An Observer Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Question: It seems that at least some African sides are beginning to be willing to pay big money to retain/attract players that have dual allegiance to their country and a top European side. See for example the following links: Ismail Aissati and Ibrahim Afellay (Morocco and Holland) Karim Benzema (Algeria and France) http://www.socceramerica.com/article.asp?ART_ID=562138440 I have read a number of other similar articles as well. Does anyone believe that Canada should follow suit and offer cash or other incentives for DeGuzman (or Lensky or others for that matter) to play for the Canadian national team? For example, would it be in our interests to pay him an appearance fee to play the U20 tournament in Canada. By doing so, he would immediately make our team better and if he brought Lensky (and perhaps Vittoria) with him, that would have a major impact. Also, I think he still could retain his eligibility for Holland by only committing to play for us at the U20 level (similar to De Jong). So there would be no major downside to him. He could take the appearance fee, test the waters, and see how it goes but still change his mind later. For Canada, we would benefit from his presence in the tournament especially as its on our home soil. Perhaps he would develop a commitment to the Canadian national side as he would certainly make friends. This obviously could set a dangerous precedent but the tournament is a bit of a one off so perhaps it would not. It may have an impact on the morale of the side but hey they should be professionals (and in the professional ranks they certainly all do not get paid the same). And perhaps this could be offset by giving the players cash bonuses if they advance to the second round, etc. which of course would be enhanced by DeGuzman and Lensky playing alongside them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Yes we should pay him to play for us - but then we pay all of our players to do so, so he should be no exception. To pay him additionally on top of that over what his teammates would be paid for equal pay could cause a lot of bitterness & resentment amongst his teammates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca Yes we should pay him to play for us - but then we pay all of our players to do so, so he should be no exception. To pay him additionally on top of that over what his teammates would be paid for equal pay could cause a lot of bitterness & resentment amongst his teammates. Yeah I agree it's opening a huge can of worms. You can't set double standards. I think if this becomes more common in Africa, you're going to see more situations like Togo in Germany with players holding out for more money or complaining that they aren't getting what is promised, etc. etc. If you're putting the financial side ahead of pride, you're playing international soccer for the wrong reasons. And that doesn't usually lead to success. cheers, matthew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 quote:Originally posted by An Observer Does anyone believe that Canada should follow suit and offer cash or other incentives for DeGuzman (or Lensky or others for that matter) to play for the Canadian national team? Absolutely not! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 I have no problem paying players for representing Canada in international games but all should receive the same rate. Anything else would be trouble with a captal T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearcatSA Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 To clarify my position, we should not pay a couple of individual players to play for our national team. Everyone is on the same pay scale, as mentioned by others here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbailey62 Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Do you mean "bribe"? db quote:Originally posted by An Observer Question: It seems that at least some African sides are beginning to be willing to pay big money to retain/attract players that have dual allegiance to their country and a top European side. See for example the following links: Ismail Aissati and Ibrahim Afellay (Morocco and Holland) Karim Benzema (Algeria and France) http://www.socceramerica.com/article.asp?ART_ID=562138440 I have read a number of other similar articles as well. Does anyone believe that Canada should follow suit and offer cash or other incentives for DeGuzman (or Lensky or others for that matter) to play for the Canadian national team? For example, would it be in our interests to pay him an appearance fee to play the U20 tournament in Canada. By doing so, he would immediately make our team better and if he brought Lensky (and perhaps Vittoria) with him, that would have a major impact. Also, I think he still could retain his eligibility for Holland by only committing to play for us at the U20 level (similar to De Jong). So there would be no major downside to him. He could take the appearance fee, test the waters, and see how it goes but still change his mind later. For Canada, we would benefit from his presence in the tournament especially as its on our home soil. Perhaps he would develop a commitment to the Canadian national side as he would certainly make friends. This obviously could set a dangerous precedent but the tournament is a bit of a one off so perhaps it would not. It may have an impact on the morale of the side but hey they should be professionals (and in the professional ranks they certainly all do not get paid the same). And perhaps this could be offset by giving the players cash bonuses if they advance to the second round, etc. which of course would be enhanced by DeGuzman and Lensky playing alongside them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 quote:Originally posted by An Observer This obviously could set a dangerous precedent but the tournament is a bit of a one off so perhaps it would not. It may have an impact on the morale of the side but hey they should be professionals (and in the professional ranks they certainly all do not get paid the same). