ja tässä vielä google translaten käännös niille, joiden toinen kotimainen on yhtä heikko kuin allekirjoittaneella.
Interview with Toni Stahl, fine back in the Fort Lauderdale Strikers
25-year-old Toni Stahl is a Finnish footballer who currently plays in the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the North American Soccer League, which is the league for MLS. Before he landed in Fort Lauderdale did Ståhl a season for the Philadelphia Union to MLS and before that he studied at the University of Connecticut, where he also played for their football team. In this interview, Toni Stahl including about his experiences as a football player in Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale and what to consider
Toni Stahl is a 25-year-old Finnish footballer who currently plays for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. Toni will talk more extensively about his career so far, but if we are to make the last few years, in short, he moved to the U.S. before the college season in 2006, when he joined the University of Connecticut, or the "UConn" as it will largely be called to come in this interview. Stahl did very well on the football field during his years in college. In four seasons he made 79 matches, two goals and nine assists and had such honors as "Rookie of the Year" and "Midfielder of the Year" thanks to their efforts Connecticut Huskies, as the school's team name. The 2010 MLS SuperDraft was Ståhl at number seventeen in total by the Philadelphia Union, which was the year's expansion stroke in the MLS. Stahl had to play from start to the central midfield in Unions first MLS game ever, away against Seattle. The debut in the MLS, however, was not what Stahl had hoped for when he was sent off just before halvid and Philadelphia lost by 0-2. It was Ståhls single appearance in the MLS for Philadelphia and, not including a game on loan for Harrisburg City Islanders, it was also his only playing time at first-team level in 2010.
After the 2010 season, declined the Union to extend by Ståhl and he was klubblös. After including a sample game in IFK Norrkoping, he wrote in the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the North American Soccer League (NASL), considered the second division in the U.S. (MLS is number one and USL Pro is third). Fort Lauderdale Strikers were a new team in the league in that old Miami FC had moved to Fort Lauderdale and has become the current Fort Lauderdale Strikers. However, there have previously been team named Fort Lauderdale Strikers and this is as it were a continuation of the Act's history. 2011 was a very good season for both the Strikers and Toni Stahl personally. After a fourth place in the regular season, defeated Strikers FC Edmonton late in the quarter finals and then Puerto Rico Islandes in the semifinals. In the finale, which was played as a double meeting with NSC Minnesota Stars, however, it became a total loss of 1-3. Stahl was taken out of the "Best team" in the NASL, as one of four hills. The terminals were also Ståhls Jamaican defense colleague Lance Laing.
Stahl is now working hard to prepare for the 2012 season with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. As late as the day before he played in a friendly game against Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Virginia), where it was victory 2-0. Unfortunately we did not so I could ask anything about the upcoming season. I sent namely, interview questions by e-mail as early as October, and after not having received any response since then, I had long resigned myself to the fact that the interview had come to nothing, but now the other day I received a very surprising answer. Thus, the questions seem a bit dated, it had really been fun to ask about the upcoming season as well, but it is the way it is.
To begin with, tell me about your time as a youth player in Finland!
- During my time as a youth player in Finland, I played a couple of different teams. I played for HJK for many years, but when I was sixteen, I went from playing youth football to senior football in the second division in Finland. The team called AC Allianssi. I'm only there for one season and then I went to FC Espoo, where I remained for the rest of my time in Finland and it was also the second division. I had many injuries in my time in Finland and it meant I could not play that much. It was a traumatic time for me and I wondered many times to quit with the football.
How did you get the opportunity to move to the United States and how was your time at UConn?
- I received a letter from EuroAthlede ID when I was doing military service in 2005. I had a couple days of vacation from the army and when I got home there was this message waiting for me. After reading it I thought that this was something for me, this was what I wanted to do. So I called Miikka Terho, one of the recruiters on EuroAthlede ID, and we began the process immediately. UConn was the first school that contacted me and I was impressed from the very beginning. There were so many great schools that wanted me, but I wanted to stay on the East Coast and at UConn. My time there was like a fresh start. They let me go through a lot fystester to make sure that I would keep me healthy during the heavy season. For the first time in many years I could play without pain and injury and it gave me a spark to the sport and I started to like to play again.
When I look back on my time at UConn, I can honestly say it was the best four years of my life. I'm glad I took the chance. I do not regret that I left Finland in the least. I met so many wonderful people and made friends for life. UConn gave me a new life and I feel gratitude towards them every day.
Who was the best player you played with at UConn?
- I can not name a single player, we had several really good players in our team. Many of my former teammates are now playing in MLS or in Europe. I had the pleasure of playing with guys like Julius James, Dori Arad, Akeem Priestley, O'Brian White, Kevin Burns and others. I've probably missed a lot of players, but it was a pleasure to play in one of those talented teams.
If any readers are interested in going to the U.S. to play college football, do you have any tips for them?
