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Leo Bertos

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Leo Bertos
Personal information
Full name Leonidas Christos Bertos
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Winger, attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Wellington Phoenix
Number 7
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23 June 2008

Leonidas Christos "Leo" Bertos (born 20 December 1981) is a New Zealand footballer who plays for Wellington Phoenix as a midfielder.

Club career

Leo's father was born in Greece, his mother born in New Zealand and his grandfather is from Romania but he chose to represent his place of birth, New Zealand.[citation needed]

Bertos started his career in Barnsley's youth team,[1] and made his debut for the reserve team against Rotherham United in October 2000.[2] He made his first-team debut for Barnsley in a 4–0 defeat to Preston North End on 16 April 2001 and signed a professional contract for the club a day later.[3][4] He picked up a knee injury whilst playing in Tenerife,[5] the results of which required a second opinion.[6] These results were delayed,[7] but, when received, it was confirmed that no meniscus was present to his tendon.[8]

He had a reasonably successful two year spell at Rochdale scoring the goal in a 1-0 win at Kidderminster that secured their League status in 2003-04 but fell out of favour the following year and was released. After failing to impress in a short spell at Chester City he dropped into non-league football.

He signed for Perth Glory for the 2006/2007 A-League season on a two year deal and attempted to add depth in midfield that lacked consistency and a dominant factor in 2006-07, replacing star midfield player Nick Ward. Leo's pace and crosses on the wing has contributed nine assists this season to be among the top of the A-League in that statistic. Many fans bemoaned the fact he lacked to find the back of the net though despite a number of good scoring opportunities.

Bertos explored opportunities elsewhere during the A-League off season and glory manager Ron Smith had allowed him to trial with Greek club Skoda Xanthi before returning to Perth Glory.

On January 24 2008, Bertos signed a 2 year deal with his hometown club Wellington Phoenix.[9] Bertos scored his first goal for Wellington against Sydney FC on the 7th November 2008.

International career

He made his international debut against Iran in 2003 and has represented New Zealand on several occasions and has also represented New Zealand at under 23 level.

Leo is known for his dribbling and quality skills on the ball. This was shown in the New Zealand vs Brazil game when he dribbled around two defenders to win a corner and then gained a real confidence booster by receiving a pat on the back by a Brazilian defender. In the first game of the New Zealand vs Malaysia series (which New Zealand won 2-0), Leo received man of the match for his magnificent dribbling performance where he dominated the Malaysian defence.

References

  1. ^ "Late shocker for academy". Barnsley F.C. 2000-10-23. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
  2. ^ "Reserves face Millers". Barnsley F.C. 2000-10-31. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
  3. ^ "Barnsley 0-4 Preston". BBC Sport. 2001-04-16. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
  4. ^ "Youngsters sign contracts". Barnsley F.C. 2001-04-17. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
  5. ^ "Bertos waiting for scan results". Barnsley F.C. 2001-08-06. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
  6. ^ "Bertos must have second opinion". Barnsley F.C. 2001-08-06. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
  7. ^ "Bertos faces longer wait". Barnsley F.C. 2001-08-07. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
  8. ^ "Bertos receives good news". Barnsley F.C. 2001-08-08. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
  9. ^ Phoenix snare Bertos

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