Albirex' Nakajima wants to play for Canada

[RS]

An interesting story about a young striker who holds three passports...

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/64280.asp

[MikeD]

I once called this guy up to the Canadian national team in the Championship Manager video game. Of course, since it's a video game, jet lag is never a factor in flying across the Pacific for a World Cup Qualifying match in Honduras. Unfortunately, he didn't do very well so I dropped him from the squad after a couple of matches.

[Grizzly]

While it is nice to hear of players wanting to play for Canada and good of Yallop and the CSA to be in contact with every possibility, one would think he would have to play at a much higher level in order to be considered for the national team. I doubt the Singapore league is even near the level of the USL.

[RS]

Well he is young, and is looking to move up to the J-League. USL or lower-level England after his current contract is up.

That being said, yes, he is currently waaaaay down the list of strikers eligible for the national team.

Still an interesting story, I think.

[Bxl Boy]

He's a former teammate of Montreal's Masahiro Fukasawa

[redhat]

Rather than disregard or downplay his enthusiasm, it would be good if he was invited

to a North American camp and prove himself. Just because he plays in the S-League doesn't

mean he's not good enough compared to the USL, CPSL, UK Conference, or Serie D7.

It's good that Yallop is apparently keeping tabs on him, and who knows he may be the player

he wants to be. We do have a lot of players ahead of him, but if he's a quality striker that'll

be good for us. As canso would put it, "probably better than Carlo Corrazin."

[Grizzly]

The S-League may indeed be as good as CPSL, UK Conference, or Serie D7 but these are not leagues from which we draw national team players. If he were in Canada on his own expense and wanted to come out to a camp that would be fine. Paying for him fly from Singapore would be a waste of the limited funds the CSA has. If he is worthy of a look he will work his way up to a higher standard league. This is not a case of downplaying his enthusiasm but rather of spending money effectively and I can probably think of 50 players who are playing in better leagues who deserve a training camp before this guy. Maybe he will develop into something in the future but we can't invite every guy who may develop into something in the future to training camps. We need guys who are already good players.

[Luis_Rancagua]

Based on what I read from the article, this is what Frank Yallop say about Albirex Niigata:

"...From the videos I've seen, I notice that he is a skilful forward with good movement off the ball and a lot speed. Obviously, the goals he scores are of some quality and I'll be keeping tabs on him..."

[MikeD]

As I understand it, the S-league is treated as a farm league by the J-league, so that would put Nakajima in the category of a young player with potential who is playing at a level where he can get the playing time he needs to develop his game. If he can break into a top-tier J-League squad then he'll be worth a look for sure. Until then, good on him for filling the nets with goals in Singapore.

[Desigol]

Terry Butcher was Born in Singapore, and did a Whoregreaves. []