By Diego G Diaz Follow @dhondiego Lea la Version en Español Aquí



Gastón “La Gata” Fernández, is a man who is enjoying very much his time at Portland. The player is still in his off season vacation, but rumors have been getting louder and louder pointing at his return to Portland for the 2015 season. In the midst of his negotiations with the club, and with the chaotic MLS draft system in full swing, Gastón has become the biggest story at this year’s end, despite his continuity being almost certain according to most sources, the lack of a public announcement always leaves a little room for speculation. However, as it was true in October 2014, and it is still true today, Gastón is a Timber’s player and a very happy Portland camper.

Gastón had an easy time settling in Stump Town, not with just the help his fellow countrymen, especially Diego Valeri, but the team as a whole, the club, and let’s not forget, the fans, whom he considers that every week make the Argentinian players feel more and more at home, in what Gastón claims is one of the best atmospheres he has ever seen in MLS. He loves Portland, he is satisfied with his role this first season, and looks forward to more playing time, and to give more to this town with which he identifies quite well.

Everything points at Gastón being on the 11 starters on March 7th facing Real Salt Lake at Providence Park, while midfielder maestro, and supporters favorite, Diego Valeri is still afflicted by a late season knee injury and will miss the beginning of the season.

Back in the final weeks of the 2014 Season, I spent close to 45 minutes chatting with the Portland Timbers “10”. We covered aspects of his career, from his debut in 2002 at River Plate while under current Manchester City manager and English Premier League winner Manuel Pellegrini, to his tenure as one of four Argentine Portland Timbers player. Flowing in and out of the pitch, we touched subjects from the current state of Argentine football, to coaches, team mates and a deeper analysis of his impact in Caleb Porter team.

Gastón Fernández, came from Estudiantes de la Plata for the 2014 season after being sidelined at Tigres, in Liga MX for over 6 months in a controversial game of contracts murkiness so unfortunately common in the world of football. Gastón might be just scratching the surface of this new American experience, however, Gastón has claimed Portland as his new home and he is stoked about it.

It is mid-October, still warm and sunny and just a few weeks to go in the MLS regular season. Some of the statistics shown here aren’t complete as the season wasn’t over and due to a duty to stay loyal to the conversation. The time is shortly after noon after regular training, he waits in street attire, jeans, a bright Rolling Stones tee-shirt, and he had his Argentine mate and a thermos with hot water at arm’s length. We sat by the stairs that lead to the Timbers Army section at Providence Park.

DD: Which team did you start playing for in first division? (Argentina)

Gastón Fernandez: I started in 2002 in River Plate with Pellegrini (Manuel), I have been truly lucky, in the characters I have met, well I still have ways to go but I am a bit older now, however I have had the chance to play with coaches and team mates of great quality. I played with coaches Sabella and Pellegrini and team mates like Gallardo, Salas, Veron, Astrada, who is the River Plate player who has won the most titles. Played with Milito, Lisandro López, Ezequiel Lavezzi… I had such players by my side, I have truly enjoyed it greatly, now that I am a bit older I look back and I say “wow”, what a great life I had the chance to live.

DD: Were you at that legendary Estudiantes de la Plata that played FC Barcelona in the Club World Cup in 2009?

Gastón: I couldn’t play the Club World Cup, I was Copa Libertadores Champion, but at that time I was playing on loan in Estudiantes and after the Copa Libertadores I had to go back to the Mexican team I was playing for then, Tigres. Since I was on loan I had to go back and I couldn’t play the Club World Club. It was unfortunate, but I can’t complain, I left with a Copa Libertadores, which was unthinkable at that moment for me. The Libertadores is the maximum thing you can win in South America, it’s the top prize, to have left after winning it was spectacular. There is when my story with Estudiantes begins and my love for that jersey and club.

DD: That was a heck of a team…

Gastón: it was, a great team, a group of great people, a very competitive group, the group kept together from 2006 when Verón (Juan Sebastián Verón, ex Manchester United, ex Inter Milan) came back and they won their first tournament, and went on till 2011 at a prestige place in Argentine Football, that means the first 3 positions, that was where Estudiantes was, I was part of that history and it was a true pleasure.

DD: From the teams that have dominated Argentine football in the last 10 years, a name that really comes forward is Estudiantes because, from the “grandes” since Bianchi’s Boca (Boca Juniors) we haven’t seen much…

Gastón: Argentina’s biggest teams have paid dearly for bad administrations, for the massive sale of players in each transfer window, they paid it and very hard as two teams with great history like River Plate and Independiente descended (to National B, a second division). I really hope that the generational change that seems to be happening in Argentine Football, is a productive one, and Argentine football comes back to the place it really deserves.

DD: and going back to Portland, first time we saw you was on your presentation…

Gastón: Yes around the 16th or 17th of January…

DD: It was quite cold…

Gastón: Uuugh!

DD: What is your perception of the year so far?

