Panayiotis Alexiou “Peter” Vagenas
Midfielder – CD Chivas USA
Born February 6, 1978 in Pasadena, CA

Nicknames: Pasadena Pete; Passback Pete; That Guy The Whitecaps Inexplicably Let “Mentor” Gershon Koffie

Peter Vagenas, now in his 13th season in Major League Soccer, is a player commonly described as “experienced”. This is code for “old” and “often doesn’t get his contract renewed”.

Fans of the Vancouver Whitecaps will be surprised to learn that, for the first nine years of his career, Vagenas was quite popular and moderately talented. He notched 14 goals and 25 assists for the Galaxy, captained the team to the double in 2005 and earned himself three senior caps for the US national team and a place on the 2000 US Olympic team.

Since leaving the Galaxy in the 2009 expansion draft, however, Vagenas has fallen off the map. Whether it was the self-loathing inflicted by the hideous green shirt the fledgling Seattle Sounders forced him to don or the injuries that led to his being left unprotected in the first place, Vagenas has managed a total of 3 assists and no goals since he first left California. Pasadena Pete, as the LA supporters affectionately nicknamed him, signed in Vancouver in 2011 and was quickly dubbed Passback Pete for his utter lack of attacking ability and tendency to attempt a poor pass to a centre back or midfielder in no position to do anything useful with the ball.

He currently fails to start regularly for a team named after domesticated farm animals.