| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Randolph FitzGerald Samuel[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1963-12-23)23 December 1963 (age 61) | ||
| Place of birth | Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Richmond South Warriors | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1983 | Edmonton Eagles | ? | (2) |
| 1984 | Vancouver Whitecaps | 0 | (0) |
| 1984–1985 | Edmonton Eagles | ||
| 1985–1987 | PSV Eindhoven | 5 | (0) |
| 1987–1990 | FC Volendam | 74 | (1) |
| 1990–1994 | Fortuna Sittard | 106 | (5) |
| 1995–1996 | Port Vale | 9 | (1) |
| 1997 | Harstad IL | ||
| 1998 | Vancouver 86ers | 21 | (2) |
| 1999 | Harstad IL | ||
| 2000 | Hampton Roads Mariners | 24 | (0) |
| 2001 | Montreal Impact | 4 | (0) |
| Total | 243+ | (11+) | |
| International career | |||
| Canada U18 | |||
| Canada B | |||
| 1983–1997 | Canada | 82 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Randolph FitzGerald Samuel (born 23 December 1963) is a Trinidad-born Canadian formersoccer player who played as adefender. His 82 internationalcaps were aCanada national teamrecord until he was surpassed byPaul Stalteri in September 2010.
He started his career with theEdmonton Eagles andVancouver Whitecaps before joining Dutch championsPSV Eindhoven in 1985. Playing just fiveEredivisie games for PSV, he moved on toFC Volendam in 1987, becoming a key member of the team until he moved on to league rivalsFortuna Sittard in 1990. Sittard wererelegated into the second tier, and Samuel moved on to English sidePort Vale in November 1995. Failing to make an impact in England, he left in May 1996 and signed with Norwegian sideHarstad IL. He later played for theVancouver 86ers, theHampton Roads Mariners, and theMontreal Impact.
Making 82 appearances for Canada between 1983 and 1997, he appeared in all three games of the1986 FIFA World Cup. He also helped his nation to win the1990 North American Nations Cup and1985 CONCACAF Championship. He played at theCONCACAF Gold Cup in1991 and1993. In 2012 as part of theCanadian Soccer Association's centennial celebration, he was named to the all-time Canada XI men's team.[2]
Samuel was born inTrinidad, grew up inRichmond, British Columbia, and graduated from McNair High School. He was selected by theVancouver Whitecaps in the 1981North American Soccer League draft, though he never signed with the club.[3] In 1983, Samuel began his professional career with theEdmonton Eagles of theCanadian Professional Soccer League.[3][4] He signed with the Vancouver Whitecaps the following year, yet he never played a game for them before returning to the Eagles.
In 1985, Samuels left Canada for the Netherlands, where he played in theDutch First Division withPSV Eindhoven. PSV were crowned champions in1985–86 and1986–87, but Samuels played just five league games before he moved on toFC Volendam, who were newly-promoted to the top-flight in1987–88. After a mid-table finish in1988–89, Volendam missed out on qualification to theUEFA Cup by only two points in1989–90. He switched toFortuna Sittard in 1990, who finished mid-table in1990–91 and1991–92, before dropping into theSecond Division after sufferingrelegation in1992–93. After Sittard finished the1993–94 season mid-table in the Dutch second tier, he left the club and the country.
After a trial atEnglish Football LeagueFirst Division sidePort Vale, he signed forms with the club in November 1995. He got off to a flying start, scoring on his debut in a 1–1 draw withWatford atVale Park on 18 November 1995. By the end of the year, he was out of action due to a knee injury.[5] He recovered, but failed to return to the first-team and was released bymanagerJohn Rudge in May 1996, having made just ten appearances in1995–96.[6]
He then moved out to Norway and played forFirst Division sideHarstad IL in1997. The club were relegated, and the next year, he moved back to Canada to sign with theVancouver 86ers of theA-League. The 86ers qualified for the Western Conference quarter-finals in1998, where they were defeated by theSan Diego Flash. Samuels returned to Harstad in 1999, now in Group 8 of theNorwegian Second Division.
In 2000, he returned to the North American A-League. He spent the2000 season with theHampton Roads Mariners, who lost to theRichmond Kickers in the Eastern Conference quarter-finals. He finished his professional playing career with theMontreal Impact, playing four games of their2001 season.