Gastón: Personally, beyond the happiness of coming here (Portland) and the confidence I can have in myself, it was a bit of a challenge after spending the last 6 months without playing, after a suspension for the case that tied me up with the Mexican team I was playing for before. That means I spent 6 months without competition, training, I belonged to Estudiantes but I couldn’t compete, and it wasn’t easy as I spent 6 months running around the field without playing. And it was good to come here, I was really eager to play again and to feel important. Then the adventure began and I am truly happy, well, if I analyze the number of games and minutes played, I wish I had played a little more. But even this way, I have a bit of a wider vision today and I consider myself an important player in this squad, I might have not played all the games I wish I had, but the coach makes me feel I am important and that gives me strength. Numbers wise across all competitions I have played in, I scored 12 goals as a midfielder and not as a forward, I think that is a good season.

DD: You play a bit between that midfield and attack line. Doesn’t it worry you that being in MLS, a young sport in the US in comparison with other countries, that the value of the work that goes on in that position gets a bit lost? Before we were talking about a group of players of such quality that we are used to seeing all the time, for example, and specifically talking about the game you played vs. San José. For me, that was the best game I saw you play, even though you didn’t score any of the goals. That control over the tempo of the game, when to pause and when to accelerate the game, that is such an Argentine classic “10” style of play. Going back to the question, doesn’t it worry you that some of that gets lost in MLS?

Gastón: At this stage of my career, honestly not a lot, you know, the truth is that when I enter the pitch I try to do what is best for the team, I try in my own way, my style, in the moment that I consider that the play is too accelerated I try to slow it down and control the game… I don’t know if it was one of the best games, but it was a good game for me. It was a tough game, a “partido chivo” as we say, we didn’t have Will (Johnson) and we didn’t have Diego (Valeri), the team was a little injured and San Jose started scoring, but in my style I tried to impose my game from my position. The coach knows me, he is the one that came looking for me and knows what I have to give, in that sense what the people may have to say isn’t all that important, but I haven’t heard much, in comparison with Argentina this is such a different reality… I am not worried.

DD: Of course…

Gastón: I am truly enjoying this experience a lot, especially the fact of not having lost the passion in the atmosphere, because every weekend we love each time more to play in this field, the people makes us feel like we are at home. What we have felt in this pitch we haven’t felt it in any other MLS Stadium. It’s the truth…

DD: The other thing, and what is probably my favorite, is to see the passion without the trouble…

Gastón: There you have it…

DD: That is the best, sometimes I look at it and think “you guys don’t know what you have”, you can join the gang and chant with them and it’s totally all right…

Gastón: You can’t really do that sometimes (in Argentina), because there is a lot of crime… We had had a couple talks with the guys upstairs (Timbers Army) and it’s the opposite, they never ask us for anything, and they do so many events to help their community, to help the community – not to benefit themselves…

DD: These guys don’t steal, they give…

Gastón: (laughs) it’s truly a pleasure to see it is that way and to see that everything works the way it is supposed to, because in Argentina the problem is that nothing works the way it should, there is always something. For example (points at an advertising fence), that fence is supposed to be sitting there, back home, they would change the location in order to make the pitch narrower, you understand? Always trying to trick it to get some advantage…

DD: Did you have any run-ins with the hooligans?

Gastón: Luckily never

DD: I remember when Independiente was about to descend to the B Nacional (second division), and the “boys” came down to talk to the squad…

Gastón: right… the other day I was thinking and analyzing a bit the situation of the “Barras” in Argentina, and man, they need to find a way of making it transparent, if they exist, they exist, you’ve got to expose them, who is running it and expose them, because you hear the management say “which ‘barra’, we don’t know any ‘barras’ (hooligans)” and it’s a lie, the people know it and laugh at them because they are lying. Every team has a “barra”, I don’t know the way or have the formula for it, but you got to expose who they are and who is the leadership, because the way things are now there is no solution, it’s getting worse every day.

DD: And back again to the Portland Timbers, do you feel more comfortable playing like you did against San Jose as a 10 or…

Gastón: I love to play as a 9 (center forward), that is what it was talked from the beginning with Caleb (Porter), he had offered to play me here and to be the 9 of the team, but due to injuries we had suffered he had me playing on the wing, then on the center and as a 9 at times too… For me what is important is to play, it’s what I need the most, what makes a player feels good.

DD: Caleb Porter describes you as a mix of a 10 and a 9, you are able to organize and also you can at times rush the small box and score goals…

Gastón:… the offensive part is something that we have complete and the truth is that it has gone very well for all of us in general, only that Darlington (Nagbe) hasn’t been able to score, but he is still our most incisive player. One you can trust to give him the ball and take on opponents, beyond that Diego (Valeri) has 9 goals, Adi has 10, Maxi (Urruti) has 9, I scored 7 and Rodney (Wallace) has scored 5 in this second half of the league. The offensive part individually and collectively is something the team has accomplished.

DD: Talking about the defense, Norberto Paparatto and Liam Ridgewell are players that show a lot of experience, both come from playing in much higher level leagues, what do you think that Norberto lacked to dominate his position?

