Eu adoro todos os desportos, mas desde criança que sempre gostei mais de futebol.
Bastava que houvesse uma bola no chão, ou algo parecido,
que eu andava sempre aos chutos. Tentando fazê-lo cada vez melhor.
Gosto de râguebi, gosto de basquetebol, gosto dos outros desportos, mas nada se compara com o futebol.
Tentei outros desportos. Sou bastante bom na maioria, mas o futebol é a minha paixão, o meu amor.
Sempre adorei futebol desde bebé.
O meu pai quis que eu nascesse na Nova Zelândia.
Depois eles regressaram comigo para os Estados Unidos, onde moravam.
Vivi lá durante os primeiros 10 anos da minha vida.
Em Santa Barbara, Califórnia, a cerca de duas horas de Los Angeles.
Bom tempo, boas pessoas, a minha família.
Tenho a família da minha mãe lá.
Ainda tenho alguns dos melhores amigos da minha vida a viver na América.
Regresso lá todos os anos. Continuo a adorar.
Gosto de ser humilde, mas quando era novo era o melhor na minha área.
O meu pai sempre me pôs a jogar com grupos mais velhos.
Se eu tivesse oito anos, estaria a jogar com os sub-10, ou sub-11.
Por isso, fui sempre motivado para ser cada vez melhor.
O meu pai estava sempre a incentivar-me a melhorar.
Ele jogou, mais não a um nível elevado.
Jogou em competição, mas não foi profissional.
Mas ele é um grande atleta a todos os níveis, joga golfe, râguebi…
É bom em tudo aquilo que faz.
Acho que o amor dele pelo desporto se transformou no meu amor por desporto, porque somos muito parecidos.
had spare time I would go practice by myself or if my dad wasn't at work we
would practice together but I was always in love with football I'm proud of my
culture I'm proud of my American side which is my mother and my my father's
side of New Zealand and I can perform the haka but I won't do it even at my
school we had to learn a different haka so yeah I know some moldy words which is
the the native language that not very many people speak but I know a couple of
words and I'm proud of my culture I try not to keep it too superstitious I
believe in God and I pray before the game I just thank God that I'm able to
do it another day I pray for protection and mostly I just thank him that I can I
can play this beautiful game but the rest I I get confidence from preparation
during the week training hard I don't I don't think luck and doing your boots a
certain way will do anything you know I like to work hard prepare for the game
during the week thank God before my game and just go out and play and enjoy I
started in the Bay of Plenty which is telling her where I was actually born we
moved back there to be closer to my my family and I started playing there and
quickly a an Academy coach saw me playing and he invited me to his Academy
and his name is Declan edge and he's a huge part of my career I can't thank him
enough for what he did for me and he created the first Academy in New Zealand
that that trains full-time we all studied together we had a schooling
system so it allowed us to train twice a day so from the age of 1415 I was
training twice a day every day doing my schoolwork in the middle of the day and
I was able to to maximise my growth and getting better as a player I think it's
I think it's a great system to allow the the player to to get better but
schooling is also important in education and being able to
go through life and maybe you can go to college or university I think it's
important for young players to be educated but also I wanted to maximize
my ability to get better and training twice a day I need I needed to train
twice a day to do that so I worked seven years with declan edge he was amazing he
taught me so much and then our professional Club in New Zealand the
Wellington Phoenix saw me and they put 12 young players on a trial they called
it in an academy and they said to we'll get a contract a professional contract
and I was the first ever to get a professional contract from that Academy
and yeah my doubt my debut was against del Piero and I remember how nervous I
was I had I had goose bumps I was I was so proud of myself and proud that I
could do it for my family and for everyone that believed in me or the
people that said I couldn't do it I was so happy and I was nervous to the the
atmosphere was great the stadium was was good and watching
Del Piero play was was amazing he was older at the time but you could see the
quality you could see the intelligence and the way he touched the ball was
beautiful no I didn't and I didn't ask for his
shit either I wish I did but I was I was young and I was I was nervous I was
scared it was great Rickey Herbert another coach he signed me and he gave
me my opportunity and the first season the second season I played almost every
game whether it was off the bench or starting I got a lot of game time and
the third year I only played two games and I actually scored two goals and in
the reserves I played six games and I scored ten goals but for whatever reason
I didn't get playing time and my plan was to go to Europe and I think they
knew that so things happen in football all I had to do was work harder when
they weren't allowing me to play I worked through it I worked even harder I
worked when they weren't watching I would wake up before training I would go
run I would go train and then I would Jim in the afternoon I worked through it
and I think it made me a better person adversity creates character and it made
