Bob Lenarduzzi

Infobox Football biography
playername = Bob Lenarduzzi


fullname = Robert Italo Lenarduzzi
height =
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1955|5|1
cityofbirth = Vancouver
countryofbirth = Canada
currentclub =
position = Defender (retired)
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1970-1973
1974-1984
1984-1986
1987-1988
clubs = Reading
Vancouver Whitecaps
Tacoma Stars
Vancouver 86ers
caps(goals) = 067 0(2)
288 0(31)
nationalyears = 1973-1987
nationalteam = Canada
nationalcaps(goals) = 047 0(0)
manageryears = 1987-1993
1993-1998
managerclubs = Vancouver 86ers
Canada

Robert Italo ("Bob") Lenarduzzi (born 1 May 1955 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a former North American Soccer League star, Canadian International, and coach of the Canadian national and olympic soccer teams. He is currently President of Soccer Operations for Whitecaps F.C. in Vancouver. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Club career

A midfielder/defender, Lenarduzzi began his professional playing career at age 15 as a youth with Reading F.C. in England and went on to play 67 first-team games with the club, and scored 2 goals. Lenarduzzi then joined the NASL Vancouver Whitecaps in 1974 in the team's first season. He played 11 seasons until the Whitecaps last season in 1984, when the league folded. Lenarduzzi holds the record for most games played in the league, with 312. Interestingly, Lenarduzzi played all eleven positions during his tenure with the team. He was also voted NASL North American player of the year in 1978. The Whitecaps won the NASL Soccer Bowl championship in 1979. In 1984, Lenarduzzi joined the Tacoma Stars of Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). He spent two seasons with them before moving to the Vancouver 86ers of the Canadian Soccer League in 1986 to become the team's Executive Director. In 1987, he returned to the field as a player and a coach with the 86ers.

National team playing career

Lenarduzzi won 47 caps playing for Canada. He played all the country's matches both as the squad progressed to the quarterfinals of the 1984 Summer Olympics and as it participated in the first round of the 1986 World Cup finals. He is known for having Canada's best scoring chance in their only World Cup finals appearance, having almost scored against the USSR in 1986.

Coaching career

Lenarduzzi resumed his pro career in 1987 as a player/coach with the newly formed Vancouver 86ers of the newly founded Canadian Soccer League. After retiring permanently from playing in September 1988, he continued to coach the 86ers for the next five seasons. He led the franchise to an unprecedented four consecutive CSL titles from 1988 to 1991. His team set a record for professional North American sports teams when the team went 46 games unbeaten between June 6, 1988 and August 8, 1989. His 86ers career totals of 96wins-24loses-28ties makes him the winningest coach in Vancouver professional sports history.

Canada national team

Lenarduzzi became head coach ("i.e." manager) of the men's national team in 1993. In his first of two bids to see Canada back through to a World Cup finals, his squad twice came close but failed to progress to the 1994 finals. First they lost at home to Mexico despite scoring the game's first goal in a game with which Canada could have gone through to the finals with a win. (See 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF).) As CONCACAF qualifying winners-up, Canada then lost the away leg to Australia in a match decided by penalty kicks that saw the winner of the home-and-away series go on to play Argentina in a home-and-away series for a finals spot (won by Argentina).

In qualifying for the 1998 finals, Canada failed to finish in the top three of a six-nation CONCACAF final qualifying round league tournament and progress. (See 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF).) Lenarduzzi subsequently resigned his post in 1997.

Administrative career

Lenarduzzi served as 86ers general manager from 1988 to 1993. He resumed the post in 1998 and was named the A-League's executive of the year for 2000. In 2001 he also assumed the position of the Whitecaps Head of Soccer Operations. (The 86ers changed their name to Whitecaps in 2001.)

He currently is filling in for Jason DeVos during CBC's Toronto FC broadcasts as colour commentator.

Honours

In 2001, Lenarduzzi was inducted as a player into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame. In 2005, he was awarded the Order of British Columbia. In 2003, he was inducted into the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame. Lenarduzzi was voted one of the Top 30 Players of the Century in the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) region.

External links

* [http://www.soccer.on.ca/OSN.nsf/c1bfa845a2dec3bf85256b0b005d4116/3454fe119c8bbc0a85256b0b005daa9b?OpenDocument The Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum (Ontario) run by the OSA with an induction profile of Lenarduzzi]
* [http://www.soccerhall.org/famers/Bob_Lenarduzzi.htm National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum (in the U.S.) with its 2003 induction page on Lenarduzzi]