Former Caley Thistle and Ross County star Richard Hastings has been named in Canada Soccer’s Hall of Fame.
Hastings, who until recently managed Highland League club Inverurie Locos, will forever be remembered for scoring Canada’s golden goal in a 2-1 win over Mexico in the quarter-finals of the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
That special strike helped the unfancied nation as they went all the way to win the trophy, beating Trinidad and Tobago and Colombia.
The 45-year-old former full-back achieved that success in the same month he helped Caley Thistle “go ballistic” by beating Celtic 3-1 in what remains one of the biggest Scottish Cup shocks.
Hastings was joined as the 2023 Hall of Fame entrant by Carmelina Moscato, London 2012 bronze medal winner, Concacaf champion, and women’s national team hero.
Canada Soccer said of the duo: “The Canadian stars are deserving of this great honour in recognition of their careers as professional and international footballers.”
Glittering career in several countries
Hastings, who had two spells at Inverness, amounting to almost 200 games, was capped 59 times for his country.
He left Caley Thistle in 2000 for a short spell at Ross County before he moved on to Grazer AK in Austria and MVV Maastricht in Holland before returning to ICT.
Overall, he won Third, Second and First Division titles as a Caley Jags legend, with five seasons in the top-flight.
