Agu Casmir
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Agu Casmir | ||
| Date of birth | 23 March 1984 | ||
| Place of birth | Lagos, Nigeria | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Warriors F.C. | ||
| Number | 22 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2002–2003 | Woodlands Wellington | 53 | (41) |
| 2004–2005 | Young Lions | 34 | (31) |
| 2006 | Woodlands Wellington | 30 | (14) |
| 2007 | Gombak United | 26 | (11) |
| 2008 | PDRM | 3 | (1) |
| 2008–2010 | Gombak United | 57 | (23) |
| 2010–2011 | Persija Jakarta | 21 | (9) |
| 2012 | LionsXII | 14 | (5) |
| 2013 | Persebaya Surabaya | 6 | (2) |
| 2014– | Warriors F.C. | ||
| National team‡ | |||
| 2003–2007 | Singapore U23 | ||
| 2004– | Singapore | 42 | (15) |
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 24 May 2009. | |||
Agu Casmir (born 23 March 1984 in Lagos, Nigeria) is a professional soccer player who plays for Warriors F.C. and the Singapore national football team.
He took up Singapore citizenship in 2003.
In May 2008, rumours surfaced that an Indonesian club was interested in signing him. This comes 2 years after the controversial move to Persija Jakarta. But however, he signed for Malaysian Super-League side, PDRM FA. But just after 3 games, he was released, and Gombak United re-signed him.
Club career
He has previously played for S.League clubs Young Lions and Woodlands Wellington FC in Singapore's S.League,
Agu burst onto the football scene with Woodlands Wellington FC in 2002, scoring a remarkable 27 goals as an 18-year-old. He followed that up with another 15 goals the next year. In 2004 and 2005, playing for Young Lions, he scored a total of 31 goals. He returned to Woodlands Wellington FC last year and scored 17 times, before joining Gombak United FC at the start of the current 2007 S.League season.
On 19 September 2007, Agu Casmir's 86th-minute goal for the Gombak United FC, which cancelled out Home United FC Kone Hamed's 18th-minute opener, was his 100th in the S.League.
At the end of the 2007, Gombak United decided not to renew his contract and thus. Nevertheless, when the FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifier game against Lebanon loomed, he trained with one of his former club, Young Lions to keep his fitness at peak condition to be eligible for a call up to the national team.
He didn't play for the large part of 2008 due to being clubless, but in August 2008, Malaysian club PDRM FA signed him together with Noh Alam Shah. But controversially, he was released after just 3 games, without any goals to his name. Gombak United again came to re-sign him in 2009.
Agu spent the 2011 season playing for Persija Jakarta in the Indonesian Super League. On 5 December 2011, it was announced that he would be joining the Singapore LIONSXII team that would be returning to the Malaysian Super League for the 2012 season.
Not retained in the LionsXII squad for 2013, Agu was left without a club for a year until he signed with Indonesian club Persebaya at the end of 2013.[1][2] In June 2014, Agu signed with S.League Warriors F.C. taking jersey number 22.
International career
He was a member of the Singapore national team, which won the Tiger Cup regional football championship in 2005.
He was part of the 2005 and 2007 SEA Games squad, the latter being a bronze-medal winning team.
His impressive displays in the tail-end of 2008 earned him a national call up for the 2008 Suzuki Cup.
He scored a last minute goal for Singapore against Myanmar to allow Singapore to earn three points at the 2010 Suzuki Cup, but they were still unable to progress to the next round.
Controversy
Controversy arose over Agu Casmir when local press in Singapore reported his absence in January 2006. It was reported that Casmir signed a contract with Indonesian football club Persija Jakarta and that he took a signing-on fee of US$20,000. However, he did not report for training, claiming to be attending football trials with a Russian club and the club subsequently sought repayment of the fee from his agent, ex-footballer Jules Onana.
It was consequently reported on 19 February 2006 in The Straits Times that Agu Casmir had purportedly been in Canada and had no intention of further pursuing a career in football. The report quoted Agu Casmir's ex-manager, R. Vengadasalam, as saying that Casmir was disillusioned with football and had no intention of returning to Singapore. He had taken the contract to prove that he could still command a large annual fee (reported at US$80,000).
After a few weeks, reports emerged that he wanted to return to playing football in Singapore. Several football clubs including Gombak United FC had expressed interest in inviting him to play for their team, before he re-signed for former club Woodlands Wellington FC on a one-year contract, under a deal in which the club would re-pay Persija Jakarta his signing-on fee.
The Football Association of Singapore suspended him from the national squad for a year and fined him S$20,000, for his actions involving Persija Jakarta.[3][4]
National team career statistics
Goals for senior national team
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 13 December 2004 | Hanoi, Vietnam |  Laos | 3–1 | 6–2 (Won) | 2004 Tiger Cup |
| 2. | 13 December 2004 | Hanoi, Vietnam | Laos | 6–2 | 6–2 (Won) | 2004 Tiger Cup |
| 3. | 29 December 2004 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | .svg.png){kind=small} Myanmar | 2–1 | 4–3 (Won) | 2004 Tiger Cup |
| 4. | 2 January 2005 | Singapore | Myanmar | 4–2 | 4–2 (Won) | 2004 Tiger Cup |
| 5. | 8 January 2005 | Jakarta, Indonesia |  Indonesia | 3–0 | 3–1 (Won) | 2004 Tiger Cup |
| 6. | 16 January 2005 | Singapore | Indonesia | 2–0 | 2–1 (Won) | 2004 Tiger Cup |
| 7. | 4 October 2007 | Manama, Bahrain |  Bahrain | 1–0 | 1–0 (Lost) | Friendly |
| 8. | 5 December 2008 | Jakarta, Indonesia |  Cambodia | 1–0 | 5–0 (Won) | 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup |
| 9. | 5 December 2008 | Jakarta, Indonesia | Cambodia | 4–0 | 5–0 (Won) | 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup |
| 10. | 7 December 2008 | Jakarta, Indonesia | Myanmar | 2–0 | 3–1 (Won) | 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup |
| 11. | 7 December 2008 | Jakarta, Indonesia | Myanmar | 3–1 | 3–1 (Won) | 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup |
| 12. | 26 November 2010 | Jurong, Singapore | Laos | 2–0 | 4–0 (Won) | Friendly |
| 13. | 26 November 2010 | Jurong, Singapore | Laos | 4–0 | 4–0 (Won) | Friendly |
| 14. | 5 December 2010 | Hanoi, Vietnam |  Myanmar | 2–1 | 2–1 (Won) | 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup |
Honours
Club
- Gombak United
- Singapore League Cup: 2008
International
- Singapore
- ASEAN Football Championship: 2004
- Southeast Asian Games: Bronze Medal – 2007
Individual
- 100 S.League Goals: 2007
References
- ↑ http://www.goal.com/en-sg/news/3875/transfer-zone/2014/01/14/4541167/agu-casmir-joins-indonesias-persebaya-surabaya?ICID=AR
- ↑ http://www.goal.com/en-sg/news/3880/singapore/2014/02/12/4613561/agu-casmirs-indonesia-stint-comes-to-early-end?ICID=AR_RS_1
- ↑ http://youth.sg/index.php?Itemid=37&id=163&option=com_content&sidenavpos=25&task=view[]
- ↑ http://singaporelifetimes.blogspot.com/2006_03_05_archive.html
External links
- Agu Casmir at National-Football-Teams.com