Gastón: I think that here, all league teams suffer a lot defensively due to the fact that they are all very unbalanced teams, in the sense that they have a majority of players up front that are very offensive, and that unbalances the rest of their team. The other day I was reading the comparisons between scored goals and goals received, and all teams have very similar averages, it is very difficult to have 20 goals in favor and to have had 18 goals scored against, and everything is very unbalanced in this league. Football is viewed as a spectacle, in Argentina, remember teams like Estudiantes years ago, rough teams who would score a goal and then park a bus in front of the goal, defend with 2 lines of 5 to protect the result… that doesn’t happen here and that makes football a prettier sport, more entertaining, brings more people, at the end it’s the goals what make football such a beautiful sport.

DD: Right…

Gastón:… so then what I think happened to Paparatto is that he paid that a bit, also I think it would be very unfair to those who haven’t seen the great games that Norberto played after he had recovered from his ankle injury. In my opinion, he is finishing the season at a very high level, at the level that he was seen playing in Argentina and that is why Caleb brought him here.

DD: You just have to see him how he handles the ball and plays it forward…

Gastón: and then there is another thing that is not known, it is that Norberto had sacrificed greatly for the team, there was a time when he injured his ankle, and Kah, couldn’t play for a different injury, I can’t recall exactly, but we lacked center defenders and Ridgewell hadn’t arrived yet, so Norberto played injured and all. That class of players are always important and have to be valued.

DD: About Ridgewell, how is like to play with a player that comes from a league with such prestige like the English Premiership? Even as there exists the argument that between all the great leagues, including the Argentinian league, they are all quite close in level… I tend to joke that the EPL has the best marketing team.

Gastón: When I get to talk about that subject, what can I say, I do not watch all the matches of Manchester United, or Fulham… Fulham plays in the Premiership, but it’s possible that they come here to play us and we beat them, I don’t know how Fulham plays… the names of their players are probably as unknown as the names of the Portland players. There are very few teams that can edge by so far in today’s football, or teams that can show huge differences when matched up to a normal team, but Ridgewell had the hierarchy to come to the team, put on the jersey immediately and show his quality and personality to integrate himself into the team as fast as possible.

DD: He is known for being quite a great character…

Gastón: Generally the whole squad is pretty entertaining, we really have fun together, we got a lot of help, especially the Argentinians that, except for Diego (Valeri), we don’t speak the language very well, or not at all (laughter), they (the team) have been really enthusiastic, they have given us a great hand, not just our team mates, but also the club. This is a place where you can really enjoy things.

DD: Back to football, another thing I was thinking is that when I see Valeri play, he can be quite a vertical player, then I see the game you did against San Jose, more horizontal, managing the timing, playing short passes, building up. You and Valeri aren’t that different age wise, you do not belong to a different generations per se. Then, I remember the old debates between Menottistas and Bilardistas back in Argentina, then coaches like Marcelo Bielsa and Jose Peckerman enter the scene and propose a much modern style of football, I call it “modern” just to give it a name. But I see you are more like a classic Argentinian player while I see Valeri as a figure of the newer face of Argentine football… I don’t even think Messi can enter any category he is truly unique…

Gastón: In my opinion, they are confusing the term “modern football” with the fast, contention football, if you want an example, let’s look at surprise that came from River (River Plate) with Gallardo (Marcelo Gallardo ex-DC United, currently coaching River Plate), he is a modern coach that has as a main weapon to keep the ball and to be a very patient team when attacking. I do not like the style of football that is played with thoughtless speed, where the player does not think. An attacker tries to pass a defender when there is a second one waiting right behind the first one, you can’t try to pass them because it wears you out, in today’s football it’s hard to pass just one player, in today’s physical football defenders are very well built, it’s hard to pass them, there are those who would try to pass them both, and that is wrong. There has to be coaches that talk to you and show you how, for me the best coach I ever had will be Alejandro Sabella (former Estudiantes and Argentina national team coach), with him beyond I lived my best moments as a player, Sabella is a teacher, he explains things to you…

DD: The professor…

Gastón: the professor, exactly, a man that would explain you what and why, and just simple things, history, nothing modern like trying to build diagonals from here to there, the player the freer he is, the more loose he is in the pitch the better he will perform in my opinion.

DD: What happens next year? When is the contract supposed to finish?

Gastón: the contract finishes at the end of the year, my intention and my hopes are that I can stay at the club, I think that we will stay, that is what is was talked with Caleb, but this is not a moment to talk about contract stuff, this is the moment to play the rest of the tournament. On my end of things, I am calm because I accomplished what I promised when I came to the club, and that was to be 100% professional, and that is what I did all year long, playing well or playing bad I had always been ready for whatever Caleb needed.

DD: Do you miss it? Do you think about going back to Argentina?

Gastón: well, you always miss it, it’s my place…

DD: And then I see you with the thermo and the Mate everywhere you go…

Gastón: (laughter) yes, always, the boys make fun of us because we drink mate all day… I am very happy here with my wife and my son, having the possibility to give our children the chance to live in a place like this, every parent will love to have that. Seeing my boy grow up happy, take him to school and see the group of friends he has found, and seeing him feeling like one of them, it’s a great feeling, and says that this was a great decision that we made, to stay in Portland would be something really beautiful.