Samuel earned his firstcap for Canada in a 3–1 loss toHonduras inSan Pedro Sula on 11 November 1983.[7] After a further ten appearances infriendly games, the only victory coming against his birth nationTrinidad and Tobago, he played seven of Canada's eight games at the1985 CONCACAF Championship; they finished above Honduras andCosta Rica in the final round to claim the nation's first major honour in the sport since the1904 Olympics. Their success won them a place at the1986 World Cup finals – thus far the country's only appearance at theWorld Cup finals.[8] Samuel played all three of Canada's games inMexico; a 1–0 defeat toFrance and 2–0 defeats toHungary and theSoviet Union.[9][10][11]
Canada missed out onqualification to the1989 CONCACAF Championship after losing toGuatemala onaway goals. However, Samuel continued to feature regularly and appeared in the1990 North American Nations Cup, which Canada won. He played two of Canada's three games at the1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup.[7]
He played five of Canada's six group games in the First Round of1994 World Cup qualification, as they finished ahead ofJamaica andBermuda to qualify for the final round of group games. He played each of the two games againstMexico,El Salvador and Honduras;[7] they finished second behind the Mexicans, meaning they had to beatAustralia in aCONCACAF–OFC play-off to qualify. Before this game was the1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup; Samuels played all three of Canada's games, including the 8–0 capitulation to Mexico in front of 70,000 Mexicans at theEstadio Azteca – the biggest defeat in Canada's history was their last game before the all-important match with Australia. Samuel did not feature in the 2–1 win at theCommonwealth Stadium but did play in the second leg at theSydney Football Stadium.[7] The Aussies won 2–1 to take the game to apenalty shoot-out, which the "Canucks" lost 4–1.
Samuel won the final fourteen caps of his thirteen-year international career inqualification for the 1998 World Cup. He played all six of the initial group stage games, as Canada finished ahead of El Salvador,Panama andCuba. He then played eight of Canada's ten games in the final round of qualifying, as they finished bottom of the group behind Mexico, theUnited States, Jamaica, Costa Rica and El Salvador. He made his final appearance for his nation in the 3–1 defeat to the Costa Ricans inSan José on 16 November 1997.[7]
His 82 international caps were aCanadian national teamrecord until he was surpassed byPaul Stalteri in September 2010. Samuel was inducted into theCanada Soccer Hall of Fame in 2006.[3]
In 2010, he was appointedhead coach of Lobbans FC in theVancouver Metro Soccer League.[12] He now also runs his own soccer business inSurrey, British Columbia.[citation needed]
| Club | Season | Division | League | National Cup | Other | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Vancouver Whitecaps[16] | 1984 | North American Soccer League | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| PSV[16] | 1985–86 | Eredivisie | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 1986–87 | Eredivisie | 5 | 0 | |||||||
| Total | 5 | 0 | ||||||||
| FC Volendam[16] | 1987–88 | Eredivisie | 25 | 1 | ||||||
| 1988–89 | Eredivisie | 26 | 0 | |||||||
| 1989–90 | Eredivisie | 23 | 0 | |||||||
| Total | 74 | 1 | ||||||||
| Fortuna Sittard[16] | 1990–91 | Eredivisie | 28 | 0 | ||||||
| 1991–92 | Eredivisie | 32 | 1 | |||||||
| 1992–93 | Eredivisie | 16 | 2 | |||||||
| 1993–94 | Eerste Divisie | 30 | 2 | |||||||
| Total | 106 | 5 | ||||||||
| Port Vale | 1995–96 | First Division | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 1 |
| Vancouver 86ers[16] | 1998 | USISL A-League | 21 | 2 | ||||||
| Hampton Roads Mariners[16] | 2000 | USL A-League | 24 | 0 | ||||||
| Montreal Impact[16] | 2001 | USL A-League | 4 | 0 | ||||||
| Career total | 243 | 9 | ||||||||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada[16] | 1983 | 1 | 0 |
| 1984 | 3 | 0 | |
| 1985 | 15 | 0 | |
| 1986 | 9 | 0 | |
| 1987 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1988 | 6 | 0 | |
| 1989 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1990 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1991 | 2 | 0 | |
| 1992 | 7 | 0 | |
| 1993 | 11 | 0 | |
| 1994 | 3 | 0 | |
| 1995 | 8 | 0 | |
| 1996 | 6 | 0 | |
| 1997 | 9 | 0 | |
| Total | 82 | 0 | |
PSV Eindhoven
Canada
Canada squads | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||
