PREVIOUS INSTALLMENTS:
Vancouver Arsenal (
I and
II),
CF San Francisco,
CONCACAF Champions Cup Final,
Cascadian National Team 2015, America Cup (Cuba 2016)
I and
II and
III, England vs. America (WC 2018)
I,
II and
III,
Cascadian National Team Uniforms,
Double Digit Scores,
2010 Premier Division Draft, Magnificent Seven (Part
I,
II,
III,
IV,
V).
META: This is one very long writeup, so I tried to add a couple more boxes to break it up, but hopefully, it's worth reading it. Because it's got dirt and scandal. And it was fun writing.
FINDING DIRT
Gregor “Greg” Andervindt (born 18 August 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker or as an attacking midfielder for French First League club Saint-Etienne and the Cascadian national team. He had previously played for Bordeaux, Nantes, Vancouver Arsenal, Citoyens Liege and Lausanne.
Greg Andervindt has prominently featured in Cascadia’s national youth teams before moving to the senior squad in 2015, and is currently the joint leading international goalscorer among active Cascadian players, alongside Devon de Vos. He has won the 2016 America Cup with Cascadia.
After his 2020 Europa Challenge win he along with older brother Mark joined an exclusive group of just six Cascadian players in history who had won a continental club title on two or more different continents. He has also commanded the record highest transfer fee paid for a Cascadian player in his move from Nantes to Saint-Etienne in 2020.
In 2021, he was nominated for Best North American player, but ultimately was awarded third place.
Assessment and Style of Play
An imposing and creative forward player, Andervindt possesses pace, strength, stamina, and a good sense of timing, backed by proven scoring ability with his head and his feet. Due to his powerful right-footed shot, he can score from distance, but excels particularly in the box.
Besides leading the attacking line, he has also played a large portion of his career as a second striker or advanced attacking midfielder, using his physical presence and tackling ability to win or recover the ball high up the pitch and provide for his strike partner.
His abrasive play style and competitive personality, however, have also left him with an unenviable disciplinary record on the pitch, which, when combined with numerous incidents off the field, have gained him a controversial reputation as volatile and sometimes unprofessional, something Andervindt himself had previously strongly denied.
He has variously been described as an honest team player who is both adaptable and hard-working by respected figures in the sport, but also sometimes characterized as disruptive and difficult to work with by some of his other teammates and coaches.
Early Life and Youth Career
Greg Andervindt is from Vancouver, Cascadia, and grew up in family circumstances he described as “complicated”. He is the youngest of six siblings, born one year and two days after his brother Mark, a fellow Cascadia and Saint-Etienne player.
As a child he always dreamed of playing football professionally, and refused to focus on other goals in life, with poor academic performance at all grade levels. After playing in various youth clubs from the age of six, his dream came closer to fulfillment when he followed his older brother into the Van Metro program in 2003, a pattern that was to repeat many times in his life. He mostly played as an attacking midfielder during his youth years.
Club Career
2011-2014
In 2011, he was drafted by Vancouver Arsenal, starting his professional career with the club and making an immediate impression on the coaches and fans, appearing ninety times in the team colours and finding the back of the net thirty-nine times across all competitions in three seasons.
Despite focus on his obvious athleticism and scoring ability, his ball-winning and his firm play style were also noticed early. The infamous “Andervindt will break your leg” chant that Arsenal were fined for in 2014 did not, in the beginning, mention Mark (a dedicated ball-winning midfielder), but were centred on Greg alone, rhyming his name with “leg” in the original version. Despite the implication, Greg Andervindt had never seriously injured another player during his spell with Vancouver.
In 2013, he helped Arsenal win their first major title (the Denman Cup) since 2004, and built on it next year by winning the American Champions’ Cup, Andervindt rising above the San Francisco defenders to head in a stunning winner in extra time. At the end of that season, Vancouver Arsenal decided to cash in on the young player’s growing reputation and sold him to Citoyens Liege together with his brother.
2014-2017
Between 2014 and 2017, excluding a half-season loan to Lausanne in 2015, Andervindt toiled in the French Second Division, featuring as the attacking half of a central midfield pair, scoring twelve goals in the league and eighteen in cup competitions. Liege reached the quarter-finals of both the French Cup and the League Cup in 2016, and won the Walloon Cup in 2017.
In 2017, he was sold to Bordeaux, who had finished fourth in the French First League the previous year.
2017-2018
The 2017-2018 season was a standout one for Andervindt, then 24, who played in support of Bordeaux’s centre-forward Safir Mehmedi, creating ten assists and scoring fourteen times in the league (including two penalties), three of which came against his brother’s Saint-Etienne side. He also got on the score-sheet in each of Bordeaux’s other competitions, including a brace against Malmo in the Champion’s Cup.
2018-2019
In 2018, after Cascadia’s elimination by England in the round of 16, upset at having multiple refereeing decision go against him during the game, Andervindt gave an angry interview to the French channel UltraSport explaining his grievances in explicit language. He was fined for this by the Cascadian FA.
