{"id":29999,"date":"2017-12-05T10:47:15","date_gmt":"2017-12-05T18:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/?p=29999"},"modified":"2017-12-05T14:59:08","modified_gmt":"2017-12-05T22:59:08","slug":"toronto-fcs-steven-beitashour-a-study-in-perseverance-from-start-to-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2017\/12\/05\/toronto-fcs-steven-beitashour-a-study-in-perseverance-from-start-to-finish\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto FC’s Steven Beitashour a study in perseverance from start to finish"},"content":{"rendered":"

The National – TORONTO, Toronto FC fullback Steven Beitashour has had to do things the hard way ever since he took up soccer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Finding a college that wanted him. Or an MLS team to show interest in him. Or one willing to pay what\u2019s needed to keep him. Or a national team to commit to him.<\/p>\n

This year was no different as Beitashour had to survive a life-threatening on-field collision, undergo pancreas surgery and then fight off competition for his job after sitting out almost two months.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old American-born Iran international met every challenge and likely will start Saturday in his second straight MLS Cup final against the Seattle Sounders.<\/p>\n

If anything, Beitashour has always managed to turn a negative into a positive. For example, he tweaked his diet after this season\u2019s trauma and lowered his (already minimal) his body fat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel good. I feel actually better \u2026 I always thought I was pretty healthy with my diet (but) there\u2019s always room for improvement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Words to live by for a man who knows nothing of half-measures. Beitashour always plays with the pedal to the metal. And if that means a painful collision, he won\u2019t pull out.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s exactly what happened at BMO Field on June 27 in the Canadian Championship final. Beitashour was racing towards a ball by the sideline. So was Montreal Impact defender Kyle Fisher.<\/p>\n

Beitashour got there first. Fisher arrived a second later, brutally body-checking the TFC defender to the ground. Amazingly Beitashour finished out the match but didn\u2019t get a wink of sleep that night because he couldn\u2019t find a position that didn\u2019t hurt.<\/p>\n

The next day he went in early to the Toronto training centre where team officials immediately ordered him to the emergency room. Amazingly he drove the 17.5 kilometres himself.<\/p>\n

Every bump felt like he was \u201cbeing stabbed in my stomach.\u201d It was so bad he threw up en route.<\/p>\n

Doctors later told him it was the kind of internal damage they typically see as a result of a car crash.<\/p>\n

Beitashour\u2019s first taste of Major League Soccer was as a nine-year-old ballboy with the then-San Jose Clash (now Earthquakes) in the first-ever MLS match April 6, 1996.<\/p>\n

The San Jose native was a star soccer player at Leland High, a central attacking midfielder who led the team in goals his final two seasons.<\/p>\n

As a high school senior, Beitashour won the inaugural Pat Tillman award given to a Bay Area student for outstanding achievements in both athletics and academics. Tillman, a defensive back who quit the career to join the U.S. Army after Sept. 11 and later died while serving in Afghanistan in 2004, attended Leland.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had his priorities,\u201d said Beitashour. \u201cAnd he\u2019s said \u2018That\u2019s over, playing a game.\u2019 (I have) so much respect for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tillman was the first Leland athlete to have his number retired. Beitashour was the second (in January 2014).<\/p>\n

Despite a stellar high school career, Beitashour did not get many offers from big colleges. But his high school coach knew San Diego State coach Lev Kirshner and reached out to him.<\/p>\n

Kirshner scouted Beitashour and liked what he saw. But with no scholarships available, the school could only welcome Beitashour as a walk-on, albeit a recruited one.<\/p>\n

Knowing the Aztecs played schools in the Pac-10 (now Pac-12), Beitashour accepted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a chip on my shoulder being a walk-on. I just wanted to prove to the UCLA, Stanford, Berkeleys at least take a look at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beitashour also played club soccer with the PDL San Jose Frogs, whose roster featured several Cal-Berkeley players. They told him Cal\u2019s coach wanted him to transfer in his sophomore year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said \u2018That\u2019s funny, you should tell him to go check his emails from my senior year at high school.\u2019 I basically said \u2018I don\u2019t need money, I want to come to your school, I want to play there. Just come check out our games.\u201d\u2018<\/p>\n

He turned down the transfer offer.<\/p>\n

Beitashour played 57 games for San Diego State, with no goals and eight assists. He knew while his statistics might not be special, he did the right things off the ball to help his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m usually doing a lot of the dirty work, so it doesn\u2019t get a lot of attention,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A redshirt freshman, Beitashour was moved back to midfield and fullback (first left and then right) at San Jose State.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything to help the team,\u201d he said of the move.<\/p>\n

His best friend\u2019s little brother was playing for a club team that had Shea Salinas, a member of the San Jose Earthquakes, come out and train them for a day. Beitashour made sure he was there that day and found out that Mark Schrick, the club team coach, knew Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop.<\/p>\n

So his best friend\u2019s little brother went to his coach and asked Schrick to talk up Beitashour to Yallop. Beitashour got a call from Yallop the next day inviting him to a tryout that turned into a two-week trial.<\/p>\n

San Jose wanted to sign him but Beitashour \u2014 who had turned down a contract with a Belgian team after a tryout because he wanted to honour his father\u2019s wish that he get his degree \u2014 said he needed to finish his last semester of school.<\/p>\n

