As Steven is now confirmed as a LAFC player, for those interested in following his career, lets continue here:
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"Steven Beitashour joins Los Angeles Football Club
MLS Cup winner Steven Beitsahour joins the MLS expansion side prior to their debut season.
On Wednesday, Los Angeles Football Club announced the signing of MLS veteran defender Steven Beitashour. The eight-year MLS player will bring experience to a side that will have to adapt to MLS play quickly. The 30-year-old won the 2017 MLS Cup with Toronto FC.
Beitashour is just the second free agent signing in club history. The Iranian international is a California native and will return to his home state once again after playing with the San Jose Earthquakes from 2010-2013."
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"Steven Beitashour enjoying life in L.A.
Former Reds defender disappointed he couldn't reach a deal to return, but is glad he'll soon have reunion with old teammates.
It’s not the California sunshine that drew Toronto FC to pre-season camp in Los Angeles, according to former Reds defender Steven Beitashour; it’s him they want to be closer to.
The 30-year-old defender, who became a free agent last year after two seasons with Toronto, is setting up a new life in the City of Angels after officially signing with expansion side Los Angeles FC on Wednesday.
It won’t be long before the Iranian international is reunited with his former teammates, with whom he won the MLS Cup little more than a month ago; the Reds take on LAFC in a pre-season match.
“Are you kidding me?” Beitashour recalled joking to Greg Vanney when the TFC coach told him their reunion would come sooner than later.
Joking aside, Beitashour will be happy to see his TFC teammates and staff. He had hoped to join the Reds for the 2018 pre-season and loves everyone at the club, despite calling the salary Toronto offered to bring him back “frustrating.”
Talks about a return didn’t start until the season concluded. Beitashour knew a deal to bring back fellow defender Drew Moor was in the works and he didn’t want to take any focus away from the playoff run.
“They said they really loved me, they wanted me there and I thought it was going to be a pretty simple process,” Beitashour said. “Unfortunately, the way it went down was everything but simple and now I’m here.”
Beitashour — who earned $264,000 (all figures U.S.) last year, making him the sixth highest paid player on Toronto FC’s payroll, according to the MLS Players’ Association — was a little bit shocked and a little discouraged by the “pretty big pay cut” the Reds asked him to take. While MLS salary rules make it hard for teams to keep players making about $200,000 to $400,000 without using Targeted Allocation Money, he had anticipated a similar paycheque, or a slight increase, after a successful season that saw him log 2,013 minutes despite lacerating his pancreas in a scary incident midway through the year."
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This is an interesting opinion piece but I really do think they are spot on about the Beita piece.
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Opinion: Toronto FC’s lacklustre off-season cause for concern
Creating Problems Where There Were No Problems
Steven Beitashour
It is hard to talk Beita without talking van der Wiel. However, the two need to be separated. The signing of Gregory van der Wiel is exciting and very promising. He is a welcome addition, and I am glad to have him on the team. That is not in question. But, what is in question is whether he was actually needed. That’s where the Beitashour discussion begins.
Did TFC really need an upgrade at right back/right wingback? What did Beitashour do (or not do) that was so egregious that he needed to be replaced? Recent talk by Bez and Vanney is that they were always looking to upgrade that side of the field. These comments have left me pleading for enlightenment. I want to believe them. I want to understand their greater rationale. But I just can’t.
With Beitashour and Hasler, I thought that the right side was fine. There was no need to blow significant TAM to “upgrade” this part of the team, especially since Toronto has real needs that should have been prioritized over replacing Beitashour.
Finally, the way that Beitashour left has also given me pause. Immediately after the parade ended, TFC ensured that Drew Moor was signed and sealed for 2018/2019. Yet, they allowed Beita’s contract situation to languish. Eventually, he was approached with the proposal of a significant pay cut.
By Beita’s own words, he was the only player asked to take a pay cut to stay with the team. Why? Why only him? His contributions over the past two seasons were very important to the team’s successes. At the very least, his compensation should have remained static. That would have been fine by him, and we all could have focused on strengthening the roster elsewhere.
Remember RESPECT BEGETS RESPECT & Zob Ahan
As a Toronto FC and Beitashour supporter, I can honestly say that he was a very replaceable player. Don't get me wrong, he's a good player but that's it - he's just good.
TFC have stars in all parts of the field (Giovinco/Altidore at Forward, Bradley/Vazquez at Midfield), but on Defense is where an obvious upgrade could have been made. All the defenders on TFC are good players and could be replaced, but Beitashour had one of the higher salaries. So when they start looking at where they could make cuts to sign another a player, the first place to look is at the higher paid defenders.
It's just a case of unfortunate circumstances for Esteve, nothing personal or about his level of play.
We are currently witnessing a revolution in Iranian football. Team Melli has never been stronger than it is today, and we will only get better.
He is starting! First match for LAFC let's see how they do![]()
He should be called up! Amazing performance and it's only his 1st game at his new team!
" LAFC earn first-ever franchise victory at Seattle
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"BEITASHOUR: The defense of the aurinegro set is, perhaps, the line with the greatest margin of improvement. Beitashour was in charge of the right wing, where he
managed to keep Harry Shipp at bay during the 90 minutes."
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Best of luck!! You got our full supportthey are relaying a lot on him to carry the defence.
------------------------Beiranvand---------------------
--Moharami----Hosseini--Pouraliganji----Mohammadi--
---------------Ezatolahi------Ebrahimi---------------
--Ghoddos-----------Gholizadeh------------Taremi---
------------------------Azmoun----------------------
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Must say he played well, but we have a lot of good RBs, for me our order is:
1. Ghafouri
2. Rezaeian
3. Moharrami
4. Beitashour
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