From South Van to South Africa
In '98, he skipped school to watch World Cup on TV. Now Portugal goalie is part of it
Brenda Fernandes remembers the 1998 World Cup when she and husband Tony let their son Daniel skip some Grade 9 classes at Killarney Secondary School so he could stay home and watch his two favourite teams, Portugal and Brazil.
Now, 12 years later, it might well be Brenda and Tony who'll be sneaking away to find a television and get a peek at the world's biggest sporting event.
Daniel will be smack bang in the middle of things when the action starts Friday in South Africa.
Now 26 and a towering 6-foot-5, the Edmonton-born south Vancouver product is one of three goalkeepers with the Portuguese World Cup side, a team that's ranked No. 3 in the world by FIFA.
Fernandes, who played this season with Bochum in Germany's Bundesliga and Iraklis in the Greek Super League, was named to the Portuguese squad last month by head coach Carlos Queiroz. He was chosen ahead of Joaquim Quim, the goalkeeper with Benfica, and Sporting Lisbon's net-minder Rui Patricio.
"It's something special, something everybody dreams about," Fernandes said Friday by phone from the team's training base near Lisbon. The team flew to South Africa on Saturday.
"It's like I always wanted it to be when I was a kid. It was not a dream, it was really a goal. I worked hard to be part of a team like this. It wasn't a fluke. It was just a matter of determination and concentration and will," said Fernandes, who was dubbed gigante des conhecida -- the giant unknown -- by a Portuguese magazine when he made his international debut three years ago in a friendly against Kuwait.
Having a World Cup goalie -- a gigante des conhecida -- for a son is a thrill for Port Alberni-born Brenda and Tony, who was born in Porto and moved to Canada in 1971 when he was 18.
"It's been his dream since he was 13," his mom said this week. "He always said that he's going to get there and now here he is.
"I just said to him a while ago, 'Do you remember that 12 years ago I let you skip school from Killarney?' He and his friends, they all pulled the chairs in and they were rooting for Brazil and he said, 'One of these days, I'm going to be there.' He was saying, 'You wait and see.' That's so vivid in my mind."
"Of course it is an amazing thing," said Tony, who'll be flying to Portugal to meet with his son after the tournament.
"I'm very proud. Of all the Portuguese immigrants in all the world I'm the first one to have his son make the Portuguese national team. So that's big right there. Of course I'm proud."
Both parents gushed about their son's determination.
"This would never have happened if my son had not had the work ethic that he does," said Brenda. "It doesn't matter who believed in him, he believed in himself. It was work, work, work."
Daniel Fernandes's journey from the soccer fields of east and south Vancouver to a goaltending job with Portugal's World Cup team was not easy. There have been plenty of potholes.
The journey started in 2000 on a family visit to dad's hometown. As mom tells it, the Porto club was holding open tryouts and Daniel told his dad he wanted a shot.
Daniel impressed and the Portuguese side offered a contract.
"Tony went there and said, 'I have a kid here who wants to try out,'" Brenda Fernandes said. "They said 'whatever.' But he was a big kid and they let him train. He did really well and within two hours they had a contract for him. He had three weeks to decide.
"When he said he was going to try out I didn't think much about it. Then when he got picked I thought 'oh my God.' And then my life fell apart," she laughed.
Young Daniel left home in 2000, spent the 2000-01-02 seasons with Porto and then spent the 2002-03 season with Celta de Vigo in Spain. Disappointed with the Spanish experience, he moved to Germany and, in the summer of 2002, he came home frustrated.
That's when he hooked up with Dino Anastopulos, a Vancouver scout, coach and agent who had connections in Greece. Anastopulos got Fernandes a contract with Paok, a team in Greece's Super League. Fernandes excelled there from 2003 to 2008 when he was transferred for 1.2 million euros ($1.5 million Cdn) to Bochum of the Bundesliga.
Fernandes, who had played for Canada's U-20 team, was offered a chance to obtain Portuguese citizenship so he could play for Portugal. Greece also came calling as did former Canadian national team coach Frank Yallop.
Fernandes chose Portugal. In May 2007 he made his debut with Portugal's national team in a friendly against Kuwait.
"The first time I kinda pinched myself," he said of finding himself on a field with Cristiano Ronaldo and the rest of Portugal's star-studded lineup. "I had to pinch myself but now it's reality.
"I'm here because of Dino," Fernandes said of his success. "He
I would love to be a World Cup winner ... I want to win it and bring it back home to Vancouver
watches my back and he has a good eye for what's happening. He's taken care of a lot of kids from Vancouver and especially me. "
Anastopulos had to watch Fernandes's back this season. Fernandes wasn't getting playing time with Bochum. Anastopulos worked out a loan to Iraklis of the Greek Super League. Fernandes excelled there, saving the team from relegation and catching the eye of Queiroz.
"This year wasn't always so positive for me," said Fernandes when asked if he was surprised to be named to the Portuguese side.
"I knew I had the capability to go higher in my career. I went to Greece and saved the club from going to relegation. I wasn't waiting for it (selection) to happen but I knew I could be a part of it so I kept my hopes up.
"Dino saw the future -- that I could go to Greece and do well. He has a special eye. I call him the special one. He was my coach in Vancouver and I still listen to him."
Fernandes is still signed with Bochum. But Anastopulos said he's been talking with Panathinaikos and Olympiakos, Greece's two top teams and with two teams in the English Premiership.
But for the next month Fernandes will be concentrating on one thing -- being one of Portugal's two backup goalies. And if he's needed he'll be ready.
"I won't be starting but if anything happens I'm well prepared to go into the net," said Fernandes. "I'm just working hard. I'm a positive person and I'll give energy to the team."
On Friday Fernandes fondly recalled those days watching World Cup in the family home.
"I had a group of European friends from the east side and we always used to gather in my house, about 10 guys and we were making so much noise," Fernandes said. "We'd be watching it and making lots of noise. I had it in my mind and they'd say 'you're crazy.' Now it's my job.
"I would love to be a World Cup winner. We'll give it all our best and we're a great team. We're not the favourites but there's no real favourites in football."
And if the Portuguese should win ... well, it could get pretty noisy in some houses in south Vancouver.
"I don't know what would happen," he said with a laugh. "But I want to bring the Cup home. I want to win it and bring it back home to Vancouver."
tbell@theprovince.com
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