“That set the tone for the rest of the year,” said Andervindt later. “I was angry since summer, and stayed angry through the year. I let that affect my football, and for that I apologize, most of all to my teammates in Bordeaux, who suffered for my bad decisions.”
After the Saint-Clair incident, which led to him being interviewed by the police, Greg Andervindt played erratically, tackling clumsily and getting into altercations with referees and opposing players. In October, he was still searching for his first league goal, when he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season, leading to his first game suspension. This was soon followed by two yellow cards in one game, then another four spread out over the weeks before December. Coming back from a ban for the last league appearance before the new year, he received a straight red twenty minutes into the match.
At the time he had scored once and set up three goals for his teammates, an insufficient return which led to him being dropped by the manager. A further setback followed in the winter of 2019, with the tragedy involving Andervindt’s friend Petra Sosnowiak, which reportedly left him devastated. Although his disciplinary record improved over the second half of the season, he made relatively few appearances and scored only once more in the league and twice in the French Cup.
His agent dropped him in April 2019. He found a new agent in Paul Kallemeyn, who also represents former Cascadian trainees Stephane Ansermin and Mark Andervindt. Kallemeyn ordered him to stop talking to the press and took over all negotiations with the club, as a result of which he informed Greg that he likely had no future in Bordeaux, and started looking for a move. In summer 2019, Greg Andervindt joined Nantes, in exchange for central defender Jean-Ange Bassole.
2019-2021
Andervindt made a steady start in Nantes, and although he was still foul-prone, his scoring record offset the risk. After ten goals in all competitions, it looked like the forward found his pace again. In the midseason transfer window, however, he was sought after by Saint-Etienne, who were looking for a striker to lead the Europa Challenge race. As Andervindt was not cup-tied, familiar with French football, and seemingly returning to form, he seemed like a good choice. Nantes, however, were quite happy with his contribution and stalled on selling him until the last day of the transfer period, finally agreeing to let him leave for a record amount of money ever spent on a Cascadian player.
Sebastien Remond, Saint-Etienne’s manager, expressed confidence in his new purchase, saying “Greg is a good footballer, and a team player at heart. If I didn’t think that, I would have never made the move for him. He’s had a rough period but I am certain he’s working through it and will do well for us in the long term.”
Playing as the apex of a front three, Andervindt performed unselfishly in the new system and set up two of the three goals scored in the Europa Challenge final. Despite that, he continued to steadily accumulate cautions through the season. “That may be a constant concern with a player like Greg,” Remond said in summer 2020, “but if we manage it well, it’s not a problem.”
In 2020-2021, 27-year-old Andervindt surged to a personal-best season, scoring twenty two in the league and thirty four goals when including other competitions in a single year, also winning the French League Cup along the way and smashing in a penalty in the European Supercup against Libertas Madrid. This led to his nomination for Best American Player of the year.
Controversies and Personal Life
UltraSport Incident:
In 2018, Andervindt was sanctioned by the Cascadian FA for profanity on live television when asked by UltraSport to clarify if he thought that the refereeing decisions favoured England. He answered in the affirmative, adding some colourful phrases for emphasis. Since the interview was conducted in French, the scandal did not have a big impact in Cascadia at the time, but later resurfaced repeatedly. Andervindt had since apologized to the English FA and the Brazilian refereeing team.
Saint-Clair Incident:
Remy Saint-Clair, a French sports reporter and gossip columnist, accused Andervindt and three other players of physically assaulting him in September 2018 while out in Bordeaux’s club district. He later amended his accusations to state he was only reasonably frightened for his safety, and that the players had in fact only smashed his motorcycle. He later also clarified that the motorcycle was not smashed, but only tipped over the railing into the river.
As Saint-Clair misidentified all three of the people who were supposedly with Andervindt that night, his lawyers decided that the case was unlikely to be resolved successfully and advised a private settlement. Andervindt was quoted on the subject as saying, “I don’t know what he’s talking about, I wasn’t even there, but if I was he’d have had it coming. We’re not friends, so why is he following me? To find out where I go? It’s no secret where I go, but he’d better stay away from me.”
Saint-Clair later reported that his residence was vandalised by persons unknown, but no culprits were found and Andervindt dismissed any connection between the two events.
2018 Face of Cascadian Football:
In 2018, Greg Andervindt was selected by online voters across three major Cascadian sports publications as the most prominent Cascadian player, but a leak later revealed that the editorial team decided he was too controversial and didn’t show his country in the best light. They also considered a replacement in Mark Andervindt, who was seen as a positive role model if “incomprehensibly boring”, but Mark “refused to feature as the face of anything”. In the end, the editors went with Tim Loukanidis as the current face, and Leon Lee as the player of the future, against the online vote’s results. Greg Andervindt, upon learning of this, said that, “They’re all cowards. It should have been me. I am never speaking to them again if they don’t correct that.”
Despite lack of corrections, Andervindt has in fact spoken to Cascadian football press on many occasions since.
