Posted by

Ian Clarke ,

January 31, 2012 Email Ian Clarke Twitter: @ClarkeRNO

Paul Stalteri

In the wake of an MLS Draft, emerging youth academies and a third top flight football club in Canada, it can be hard to imagine it was only a short time ago that none of those paths to a professional football career would have been an option among young up and coming players in this country. While it wasn’t quite the days of walking twenty miles to school, uphill both ways, it can at times be startling to think that it was only fifteen years ago that the football landscape was drastically different than today. It was an era of an emerging group of talented players who had to forge a difficult path if they were to have a prosperous career, not only in North America, but especially Europe. Players such as Dwayne De Rosario, Jim Brennan, Richard Hastings, Kevin McKenna and Jason De Vos. All of them have had storied careers, either in Canada, the United States or overseas, but none have matched the accolades and achievements of another Canadian who reached heights no one had before and none since. In 1997, at the age of 19, Paul Stalteri would have been making the tough decision that many Canadians would have before him, and many did after, in terms of which route to take in order to achieve his dream of playing professional football. With the NCAA far from the level of competition it is today, and being an international slot for clubs in MLS and Europe, competing with the best locally and around the globe, Canadian players would have to be more than worth their weight in gold. Any route taken would be a gamble on ever paying off. “I went to Clemson in the States and realized shortly after being there for a year that if I stayed for three more it would have been really difficult to pursue a professional career, especially in Europe,” explains Stalteri. “That was my main reason for leaving at that time. I believed that three more years of that and I would have struggled to find a European team and that was the main reason I left.” He would return home to Toronto where newly formed club, the Toronto Lynx, were competing out of Varsity Stadium at the University of Toronto. It was a team that would see two other future Canadian International mainstays come through that season, Dwayne De Rosario and Pat Onstad. The Lynx gave Stalteri a chance to play and he repaid them with a strong showing, slotting home seven goals over a sixteen game stretch and helping them make the playoffs – a good result in the inaugural season for the team. It was during this summer that his pedigree was garnering attention from a litany of clubs. Several were vying for his attention, but one stood out above the rest and that would be Bundesliga side Werder Bremen. “It was a strange time, getting phone calls from different people every week with interest in taking you here or taking you there. In those times you have to be very careful, have a good head on your shoulders and know which had more substance to it.” “Back then it was difficult with the different club names and leagues. Access to information was so limited 15 years ago, compared to now you can gather all the details of any club in a matter of minutes. With regards to Bremen, to be honest, other than the name of the club and league, I knew little else other than it was one of the better run clubs in Germany.” Werder Bremen was not quite Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen or Borussia Dortmund, but were only a half decade removed from raising the Schale in 1992/93 and were consistently competing in Europe from top half finishes for almost two decades. Stalteri left Southern Ontario for Northern Germany on a two-week trial and would be competing with hundreds of hopefuls for only a handful of spots with the club. It was a risk going so far to put all his hopes into a environment where one would not have had all the information on the club, city, league, etc… but his fears of blindly walking into a very foreign situation was put to rest quickly enough. “It took only about five minutes for me to realize what kind of club I was dealing with when I got there. Bremen had a keen interest, and it became a learning situation for both sides. It was difficult traveling so far, but I knew it was also me taking a look at is as well for two weeks. When they signed me, in those situations from about 1000 players who come in, they only end up keeping one or two and that was huge for me. I could not have asked for more from those two weeks.” One of the fortunate few to gain a spot with a top flight German side, Stalteri would still have to pay his dues before ever seeing his first ninety with Werder Bremen. At still only 19 years of age he would need to continue his development step by step in order to earn his way into the first team. “I was under no illusions when I signed that I would get into the side straight away. I knew it was going to take some learning and not just the way of football, but the language and culture as well.” Despite this, he nearly made his debut in his first year at the club, but a change in manager in the fall of 1998 kept him in the reserves indefinitely, as is often the case a new manager means new players, philosophy and priorities. “I grinded out the first couple of years learning the trade. Your first goal it to just make it into the first team and make your debut and hopefully things go well. The pace was right so you're not asking for too much all at once, and I was definitely in a situation where things were being taken slowly.” Stalteri reflects, “It was a big grind through the first two to three years and much more difficult than it is probably now. In the late 90s, it was as it's not as common for young players to go over to Europe, especially to Germany, and it's become much more common now.” While many often attach the adjective “languish” to spending too much time on a reserve team, Stalteri was fortunate that the structure of German football meant that he was still competing and developing at a high level even though it was not through Bundesliga fixtures. “It wasn't typical reserve team football like you get in England. For starters, you're training with the first team, but league games you're competing week in week out in the third division of Germany. You're playing with professionals alongside you, against the teams across from you, teams trying to gain promotion or avoid relegation.” Stalteri continues, “You are playing in meaningful games, in big stadiums with a good atmosphere and learning your trade with other footballers who've played in the Bundesliga. From that standpoint it was a really good situation playing proper games every weekend and it was a good balance. I think I needed those two years to learn the difference in football compared to North America.” A positive attitude and mental toughness took him through his first two years, but like all youngsters who know their potential and what they can deliver, frustration began to set in. A nagging feeling that a decision on his career would need to be made soon if he was going to keep progressing, Paul was reaching a critical juncture in his short career. “It was really just a matter of time before things happened, but the last year got really frustrating knowing I was ready to step up to the next level. The new manager, Thomas Schaaf, liked me as he was the one who brought me to Bremen,” recalls Stalteri. “After that first half season I had sat on the bench a few times for Bundesliga games and there were rumours I was close to getting a game, but they never progressed. I was needing a decision in terms of what direction I was going to make with the club.” Added to the situation, it was the year that he was part of one of Canada’s few moments of football glory. It was February of 2000 and against all odds Stalteri and the likes of Craig Forrest, Carlo Corrazzin, Richard Hastings and Jason De Vos turned CONCACAF on it’s head by defeating the likes of Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago and finally Columbia in the finals to win it’s first major tournament in almost a century. He was nearing the end of his contract, had just won the Gold Cup and heading into the summer of 2000 would need to make a choice of where he would go next. Either stay with Bremen and finally be given the chance break through, or part ways and try to get into another side.