Player Eligibile for Canada called by USA

[Gordon]

quote:Originally posted by redhat

I've always been impressed by Tam, especially in the games against

Germany and the US (marking DeMarcus Beasley), but didn't he have

an attitude issue? That's a huge concern for me, if I were manager ...

As for errors, Atiba had quite a few during the last Gold Cup but

I don't recall anyone complaining about the overall quality of

his play.

As for an attitude issue, that is completely new to me beyond his attitude towards playing for Canada since being uncerimoniously dumped. He turned out all the time, never complained about Holger and apparently dropped in Yallop's estimation due to his performance in the Olympic Qualifying tournament, a tournament where he played injured and out of position as a striker.

Young players make errors, heck, even senior players make errors. I do recall Hutchinson taking some stick for the Wanchope goal, but generally you are correct. I was never overly concerned about Tam's errors, because they were mostly corectable with experience, but I did get the impression that he occasionally "zoned out" and suspect that this may be the reason for some inconsistence in his club fortunes. It never really harmed Canada, but I thought it might keep him from going as far as his physical skills might otherwise take him. Of course with a young player it is so hard to tell.

[Guest Ed]

Thank you Gordon.

My opinions oddly enough have sweet fcuk all to do with stats, but rather with having watched every senior men's team available for viewing over at least the last 10 years (and some generally not available for viewing).

Tam Nsaliwa, despite his youth, had 10 caps for Canada under Holger and was a promising national team player in most games he appeared in.

I never saw his first two caps in the LG Cup against Egypt or Iran in 2001 but he did set up our only goal in the tournament in our 1-0 win over Iran.

He played in three Gold Cup games in 2002 and was outstanding in the last two games, shutting down Demarcus Beasley when subbed into in the semi-final while heavily handicapped by a pair of 50 pound mittens and was just as good as a starter in our win over South Korea in the 3rd place match, making an audacious goal-saving tackle that I prayed to see the likes of when Mark Watson went in on the Honduran b*stard who drew the PK in the 2nd game of WCQ.

He was rock solid starting against Switzerland later in 2002 in a game I assume many of you have not seen and OK against Germany the next year.

I repeat for the nth time that I do not think that Tam alone would make a difference in our WC qualifying campaign but to hear he was sitting by the phone waiting for a call while so many other players with less credentials and in some cases no experience at all were called in his stead has irked me from the start of Yallop's tenure.

So yes, I think it would be worthwhile for Frank to spend time talking to some of Tam's friends on the team (HINT HINT) and trying to get him back into the fold.

[loyola]

You haven't seen him play for 3 years?

I think he played well against the US in 2002 but I've never been that high on him. He had potential and should still be in our players pool.

[Grizzly]

quote:Pesch starting - Mistake, DD at left mid - mistake, Pizzalitto and Gervais starting meaningful WCQ game - mistake, Peters and Simpson called - mistake (at that point in time, unlike the aforementioned, I think both will have great MNT careers). Leaving the keeper aside (another mistake IMO) selecting Brennan and Nsaliwa makes the starting team stronger, and leaves more quality on the bench to fill in when injuries and suspensions occured.

I don't think any of the Nsaliwa supporters are claiming his inclusion would have changed everything but it was one of a long line of mistakes made by Yallop of which probably less than half are included in Gordon's list even though that list is long enough as it is. He was playing as a centre back at the time of WCQ so as this was our weakest position it can certainly be considered one of the biggest mistakes. Now if the debate had been between calling a MLS starter and Nsaliwa that would be far more understandable but Pizzolito and Gervais played instead of Nsaliwa and I can't understand how any half competent 4th division manager would choose either of these guys over Nsaliwa. If we had a lot of strong backs playing at a high level then don't call someone from a lower table 2nd Bundesliga team but come on, we played Gervais and Pizzolito at this position and I could have told you they would fail because I see them play every week and unlike Yallop can recognize they are not MNT quality. Nsaliwa has always impressed with the MNT and since then has had at least 3 years experience playing as a starting back in the 2nd BL for teams who probably would be mid table in the MLS. His non-selection also highlights the fact Yallop never selected adequate bench strength particularly at back. Had Ihemelu been a starting MLS back at the time the question would not have been which of the two to call because they both should have been called. The question would be who to start. What I suspect is the reason Nsaliwa was not called was because Yallop was intent on Watson starting and did not want any competition for him at the back. Obviously he failed to recognize the strong possibility that there could be injuries such as those to DeVos, McKenna and Stalteri. In fact there are several examples of decisions that I think Yallop made for the good of his friends and his own personal comfort as opposed to the good of the team and the country. Among them the decision to continue with Onstad despite mediocre to poor play, not to select Aguiar and the decision to take the captaincy away from DeVos and give it to Onstad (possibly even the decision to play games only in the west). Even if Yallop's selections and tactics improve with experience (although I have yet to see any evidence of this) I do not want to have a coach that puts his friends and personal relationships above doing what is good for the team.

[matthew]

Some quotes from Ugo on the subject. It's another good Andrea Canales joint, from here:

http://soccer365.com/_365_Features/page_121_112734.shtml

“I was born in Nigeria, then my parents moved to Canada. They had lived there before. That’s where they went to university and had my older brother and sister. So we moved back to Canada and lived there a while. I got Canadian citizenship, the whole passport thing. Then we moved to the States. I’ve been here for a while and then I got U.S. citizenship.”

Despite his trifecta of choices, Ihemelu was pleased with the outcome.

“I’m happy to be where I am right now. I wouldn’t want it to be any other way.”

cheers,

matthew

[azngal]

Ian,

I've been trying to get a hold of you for ages!! I don't know if you even remember me...Maria from a looong time ago. I tried sending you an email recently, but it was returned to me with a "delivery failure" message. How can I get in touch with you?

[azngal]

,,