Agu Casmir

Football player infobox


playername = Agu Casmir
fullname = Agu Casmir
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1984|03|23
cityofbirth =
countryofbirth = Nigeria
height =
years = 2002-2003
2004-2005
2006
2007
2008-
clubs = Woodlands Wellington FC
Young Lions
Woodlands Wellington FC
Gombak United FC
PDRM FA
currentclub = PDRM FA
clubnumber =
position = Striker
youthyears =
youthclubs =
caps(goals) =
nationalyears = 2004-present
nationalteam = flagicon|Singapore Singapore
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate = March 27, 2007
ntupdate =

Agu Casmir (born March 23, 1984 in Nigeria) is a professional soccer player who played for the Singapore national football team. He took up Singapore citizenship in 2004. He was a member of the Singapore national team, which won the Tiger Cup regional football championship in 2005. A former player for the Young Lions and Woodlands Wellington FC in Singapore's S.League, Casmir is currently clubless after being released by Gombak United FC at the end of the 2007 S-League season. He was part of the 2005 and 2007 SEA Games squad, the latter being a bronze-medal winning team.

In May 2008, rumors surfaced that an Indonesian club was interested in signing him. This comes 2 years after the controversial "move" to Persija Jakarta. But however, he signed for Malaysian Super-League side, PDRM FA.

Playing career

Agu burst onto the football scene with Woodlands Wellington FC in 2002, scoring a remarkable 27 goals as an 18 years-old. He followed that up with another 15 goals the next year. In 2004 and 2005, playing for Young Lions, he scored a total of 31 goals. He returned to Woodlands Wellington FC last year and scored 17 times, before joining Gombak United FC at the start of the current 2007 S.League season.

In September 19 2007, Agu Casmir's 86th minute goal for the Gombak United FC, which cancelled out Home United FC Kone Hamed's 18th-minute opener, was his 100th in the S.League.

At the end of the 2007, Gombak United decided not to renew his contract and thus, he remained clubless up till now. Nevertheless, when the FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifier game against Lebanon loomed, he trained with one of his former club, Young Lions to keep his fitness at peak condition in order to be eligible for a call up to the national team.

Controversy

Controversy arose over Agu Casmir when local press in Singapore reported his absence in January 2006. It was reported that Casmir signed a contract with Indonesian football club Persija Jakarta and that he took a signing-on fee of US$20,000. However, he did not report for training, claiming to be attending football trials with a Russian club and the club subsequently sought repayment of the fee from his agent, ex-footballer Jules Onana.

It was consequently reported on the 19 February 2006 in The Straits Times that Agu Casmir had purportedly been in Canada and had no intention of further pursuing a career in football. The report quoted Agu Casmir's ex-manager, R. Vengadasalam, as saying that Casmir was disillusioned with football and had no intention of returning to Singapore. He had taken the contract to prove that he could still command a large annual fee (reported at US$80,000).

After a few weeks, reports emerged that he wanted to return to playing football in Singapore. Several football clubs including Gombak United FC had expressed interest in inviting him to play for their team, before he re-signed for former club Woodlands Wellington FC on a one-year contract, under a deal in which the club would re-pay Persija Jakarta his signing-on fee.

The Football Association of Singapore suspended him from the national squad for a year and fined him S$20,000, for his actions involving Persija Jakarta. [http://youth.sg/index.php?Itemid=37&id=163&option=com_content&sidenavpos=25&task=view] [http://singaporelifetimes.blogspot.com/2006_03_05_archive.html]

ee also

* List of Asian footballers with foreign heritage

External links

* [http://www.national-football-teams.com/v2/player.php?id=6091 Agu Casmir's Profile at National Football Teams website]