THE CANADIAN PRESS
Frustration over being forced to play a style of soccer she didn’t like had as much to do with Kristina Kiss’s decision to retire from the national women’s soccer team as did the pain from her injured knees.
"I’ve played so long my motivation is gone," Kiss, 28, said in a telephone interview from Kanata, Ont., Wednesday.
"The lack of motivation I have to train at that level, and play at that level, is really the deciding factor."
Kiss said she became tried of the style of game former coach Even Pellerud wanted the team to play.
"It was a long, hard career," said the midfielder who spent nine years with the national team. "I didn’t enjoy the style of soccer we played. I was mentally exhausted.
"I consider myself a creative, technical player. I feel like that was taken out of the game a little bit with him."
Adding to Kiss’s frustration, the style being used by new national team coach Carolina Morace is more to her liking.
"It’s the complete opposite style of how he played," said Kiss.
"I really tried to get myself back up to going out and giving it one last try. I really do think I will enjoy this new style, but I just couldn’t. I just can’t find it in me any more."
Pellerud took over the national team in 2000. Under his guidance the team played in two World Cups — finishing fourth in 2003 — and advanced to the quarter-finals of the Beijing Olympics.
He left the team after the Olympics and in January took on the job of director of women’s soccer for Trinidad and Tobago.
Pellerud favoured a kick-and-run style of play with plenty of long balls. Morace, a former star with the Italian team, has introduced more of a possession game, keeping the ball on the ground.
Kiss said she struggled over the decision to retire.
"It was a tough decision," she said. "I absolutely love the sport and I love to play it.
"My knees are hurting a little bit. I just wanted a lifestyle change. It definitely felt right to make the decision."
In 75 international games the diminutive Kiss scored eight goals. Her last came in an 8-0 win over Singapore on July 26, 2008.
Kiss was 19 when she first suited up for Canada in a March 2000 match at the Algarve Cup in Portugal. Her first goal came in her fifth appearance, a 2-1 win over New Zealand in May of 2000.
Besides playing in two World Cups, Kiss was a member of the teams that won silver at the 2003 Pan American Games and bronze in 2007.
.Her career was hampered by injury. She was sidelined for long periods of time by two separate operations on her left knee.
"I never quite got back to full form after the last operation," she said.
Kiss was named to the Olympic team as an alternate.
With her playing days behind her, Kiss has turned to coaching. She currently is overseeing an under-13 team and an under-11 squad.
"I hope to coach at a high level as I gain more experience," she said. "It’s a step to getting where I want to be. I think I’ve gained some great experience being here."
Kiss laughed when asked what’s the thing she likes best about coaching.
"I love I can tell other people to run now, and I don’t have to do it."