- Be sure to read up on school before making any decisions! The difference between different schools can be huge. Some schools may be better academically and athletically than others, and competition for scholarships is fierce. Of course, you also need to know what you want, it is most important. I know from personal experience that it is not so easy to pack your bags and leave their homeland for a completely different culture and environment, so you must be really dedicated if you're going to make it work. I've seen so many Finnish players come to the U.S. only to leave after one or two semesters.
If you have a chance to get help, get help from EuroAthlete ID, they know what they do and they helped me enormously. Many have no information or knowledge about the schools in the United States. I got help from the right people, who knew the options that suited me.
I guess your time in the Philadelphia Union was not what you had hoped for. What are your thoughts about your time there now when you look back on it, and developed you as a player even though you did not play so much?
- The season was a disappointment in many ways. When I became draftad of Philadelphia, I had high hopes of playing and be successful. I did really well from me in the preseason and was rewarded with a place in the starting lineup in the premiere of Seattle. After receiving a red card in the game, I never got a fair chance to compete for playing time at my location, instead I got to play in different positions every day. Then I also had some minor injuries that really did not make things any better. But I will not go into detail about what happened during the season, not just for me but also for other players. It was an "interesting" season, so we can say. I definitely developed as a player. Playing every day with quality players competing for places in the squad was good for me. I grew as a person and gained a better understanding of the "business side" of football in the United States.
You wrote in the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in April 2011, and before that had you been in practice games with IFK Norrköping in Sweden. How did you end up in Fort Lauderdale and why did you decide to stay in the U.S.?
- I needed an environment that suited me and my development. I had some bad luck in Sweden because I broke a toe while there. They showed great interest. I still wanted to return to MLS, but my injury made it difficult things. When I was in Sweden called my agent and told me that the Fort Lauderdale Strikers were interested and I knew the team and their history and what they had done in the 70 - and 80's. After I had somewhat recovered from my injury, I went to Florida to work out and they wanted me to write to them directly. The coaches knew me from college and from his time in Philadelphia. I got a good offer and the chance to prove to them and to myself that I could compete for a spot in the squad. It was a pretty easy decision to sign for the Strikers. My former teammate from Philadelphia, Eduardo Coudet, played in Fort Lauderdale with me last season and helped me a lot with the decision.
How would you summarize your first season in Fort Lauderdale? You got a lot of playing time, came up with the "Best team" and the team achieved good results.
- Personally, it took a while to get back into game shape and we had a tough stundals during the first part of the season. But overall I had a very consistent and good season, even though I had hardly played any at all in Philadelphia. It was important for me to play regularly, and we went all the way to the finals. There is always something special about playing in the finals, sadly enough we are not quite there, but I was very proud of my young teammates, and it was a success for the Fort Lauderdale city as well.
How do you see the difference in quality between MLS and the NASL?
- The quality of the NASL is very good, the difference compared to the MLS is not big at all. There are many talented players in this league who for one reason or another have not had the opportunity to play in MLS or elsewhere. Of course, the MLS is simply a bigger league, with more promotion and revenue. It's the biggest difference to me.
How would you describe yourself as a player? What position do you prefer to play?
- The last few seasons, I played center-back, which I really like. As a player, I am more of a technical one. I play easy, I suppose I am a pretty "ofinsk" player because I like to play almost a little Latin American, with plenty of possession and short passes.
What are your ambitions in the future?
- "The sky is the limit"! We'll see what happens in the future, my goal is to reach as far as I can. I'm just trying to work hard every day and see where it leads.
How do you like to live in Florida? I'm guessing that the weather is a bit more pleasant than in Finland!
- I like living in Florida. Staying right on the beach is nice, I must say. It's good weather this time of year, but in a few months it will be wetter in the air and then it becomes almost unbearably hot. It took a long time to get used to the heat, and we have the absolute advantage of playing at home in that kind of heat.
Would you encourage more players from Finland and Scandinavia to move to America?
- Absolutely, but as I said earlier, you must be sure that you want to do it. You have to want it to be a life changing experience in a positive way and not a negative. It is a wonderful opportunity to study and get a degree and play football at a high level, if you have ambitions to play professional football.
Are people in American football (coaches, players, etc.). Different from Finnish? In what way?
- The biggest difference I've noticed is that the American coaches and players put much more emphasis on the mental part of the game and during the preparations. And as for American players in general they know really how to take care of your body.
Finally, who do you become "the next big thing" in Finnish football?
- Last year I saw a few matches of the Finnish league. I really liked what I saw of Teemu Pukki, who then played for HJK but is now in Schalke. He'll probably be really good when he gets some more experience. There are many talented young players produced in the youth academies, so I think that Finland has its best fotbollsår front of him.
Here we take and thank Ståhl for the interview and wish him good luck ahead in your career! For those interested, I can tell you that the Fort Lauderdale Strikers begins its season April 7 at home against FC Edmonton. More information about the team can be found on
www.strikers.com. I also take and send a thank you to Ken Mendonca, who works with media-related issues in Fort Lauderdale Strikers, and photographer Jon Van Woerden, who took this picture of Toni.