me a better person and it prepared me for Portugal my agent saw me playing
against one of his players Adama traoré he played for Victoria game
arrange but before he played for Melbourne and I played against him and
he saw me and liked me and we started building a relationship and he brought
me over to Victoria game at age and at this moment he's like my my second
father or my uncle he's like my uncle in Portugal he's been amazing for me he's
taught me so much about the game he's he's a genius when it comes to tactics
and in the game so he's another person that I wouldn't be here without and he
allowed this to be possible to come to Portugal this amazing country Ronaldo
was one of my idols since I was a kid I love his work ethic I loved I loved his
skills when he was younger and he's great for me he's the best player
because he's worked so hard and I admire that and I love that about him and I
want to try to to work harder when I see him you know I knew Portugal I knew that
the big teams a new game at Ange Braga and fika boards or sporting I knew I
knew it was a great country and a great country football about the culture or
how it looked I didn't know that much about it
but I got here and I love it I love the food I love the people the people are
very nice the country is beautiful the weather is great I've enjoyed it a lot
I came alone and my agent was living in Portugal so it was actually the first
time I had met him in person we had only Skyped and / - two years we had built a
relationship but it was the first time I met him and yeah him and his wife under
there have made it so enjoyable for me I they are my family here and they've made
it a great experience also it takes me a long time to get home it takes me almost
35 hours to get home with all the stops it's
it's a long way and official visa because when it's morning here it's
night there so in the middle of the day I can't speak with them they're all
sleeping but I speak to them in the morning at night the football is more
advanced here it's faster that the tactics I needed to learn tactically
they're a very very good country very smart players very good players
technically and you see in the euros they won they defensively they were very
very solid very hard to break down and for me it's a great country to learn
football in it it was difficult it's my third year and
now I'm playing regularly in the first division but I had a lot to learn and
even the language after six months I could speak the language but I think you
have to have the attitude to learn and I wanted to learn because I wanted to be
able to understand the coach understand the players speak when I need to and it
has been a challenge I do I do miss that but the beautiful beaches the beautiful
the beautiful country I don't miss compared to my family it's my family
that I miss my family and friends that I miss a lot Portugal is a beautiful
country great weather but it's definitely my family my mother my father
that I miss there are differences but it's not a huge difference the people
are nice in both countries I think it's a pretty relaxed lifestyle people aren't
too stressed they're the the patient they're nice people there's not too too
much difference I think any decision any decision that you make in life you
shouldn't regret it's always the correct decision you should work hard and and
make it be the correct decision and for me it was a great year of learning under
pepper all the coaching staff it was a great year for me it was my first year
and in the the first division consistently my first game was with
Sergio cancer cell but this year was my first year where I
consistently played and I think I showed that I have quality for this this league
and I have quality to be a good goalscorer be a good assist maker and I
still have room for improvement I can improve keep improving but for me it's
been a great season of learning improving as a person improving as a
player I think I arrived as a talented kid but now I'm more of a man I'm more
strong mentally I've learned a lot about the game and I'll keep learning I keep
on I want to keep improving keep getting better but I think I'm more of a man now
and and a better player for sure it's good both clubs I've been to Victoria
and Don della I've made good friends and almost all of the players I could I
could have lunch with or be a friend with you know so I've made a lot of good
friends in Victoria I spend a lot of time with the African boys a lot of them
speak English my agent also has as African players so we spend a little bit
more time together also here I have I had Nick answer we played against each
other in in Australia and I have Saleh here I have I've great friends that
hasn't been a problem at all every player has been great well I want to
play for Victoria I want to play consistently and I want to play well for
that club I love the club I love the fans it's it's a great club of Portugal
one of my other goals in my professional career is one day to play Champions
League oh I've wanted that since I was a young boy so whether it's in Portugal or
whether it's in another country that's that's one of my goals is to play
Champions League I just wanted to say I love you to my mother my sister and my
grandmother so love you
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