{"id":17160,"date":"2014-01-27T12:12:08","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T20:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/?p=17160"},"modified":"2014-01-27T12:12:08","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T20:12:08","slug":"beitashour-looking-forward-to-the-future-in-vancouver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2014\/01\/27\/beitashour-looking-forward-to-the-future-in-vancouver\/","title":{"rendered":"Beitashour ‘looking forward to the future’ in Vancouver"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whitecaps FC – VANCOUVER, Players like Steven Beitashour don\u2019t become available too often. A 26-year-old all-star right back with four years of Major League Soccer experience, Beitashour is the type of player every team would love to have. He even received a few offers from clubs in Europe.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For these reasons and more \u2013 such as the fact that he fits a positional need following the retirement of Young-Pyo Lee \u2013 the acquisition of Beitashour was a no-brainer for Vancouver Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s arguably the best right back in the league,\u201d Robinson told whitecapsfc.com. \u201cWhen you get an opportunity to add a player like that, you don\u2019t turn it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robinson referred to Beitashour as the prototypical modern-day fullback \u2013 an astute defender with a willingness to move up and down the wing and join the attack. A quick glance at Beitashour\u2019s stats back up that appraisal.<\/p>\n

The 5-foot-10, 170-pound fullback has collected 16 assists over the last three seasons, which is more than any other MLS defender during the same time period. His 16 helpers also rank sixth among active MLS defenders.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a hard-worker who likes to close down and make the job uncomfortable for the left-sided player, but one of his main strengths is his attacking threat,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cHe gets forward at every opportunity and his deliveries into the box are fantastic. Because of that, he fits perfectly into the way I want to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

A native of San Jose, California, Beitashour has spent his entire career thus far with the hometown Earthquakes, who selected him in the second round of the 2010 MLS SuperDraft. Even prior to that, he was plying his craft close to home at San Diego State University.<\/p>\n

From Beitashour\u2019s perspective, the expiry of his contract at the end of last season presented an opportunity to embark on a new challenge. He received a few offers from clubs in Europe, but ultimately decided that Vancouver was the better fit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt ended up working out for the best,\u201d Beitashour told whitecapsfc.com. \u201cEverything happens for a reason. I\u2019m excited to be a part of the Whitecaps now and I\u2019m looking forward to the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very possible that Beitashour\u2019s immediate future could include an appearance at the 2014 FIFA World Cup with the Iranian men\u2019s national team. Though he was born in the U.S., both of Beitashour\u2019s parents are from Iran and he holds dual American-Iranian citizenship.<\/p>\n

Last year, the 26-year-old ultimately decided to represent Iran, with whom he has made three appearances, and his ambitions to play in this summer\u2019s World Cup played a major part in the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time you have the opportunity to play at the international level, it\u2019s a true honour,\u201d said Beitashour, who played 90 minutes in the 2012 MLS All-Star Game alongside Jay DeMerit. \u201cRight now, the first thing I need to do is focus on my club team with the Vancouver Whitecaps. If I play well, good things will come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beitashour, who participates in a number of Persian traditions, said he only learned of Vancouver\u2019s large Persian community from friends and family members within the last few days. Though he doesn\u2019t have any prior connections to the city, Beitashour said he\u2019s looking forward to being a part of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just found out that Vancouver has a big Persian community \u2026 I\u2019m excited now even more that that\u2019s the case,\u201d he said. \u201cI hear great things about Vancouver, about the city, about the team. Hopefully I do well and then potentially be there for the long haul.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whitecaps FC – VANCOUVER, Players like Steven Beitashour don\u2019t become available too often. A 26-year-old…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22614,"featured_media":16154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84,89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c47-featured-news","category-c16-iranian-legionairs"],"views":3806,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22614"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}