Terence Dunfield (born February 20, 1982) is a Canadian former soccer player, coach and pundit, as well as soccer analyst for TSN and colour commentator for OneSoccer.

Terry Dunfield
Dunfield with Toronto FC in 2012
Personal information
Full name Terence Dunfield[1]
Date of birth (1982-02-20) February 20, 1982 (age 42)
Place of birth Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1999–2000 Manchester City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2003 Manchester City 1 (0)
2002–2003Bury (loan) 29 (2)
2003–2005 Bury 45 (3)
2007–2009 Macclesfield Town 61 (2)
2009–2010 Shrewsbury Town 46 (2)
2010 Vancouver Whitecaps 7 (2)
2011 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 16 (1)
2011–2013 Toronto FC 56 (6)
2014 Oldham Athletic 2 (0)
2014–2015 Ross County 4 (0)
2016 Toronto Atomic FC 16 (8)
International career
2000 England U18 1 (0)
2000–2001 Canada U20 5 (0)
2002–2003 Canada U23 2 (0)
2010–2015 Canada 14 (1)
Managerial career
2017– Toronto FC (academy)
2023 Toronto FC (interim)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

As a player he was a midfielder who played in the Premier League although briefly for Manchester City, he also played in the English Football League for Bury, Macclesfield Town, Shrewsbury Town and Oldham Athletic, with a brief stint in Scotland with Ross County. He also played in Major League Soccer for both Vancouver Whitecaps FC and Toronto FC, before finishing his career in local soccer with Toronto Atomic FC. He was capped 14 times by Canada.

Club career edit

As a schoolboy, Dunfield played in a tournament at Keele, where he was scouted by Manchester City. At the age of 15, he made the move to England to join up with City's youth set-up. He progressed through a good youth team which included the likes of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joey Barton. Dunfield made his only Premier League appearance in 2001. In the last game of the season, against Chelsea, he came on in the 36th minute as a substitute for Jeff Whitley.[2] However, following the departure of Joe Royle and the arrival of Kevin Keegan, Dunfield found first-team opportunities hard to come by. In 2002, he was loaned to Bury, where he revelled in the opportunity to play first-team football. At the end of his loan spell, and although Keegan planned to offer him a new contract, Dunfield asked to leave City.

Dunfield subsequently signed a three-year deal with Bury, where he made 74 league appearances during his time with the club. In January 2005, he suffered a broken kneecap in a game against Leyton Orient, and at the end of the season he was released. However, after seeing a specialist in North America, Dunfield underwent an operation and was told afterward that he would be able to play again in nine months. He spent the last four months of rehabilitation at Manchester City, and in July 2007 he completed his comeback by signing for Macclesfield Town after a trial period during pre-season.[3] He went on to become the club's 2007–08 player of the season.[4]

Dunfield signed for Shrewsbury Town in January 2009 for £65,000. His first season was considered stop-start, and he struggled to fit into his new team's style of play. However, his form improved the following season, and as a result he was handed his first full international cap by Canada.

After earning his cap, Dunfield was advised by Canadian manager Stephen Hart that he needed to be playing at a higher level than League Two if he had any aspirations of furthering his international career. As a result, a month after gaining his cap he was allowed to leave by new Shrewsbury manager Graham Turner. Turner said that he was "far from happy with the player basically implying that this club and English League Two football was not good enough for him."[5]

While on trial with Motherwell of the Scottish Premier League, Dunfield was offered a contract by the Vancouver Whitecaps, which he accepted with the knowledge he could move to the MLS club in 2011.[6]

On December 10, 2010, it was announced that Dunfield would be a member of Vancouver Whitecaps FC in Major League Soccer.[7] After making 12 league appearances for the MLS club, Dunfield was traded to Toronto FC on July 14, 2011.[8] Dunfield made his debut for Toronto on July 30 as a second half sub for Julian De Guzman against Portland Timbers, the game ended as a 2–2 away draw.[9] Dunfield scored his first goal for Toronto in injury time against his former club, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, on July 11, 2012, clinching the 3–2 home victory.[10]

 
Dunfield with the Vancouver Whitecaps in 2010

Team officials named Dunfield the Toronto FC player of the year in 2012.[11] Dunfield was waived in June 2013.[12]

Dunfield signed with Oldham Athletic on February 20, 2014, until the end of the season after impressing on trial.[13][14] Dunfield was released at the end of the 2013–14 season.[15]

He signed for Scottish club Ross County in October 2014.[16] Dunfield was one of 14 players released by Ross County at the end of the 2014–15 season.[17]

