I'm a soccer fan from Canada

[CanadaFan]

Hello Rapid fans.

I don't speak German (austrian) so if anyone could answer my questions in English I would be very gratefull.

I am curious as to how Ante Jazic is doing. Ante plays for the Canadian National Team and is likely to be a starter in the left fullback position in our upcoming attempt at qualifying for Germany 2006. Would someone be able to give me an indication of what Ante's strengths and weeknesses are??? You guys are able to watch Ante a great deal and no one in Canada has that luxury, if that is what you would call it. There is some competition for the left back role but Ante has a good opportunity to obtain it.

Most people in Canada have only watched Ante play a grand total of two times (1 half game against Finland and 1 full game against Ireland) and in both instances he was not kept very busy and did not manage to get into the play much.

Any assistance would be much appreciated.

Thankyou and have a nice day.

[Frosch]

Hello to Canada!

Although i am a bit tired already, i will try to give you a short description of Ante. He is an agile, calm defender whose strengths are his quickness, agility, endurance and tackling. His better leg is the left one. His shooting abilites are average and he is not the very best playing the ball with his head. Regarding his technique i would qualify him as average. On my opinion his biggest weakness (i think you wrote weekness ) is that he should show more courage on the field as he is all other than a "leader" on the field.

However, i hope that this information could at least help you a little and i even hope more that Ante Jazic will retain his position in the National team

[CanadaFan]

Frosch,

You are very kind to give me such a quick reply. The strengths you have mentioned are quite consistent with what fans in Canada have noticed in the short time we've seen him play or have heard about him - although I was not aware that he is not that great with the head (I'm assuming technique rather then intellect)

I am happy to hear that he is doing well. Do you believe that he is or ever has been in serious danger of losing his role with the Rapid? I hope not as we could really use a solid left fullback.

The concerns that most in Canada have had from watching him play is that he was unwilling to take chances by getting up in the attack, he was quiet and looked as though he was content not being to involved, so he would play safe even in the role of left midfield. Safe is fine as a left fullback but we are hoping that he gains some courage and shows us what he can do with that left foot. He has an excellent opportunity to gain that left back position and I wish him well.

He is 28 years old so if he is ever to be a leader on any team, now is a good time to start.

Ante is quite a hero in his hometown where soccer is quite popular, not to mention the die hard football fans across the country. Hockey is the most popular sport for viewing (spectator) but soccer is the most popular sport in Canada by means of participation (significantly higher number who participate verses hockey).

Thanks again.

[Frosch]

Hello Canadafan!

Of course i was talking about his technique when mentioning his head . On the contrary, i think Ante is rather intelligent. I think Ante has a good chance to keep his role as left defender with rapid, although he will have to prove that he is the right man for the job... He is lucky, that on my opinion there is not too much competition regarding the left defence part with rapid. If Ante would play on the right wing, he possibly would be a substitute...

I will go to sleep now. good night!

[Deth N´ Maiden]

Kann mir wer das ganze auf Deutsch übersetzen

[sacred]

Kann mir wer das ganze auf Deutsch übersetzen

der fan von kanada,wollte wissen was jazic schwächen und stärken sind,wie er bei rapid so spielt, ob er bleibt,da er ihn erst 1 oder 2mal im team kanada gesehen hat.er sagt noch das ante große chancen und möglichkeiten hat links hinten oder links im mittelfeld zu spielen in der qualifikation für WM 2006

diese fragen wurden beantwortet von frosch

[Dannyo]

Hey CanadaFan ! First of all: Welcome to the Austrian Soccer Board !

My opinion about Ante:

Ante is our only solution as a left fullback... his opponent on this position is the Polish player Marcin Adamski, who has a large lack of technique-ability.

Jazic' greatest strength is his pace. As far as I know he is one of the best sprinters (especially on the famous "first meters") in the whole league.

In the defensive role of his fullback-position Jazic plays superb games, players from the opponent side become desperate sometimes, because they have to come over Jazic several times in only one dribbling-situation - he's back behind the ball in seconds...

As Frosch said, his technique and his shooting abilities are average or even weaker, but he showed also nice crosses (especially Ante's assist to Steffen Hofmann in the Bregenz away match, which we won 2:1) or 1-2-passes with Hofmann and Ivanschitz in the running season.

He is a very quiet player, isn't very loud on the pitch, and so are is offensive abilities... it's realy rare that Ante has the heart to try a risky offensive push, so he does not play his role as a fullback in a modern way. Concluding we could say, that Ante is a good defender, who doesn't take part in the side's offensive play very often.

He has also been appointed on the defensive midfield position, where he failed, because he wasn't able to push the game of Rapid Wien.

As we heard from the Rapid Wien board, Jazic earns a lot of money and so they thought about getting rid of him at the end of the running season. But as he is a first team regular at the moment, I can imagine, that his contract will be renewed once more.

[sladdi]

He is 28 years old so if he is ever to be a leader on any team, now is a good time to start.

I really can't see him making it to a leader. He is much too silent and insecure.

Regardless of that I like his playing as a full back or a wing. He has well-balanced skills apart from his outstanding quickness.

[CanadaFan]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the welcoming responses.