Sosnowiak Tragedy:
In January 2019, while Andervindt was in Cascadia for the holidays, paramedics were called to a party at his apartment in Bordeaux by his friend, the second-division footballer Tininho (Christian Maia), to attend to Petra Sosnowiak, Maia’s wife and Andervindt’s friend. Despite best efforts, she passed away in what was described as an unexpected medical reaction.
Andervindt later lashed out at a representative of the media, saying that, “You stand here and keep suggesting I know what happened, that someone is to blame for this, while the rest of us who actually care are hurting bad. If you ask me one more question like that, I will make you choke on that microphone.”
The tragedy took an even darker turn in June 2019, when Christian Maia’s car was hit by a truck as he was driving to work, leaving behind the couple’s two-year-old son Xavier. Greg Andervindt applied to adopt the child and completed the process by winter 2020.
Personal Life:
In January 2020 he moved to Saint-Etienne, where he shares a house with his brother Mark. He is a fan of winter sports and has gone for ski holidays both in France and at home in Cascadia.
In 2021, he agreed to talk to the Football Observer for the Magnificent Seven feature for the first time since 2019, but refused to answer questions on anything except football. He expressed a desire to one day play in Asia or Africa and win a continental title on yet another continent, becoming the first Cascadian player to do so.
International Career
Greg Andervindt made only three appearances for Cascadia’s U-17s before moving up a level. He has represented his country’s U-20 team in two CONCACAF campaigns, losing the finals against Panama and Mexico in 2011 and 2013 respectively. He has represented Cascadia at the U-20s World Cup twice, but Cascadia exited at group stage both times.
He appeared for the senior team in 2015, qualifying for the America Cup 2016 and making the final team selection. He started in the quarter-final after a personnel reshuffle by Rob Tarasenko, and took an early lead from a header. He missed his attempt in the penalty shoot-out but Cascadia progressed regardless. He appeared in the semi-final as a substitute, and proved a decisive addition to the final against Illinois, setting up a goal and scoring two. His three goals entered him into a six-way race for the tournament’s top scorer, which was in the end decided using assists as tie-breakers.
His participation in the Confederation Cup in 2017 proved lacklustre, and he was generally less effective than Michael Darmanin whom he substituted.
He was called up for WC 2018, scoring against Bulgaria in the group stages, and against England in the round of 16. After proving his scoring threat, he was tightly marked by English defenders and earned a yellow for physical play, being substituted before he could argue himself into a second caution. This led to the UltraSport interview incident.
He appeared again in the 2020 America Cup, scoring twice to keep pace with rival Devon de Vos as Cascadia earned a bronze.
He has a long-standing and less-than-friendly rivalry with Cascadian team-mate de Vos, the two strikers keeping even with each other in their race up the rankings of Cascadia’s highest scorers, both of them having surpassed Patrick Ng’s tally in 2020 and sitting only one behind Maurice Hamblin.
The presence of both in the team means that one of them must usually sit the game out, which led to de Vos remarking in 2017 that “Greg is a decent player, yes, but if he opens his mouth you’d think you’re dealing with a second Edgar Kielland. I think others deserve to have their chance ahead of him.”
Andervindt, for his part, said that “There are players who deserve to be ahead of me. Michael (Darmanin) started ahead of me on merit. That’s the end of that list. Devon isn’t even on that list,” and, again in 2019, “Devon should do the decent thing and just focus on his club football. I’m younger and will pass him eventually. He’s kidding himself if he thinks otherwise. Best do it now before he’s a washed up, embarrassing old man.”
This led de Vos to reply that, “If Greg thinks he’s better than me, he can prove it by scoring more. That’s how this works. He can’t win this on QuickThoughts, he has to win this on the field.” The striker also reportedly added that his rival was immature and needed a coach or a family member to hold his hand at all times instead of being an adult, but later denied saying it.
Despite the open media feud, the two have sometimes been in the same starting 11. Leon Lee, who played as a second striker behind both, refused to make comparisons and said, “Greg and Devon are my friends, my teammates, they’re both excellent players and I’m happy pairing with either. Dalton (Augerville) is another striker who compliments my playing style. When we have to, we all work well together.”
Florent Chasseur, the Cascadian head coach, shared the opinion that, “Having two such players at my disposal at the same time may seem a problem, but it’s a problem most American coaches would gladly welcome. They do bicker but they both score.”
In March 2021, Mark Andervindt, the new Cascadia captain, stated, “I should expect the problems we’ve had are all in the past now. Everyone is a professional and focused on making sure our nation’s flag flies proudly at the World Cup in 2022.”
Honours
Vancouver: Denman Cup 2013, CONCACAF Champions’ Cup 2014
Liege: Walloon Regional Cup 2017
Saint Etienne: Europa Challenge, 2020, European Supercup 2020, French League Cup 2021
International: America Cup 2016; CONCACAF U-20 2011 (silver), 2013 (silver), America Cup 2020 (bronze)
Personal: American Player of the Year, third place (2021)