For the 2016 season, he signed with Toronto Atomic FC in the Canadian Soccer League, where he recorded his first goal on June 25, 2016, against Scarborough SC.[18] In his debut season he finished as the club's top goalscorer with eight goals.[19]

International career edit

Dunfield made his debut for Canada's senior team in a 1–1 draw against Venezuela on May 29, 2010. On June 1, 2011, Dunfield scored his first international goal in a 2–2 friendly match against Ecuador at BMO Field.[20] On January 26, 2013, Dunfield was given the captaincy for the senior team in a friendly against Denmark; the match ended 4–0 in favour of Denmark.[21]

Coaching career edit

Dunfield eventually joined Toronto FC Academy as the head coach of its under-17s team. On June 26, 2023, he was named interim head coach of Toronto FC's first team after the dismissal of Bob Bradley.[22][23][24]

Media career edit

Dunfield now works as a soccer analyst for TSN and colour commentator for OneSoccer.[25]

International goals edit

Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 June 1, 2011 BMO Field, Toronto, Canada   Ecuador 1–0 2–2 Friendly

Honours edit

Toronto FC

References edit

  1. ^ Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2009). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2009–10. Mainstream Publishing. p. 128. ISBN 978-1-84596-474-0.
  2. ^ "FA Carling Premiership Saturday 19th May 2001". The Telegraph. May 19, 2001. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  3. ^ "Silkmen sign ex-Bury midfielder". BBC Sport. July 27, 2007. Retrieved July 27, 2007.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "Port Vale: Vital statistics". The Sentinel. January 9, 2009. Retrieved January 9, 2009.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "Langmead and Dunfield leaving Town". Shropshire Star. June 18, 2010. Retrieved August 4, 2010.
  6. ^ "Soccer wunderkind returns home to play for the Vancouver Whitecaps". Vancouver Sun. August 10, 2010. Retrieved August 18, 2010.[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ "Whitecaps FC add Canadian international and 2010 USSF D-2 Defender of the Year | Vancouver Whitecaps FC". Whitecapsfc.com. December 10, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2011.
  8. ^ Weber, Marc (July 14, 2011). "Dunfield gets boot, traded to Toronto FC". Theprovince.com. Retrieved September 25, 2011.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ "Revamped Reds Earn A Draw". TorontoFC.ca. July 30, 2011. Archived from the original on September 16, 2011. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
  10. ^ "Toronto FC beat Vancouver Whitecaps 3–2 in thriller at BMO Field". thestar.com. July 12, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
  11. ^ "Toronto FC concludes woeful season with loss to Crew". theglobeandmail.com. October 28, 2012. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  12. ^ "Toronto FC waive Dunfield". Soccer By Ives. June 13, 2013. Archived from the original on February 24, 2014. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
  13. ^ "Terry Dunfield Signs For Latics". Oldham Athletic A.F.C. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
  14. ^ Daniel Squizzato (February 21, 2014). "Canadian Exports: Terry Dunfield lands deal with League One's Oldham Athletic". Archived from the original on March 6, 2014. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  15. ^ "Oldham Athletic retained list". Oldham Athletic A.F.C. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
  16. ^ "Ross County: Boss Jim McIntyre grateful for backing from board". BBC Sport. BBC.
  17. ^ "Ross County to release 14 players at end of season". BBC Sport. BBC. May 20, 2015. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
  18. ^ Adamson, Stan. "TERRY DUNFIELD HAD IT ALL ……now one of CSL's special players | Canadian Soccer League". canadiansoccerleague.ca. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  19. ^ "2016 First Division Stats | Canadian Soccer League". canadiansoccerleague.ca. Archived from the original on January 6, 2017. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  20. ^ "Canada draw Ecuador". Sportsnet.ca. Rogers Sportsnet. June 1, 2011. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
  21. ^ "Inexperienced Canada overpowered by Denmark". Canada Soccer Association. Archived from the original on January 30, 2013. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
  22. ^ "Toronto FC Announce Coaching Changes | Toronto FC". torontofc.
  23. ^ Wolstat, Ryan (June 26, 2023). "Toronto FC fires head coach Bob Bradley, names Terry Dunfield interim coach". Toronto Sun. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
  24. ^ Davidson, Neil (June 26, 2023). "Toronto FC fires head coach Bob Bradley, names Terry Dunfield as interim". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
  25. ^ News, OneSoccer. "Meet the OneSoccer Experts". {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  26. ^ "Terry Dunfield named #TorontoFC 2012 MVP". Toronto FC. October 21, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2016.

External links edit