Hasler: Legendary footballing father 'wanted me to have a normal job'

TORONTO - To mark UEFA's Golden Jubilee in 2004, each national association was asked to pick its best player over the past 50 years. For Liechtenstein, there was only one winner.

Rainer Hasler's name listed alongside instantly recognizable European greats, including Johan Cruyff, Ferenc Puskas, Dino Zoff, Eusebio, Alfredo Di Stefano, and Bobby Moore. It was a nod to a trailblazing career that saw him achieve many firsts for his tiny country - a tax haven of under 38,000 people - with a particular highlight being a run to the quarterfinals of the 1981-82 UEFA Cup with little-known Swiss side Xamax. To get that far, Xamax had beaten Sparta Prague, Malmo FF, and Sporting CP, but it was knocked out by eventual beaten finalist Hamburg, which leant on the experience of a certain Franz Beckenbauer.

The Liechtensteiner had enjoyed a rich and unparalleled career by the time he hung up his boots in 1989, but still wasn't convinced football presented the best career for his son.

"To be honest, my father always told me 'don't be a professional soccer player.' He always wanted me to have a normal job because back home, it's a more secure way to have a good, normal life," Nicolas Hasler told theScore following Tuesday's training session with Toronto FC.

"People will choose more to have a good job than to try to get professional because it's easier."

Others would have taken the easy road, avoiding the expectations and unhelpful comparisons that come with having a legendary footballing father, but Hasler soon found his studies interfering with a promising career at FC Vaduz. Regardless of the great wealth that can be acquired from other jobs in Liechtenstein, Hasler had to focus on football.

(Photo courtesy: @Volksblatt)

"I had sometimes to battle with my name because they'd say 'you're only here because of the name of your father' and stuff like that, but I think I proved myself," Hasler said.

A European minnow

Rainer Hasler sadly passed away aged 56 in 2014 after battling a long illness, but by then had seen his son do something he hadn't by representing Liechtenstein. Hasler Sr. was too precious to his clubs to be trusted with his country's international setup - the organisational ability of the Liechtenstein Football Association was questionable, and its team didn't play an official qualification game until 1994 - but today, his son relishes playing among many amateurs, balking at the suggestion that the squad's modest standards can prove a frustration.

"You have to adapt. You have to sometimes also teach them how to play, how to move on the field. So, I won't say it's frustration because that's a negative word. It's more that you are there to help the other ones and explain sometimes how to move better on the field," Hasler said.

Liechtenstein's small talent pool means it sometimes shifts its most gifted players around the lineup to find squad balance, and maybe even flirt with the rare instance of scoring. Hasler's versatility has been stretched to its limits, often putting him in close quarters with some of European football's biggest names.

"I played striker against Spain, so against (Gerard) Pique and (Sergio) Ramos - I mean, that's easy," he joked, before reflecting on his double life as an isolated forward. "You're trying to help the team defensively but the distances are so wide and so long that you cannot come to a position to recover the ball."

His most difficult opponent, however, was Andres Iniesta, Barcelona's diminutive genius who ghosted into gaps that Hasler presumed closed due to Liechtenstein's defense-first schematic.

An ambassador

Many would have written off Hasler as a squad player for Toronto FC in 2018, but injuries to teammates and his ability to play in a range of positions down the right and through the middle have seen him feature in each of TFC's seven MLS games.

Hasler was arguably the best player on the pitch before being substituted during the heart-wrenching second-leg defeat to Chivas de Guadalajara in last month's CONCACAF Champions League final.

He admits to some surprise at that withdrawal by Greg Vanney in Mexico, but suggests he may have been suffering from fatigue, and that "you have to accept the decisions the coach makes." With that measured outlook, it's not difficult to understand why TFC general manager Tim Bezbatchenko began sniffing for his signature around two-and-a-half years ago.

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

The 27-year-old is encouraged by his performances so far this campaign and believes he can establish himself as a mainstay in the starting XI. He has certainly won fans beyond Liechtenstein and Switzerland (the league system in which Vaduz plays) and can also count a supporter in the player he smartly assisted in last Friday's 3-0 defeat of the Philadelphia Union.

"He's really important for us because he gives us this kind of play we don't have that much," Victor Vazquez noted to theScore.

"He's always (playing) with his head up."

Since Hasler moved to Toronto last July, he has become an ambassador for his country. He hasn't been a pioneer on the lofty level of his father, but is giving viewers a fine first impression of a Liechtenstein footballer's talents: industry, intelligence, and invention.