The Earthquakes eventually drafted him in the second round (30th overall) of the 2010 MLS SuperDraft. San Jose had plucked now Toronto teammate Justin Morrow two picks earlier from Notre Dame.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty remarkable,\u201d Beitashour said. \u201cThe belief and trust of a complete, random stranger to give me an opportunity like that. My best friend\u2019s little brother. He didn\u2019t have to say anything to his coach \u2026 You got a little help here, you got a little help there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beitashour made the most of his opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut without their part, I couldn\u2019t have got to my part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through it all, Beitashour used being passed over to drive him on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI questioned it at first but one of my cousins always says \u2018Never question your past because you\u2019re here because of that path you took,\u201d\u2018 said Beitashour. \u201cHe\u2019s a wise guy. I try to listen to him. He\u2019s someone I respect a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

His first pro contract was a modest US$40,000 \u2014 a one-year deal with three options. Beitashour had turned down more in Belgium.<\/p>\n

When the deal was up, he wanted to stay in San Jose but couldn\u2019t agree on a contract. He had led the team in assists one year, led all defenders in assists another year and had earned all-star status and a national team call-up.<\/p>\n

But San Jose wouldn\u2019t budge. Vancouver, with a hole at right back after the retirement of Young-Pyo Lee, wanted him.<\/p>\n

His salary went from $49,612 in San Jose to $177,167 in 2014 in Vancouver thanks to a two-year deal plus an option. Beitashour enjoyed Vancouver and the team did well, but the Whitecaps did not pick up his option.<\/p>\n

Seven or eight teams came calling, including Toronto with Morrow doing his bit to sell his fellow fullback on Canada.<\/p>\n

He had come from a team with a good defence and nor very productive offence. Toronto had the firepower up front but needed help on defence. The fit seemed right.<\/p>\n

His salary went from $197,167 to $244,000 in 2016 with Toronto. This season he is making $264,000, sixth best on the club<\/p>\n

Pulling on a national team jersey has always been Beitashour\u2019s dream.<\/p>\n

The door first opened in 2012 when he was called up to the U.S. team and was on the bench but didn\u2019t dress for an August game again Mexico at Azteca Stadium.<\/p>\n

Beitashour, who underwent sport hernia surgery after San Jose\u2019s Supporters\u2019 Shield campaign that year, was invited to the U.S. national team camp in January 2013 but had to leave because of complications due to the surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d been trying to get to some sort of national team camp, U-whatever all the way up to the full team, for so long and I finally got there and I had to pull myself out just because I was in so much pain. As I was for four months at the end of the 2012 season.\u201d<\/p>\n

After games, he felt like there was a knife in his stomach.<\/p>\n

The U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann texted him after the surgery but Beitashour didn\u2019t hear anything more.<\/p>\n

Then Iran popped up and said \u201cwe\u2019re still interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Beitashour was born in San Jose, both parents are from Iran. His father came over to study electrical engineering at San Francisco State where he was the soccer team\u2019s MVP. He went back, met his wife and returned to the U.S. to work for Apple.<\/p>\n

His mother always spoke to the family in Farsi so Beitashour understands it perfectly and speaks it well, although he says he is embarrassed by his western accent.<\/p>\n

He made his debut in Tehran against Thailand in October 2013, with the fans chanting his name in the warmup.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a lot of fun. There were so many people at the airport at four in the morning, just waiting for my arrival. That\u2019s what really made me feel welcome, all that, all the little things,\u201d said Beitashour. \u201cAnd then the fans, the thousands of them, they said in Farsi \u2018Put Beitashour in\u2019, they kept it going for a good two, three minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beitashour grew up idolizing Brazil because of the way it played the game. His first poster was of Brazilian striker Ronaldo. So he was doubly delighted when Iran selected him for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. It proved to be bittersweet, however, as he did not see action.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m right there, at the front door of it all, in Brazil. You couldn\u2019t write this up any better \u2026 I\u2019m knocking, I\u2019m trying to get in,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I just couldn\u2019t get on the field. So it was tough in that sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

With his wife and several good friends on hand, Beitashour watched from the bench as Iran tied Nigeria, lost to Argentina and beat Bosnia and Herzegovina.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably the most difficult part was getting the thousands of social media messages, like thousands, saying we can\u2019t wait to see you play tomorrow, we can\u2019t wait to see you play. Everything. And feeling like you let all of them down by note getting in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

So what happened?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an explanation. That will come in another time or day,\u201d he said without elaborating.<\/p>\n

He was subsequently called up by Iran for the Asian Cup in 2015 but was unable to play because he was coming off a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

But he says, as far as he is concerned, the door is still open.<\/p>\n

Now in his eighth MLS season, Beitashour has two goals and 30 assists in 192 regular-season games.<\/p>\n

While some see Liechtenstein international Nicolas Hasler as a more attacking option for coach Greg Vanney, Beitashour has registered some important assists for Toronto.<\/p>\n

It was Beitashour who used his left foot to deliver the cross that Benoit Cheyrou headed in to give TFC a 6-5 aggregate lead in the dying seconds of last year\u2019s MLS Eastern Conference final.<\/p>\n

More often than not, Beitashour is the kind of player you don\u2019t really notice. He just does his job.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what you\u2019re going to get from him every single day,\u201d Vanney once said of Beitashour. \u201cHe comes out and he just puts his work boots on and he plays and he competes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Excellent at reading the game as a defender, Beitashour will also \u201cgive you an honest day\u2019s up and down all day long\u201d on attack, Vanney added.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just a honest-working guy, every single day, and gives you everything he has. Those are the guys you love to have on your team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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