depending on how Stephen Hart wants to head into the tournament, they might. First, the competition and forgive me if I have missed someone, trying to find a Canadian goalie playing quality minutes outside of North America in like trying to find a needle in a hay stack.

Josh Wagenaar had a good string of games for Yoevil Town in League One. but did not feature in a long stretch of games near the end of the season before coming on for 6 minutes in his final match action on May 2nd, 2009. Hardly game ready.

Lars Hirschfeld plays for CFR Cluj. But playing is a hardly a word I would use. Featuring in very limited action during his time in Romania. Can he be ready for the summer?

Kenny Stamatopoulos is in Norway and so far during the season has featured in one match. Hardly someone you can have as your starting goalkeeper on a national level.

On this side of the water, Greg Sutton has been a mainstay in the program, but he's only played twice this season for TFC and has been beaten out for the starting job by Stefan Frei.

The biggest competition comes from the 109 year old (actually 41 years old) Pat Onstad. Who is once again proving that he has what it takes to play the game at the MLS level. Starting in all 8 games for Houston and providing 4 clean sheets.

The biggest question on Onstad is whether he still wants to play or whether Hart still wants him. he may not want to compete on the internation stage anymore, he did afterall, get a lot of blame for a certain goal in qualifying. Hart must decide whether Canada is making a run to win the Gold Cup or building for 2014.

If the decision is to win the Gold Cup, the choice is obviously Onstad, with Begovis backing up and learning. If it's to build for the future, Begovic is your main guy. I feel like the Gold Cup should be a building block for the younger players while continuing to build the core which features De Rosario and de Guzman. I would start Begovic and bring Onstad as the back-up to tutor the young netminder. The future starts now and it's time to figure out whether Canada can sink or swim with what they have.

Elsewhere on the field, I like the Canadian back line at TFC. I would love to see Adrian Serioux as the main man on the backline with David Edgar slotting beside him. With Nana Attakora-Gyan proving that he can play with MLS calibre players sitting on the right. While I like what I have seen from Jim Brennan this season, I think the left side is still up for grabs.

In the midfield, I would like to see Dwayne De Rosario, Julian de Guzman with Daniel Imhof playing a holding role, a job he's done very all season at Bochum in Germany. And to mix it up, Will Johnson starting all 9 matches for Real Salt Lake.

Up front, I'm going with Simeon Jackson, who is ripping it up in England and Rob Friend. It would feature a nice mix of size and speed.