Your input is excellent and I will be sharing it with the rest of the Canadian soccer supporters at this website: http://www.canadian-soccer.com/forum/

Please drop by anytime. My name is Georgio and that is who I post as over at the Voyageurs website (the name of the large group of supporters of Canada's National Teams).

I wish you, the Rapid squad and the Austrian National Team well in all football endeavours in upcoming years, unless of course you are to meet Canada at the World Cup (doubtfull but one can dream) in which case I hope we shock you with a stunning upset

If anyone else could share info regarding Ante's personal life in Austria that you are privvy to that would also be awesome to hear. Rumours, embarrasing moments, girlfriends, anything. If not , that's ok, we are most interested in his soccer abilities anyways and it sounds as though he could fit in perfectly with our National squad.

On the subject of maintaining the teams possession of the ball with accurate short and long passes, would you say that Ante does not give the ball away to the opposition? Would you say that he does not make many mistakes while the Rapid are in possession of the ball? I understand that he plays safe, but does Ante give the ball away much? Prior to Ante playing in the left fullback position for Canada we had a player in that position (Richard Hastings) who also played in the Austrian league for GAK and he was just downright scary at times by giving the ball away or miss passing. So you can understand our concern in that regard.

You guys are very helpfull and I hope at some stage we, over at the Canadian Soccer chat forum can also help you with questions in the future.

Take care,

Georgio

[Deth N´ Maiden]

der fan von kanada,wollte wissen was jazic schwächen und stärken sind,wie er bei rapid so spielt, ob er bleibt,da er ihn erst 1 oder 2mal im team kanada gesehen hat.er sagt noch das ante große chancen und möglichkeiten hat links hinten oder links im mittelfeld zu spielen in der qualifikation für WM 2006

diese fragen wurden beantwortet von frosch

Danke *gg*

bearbeitet 21. Februar 2004 von rattlesnake87

[Dannyo]

If anyone else could share info regarding Ante's personal life in Austria that you are privvy to that would also be awesome to hear. Rumours, embarrasing moments, girlfriends, anything. If not , that's ok, we are most interested in his soccer abilities anyways and it sounds as though he could fit in perfectly with our National squad.

Sorry, but Ante's personal life is even more quiet than he is on the pitch...

On the subject of maintaining the teams possession of the ball with accurate short and long passes, would you say that Ante does not give the ball away to the opposition? Would you say that he does not make many mistakes while the Rapid are in possession of the ball? I understand that he plays safe, but does Ante give the ball away much? Prior to Ante playing in the left fullback position for Canada we had a player in that position (Richard Hastings) who also played in the Austrian league for GAK and he was just downright scary at times by giving the ball away or miss passing. So you can understand our concern in that regard.

Jazic can be classified two levels higher than Hastings. Hastings for example has not been a first team regular, he was often used in a squad rotation system at GAK.

Jazic' passes are short and safe, but his off the ball behaviour is stunning sometimes. He just passes the ball to the next uncovered team mate, starts a 10 or 20 meter sprint and waits for the 1-2-pass. That is one of the typical routes of Ante Jazic.

He doesn't make many mistakes in passing or crossing, but don't expect spectacular or risky moves or passes from Ante - he is a real safe player...

Moreover I have to say, that it's nice to have you here, Giorgio. It's always cool to discuss about football with foreigners. Hope to see you sometimes again

[CanadaFan]

Well it appears as though Rapid Wien have tied Bregenz 1-1 according to the official website. And it also appears that Ante Jazic recieved favorable comments from a lot of people in that game (on the officail website and from you guys). I use the Google Translator Tool to attempt at translating your guy's comments regarding Ante and it sounds as though he almost scored with a nice crack at goal (hit's the post). The Google Translator does not work that great so maybe someone here could give a little detail if you have the time.

I think comments mentioned that he was getting forward in yesterday's game. Maybe Ante has been reading your comments and wishes to improve in that regard

From the comments it also seems that some of you were surprised by Ante's play because it is rare that he get's forward in the offense. Maybe this is a sign of things to come.

Dannyo, Sladdi, or Frosch???

Was Ante making overlapping runs in this game or was it his routine 10 - 20 meter give and go sprints?

[Johanninho]

Dear Mr Canadafan,

Rapid is full geil and totally cult in Austria! We have Teamkapitän Ivanschickz and Kapitän Hoffmann in our team! Everyone in Australia loves the holy rapid!

Peace on earth

[Dannyo]

Yesterday he did very well in the offense, had some good assists (after a Jazic cross our new striker Axel Lawaree hit the post) in the first half of the game.

On the left back side he did, as usual, a secure and good defensive game. His opponent never had a chance.

But in the second half he disappeared a little, didn't head to the offensive, which was a little scary, because in the second half he had a nice partner on the left side with Sebastian Martinez, who played a nice game...

Next game: Saturday in the afternoon at our beloved Hanappi Stadion, or as we call it "St.Hanappi", against FC Kärnten, who is last in the league table at the moment.

[Frosch]

Hi Canadafan!

You are right. Ante was not as cautious as he usually is. He played a rather offensive role against Bregenz and had some good crosses (i dont know if it is the correct term-i mean that he played the ball high towards the opponent team's goal coming from the left wing ). He certainly was one of our best players yesterday which you also can see in the thread "wer war bester Spieler gegen Bregenz".

See you

Frosch