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 We should not pay players beyond the typical fee because it is unethical. However, it is a moot point anyway because we don't have enough money to hire a top coach or play an adequate number of friendlies so where are we going to find the money to bribe players to play for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 As much as I'd love to have him in our red and white, paying a player is a very slippery slope. It would be bad news. I think we need to do things to convince him to play for us, like hire a quality coach, establish a respectable program, and aid in player development. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrennanFan Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 if he was only playing for us for the money, he would suck. a passionate less skilled player would be more valuable to us than an 'only-in-it-for-the-money' deguzman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 quote:Originally posted by RJB As much as I'd love to have him in our red and white, paying a player is a very slippery slope. It would be bad news. I think we need to do things to convince him to play for us, like hire a quality coach, establish a respectable program, and aid in player development. AGREED. If the CSA could put a good coach in charge of the MNT as well as hire a quality technical director and get the boys some games to play in, the players would have more respect for the program and would likely be more enthusiastic about representing their true country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villus Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 This is a very critical time period in Canadian soccer, if the CSA is smart they will hire a good coach and get their act together and start playing a lot more friendlies and show that our program is a serioius one. There are a lot of really good young Canadian players right now and if we show that we will be committed to a MNT that is shooting for the best we can make sure we get the Deguzmans, Lensky's, Vittoria, Streets now or the future kids on board and keep the talented Canadians where they belong in the red and white kits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 quote:Originally posted by villus if the CSA is smart they will hire a good coach and get their act together and start playing a lot more friendlies and show that our program is a serioius one. And that's just it isn't it? If you're an ambitious young fellow, who eats, breaths and lives football and you don't believe your home country is anywhere nearly as serious about it as you are, then where's the harm in suiting up for a nation that is? A nation that really does care. No matter how Canadian he feels if the organization which represents his country, the organization that according to FIFA is the end all and be all of his country at the international level, can't be taken seriously, what's he to do? Don't know about you, but I don't want anyone ever feeling as though "Canada" held them back. In any way, shape or form. Even if they've quit the country. Don't care so long as they recognize the gifts they've received from Canada (warts and all) before they've moved on. For me that's enough. Back to the topic at hand. Payola is bad. Compensation is one thing. No one will argue with fair treatment, but whore money is quite another thing. Bad idea. Horrible, mercenary, slut money. A means which can never justify an end no matter how good the intention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
An Observer Posted January 15, 2007 Author Share Posted January 15, 2007 I am a bit surprised by the unanimous reaction that paying someone to play what is a professional sport makes it unethical, mercenary, etc. Does that mean all professional players do not give a damn about their club or their ethics should be questioned? Does that mean all professional players should be paid the same for their club side irrespective of ability? Does that mean that a player like Owen Hargreaves is treated as a mercenary by England, and gave less that a 100% commitment in the last World Cup Personally, I am not really sure that Canada or any country should do it for their top players, but I find the comments made on here rather naive and very Canadian (and probably half the reason we suck at most sports). Rewarding excellence is something that is pretty much acceptable in most life situations without question. People here seem to take a very amateur approach to our national team which harks back to the views of the aritoscracy about the Olympics at the turn of the last century. You should simply sacrifice for the love of the nation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 I would support bonuses if they boys could qualify for the WC or win the Gold Cup. I just don't like the idea of buying someone's loyalty to a national side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhat Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 I would pay. If African countries would provide "incentive" pay for certain marquee players, we should at least consider it. I know I'd rather play just to represent my country, but let's say some players are more "professional" than others. Now I recall that the CSA has done something like this before. I remember when former Manchester City stand-out, Terry Dunfield, was considering to join the England U20. Apparently the CSA provided some financial "accomodation" to him and get him to join our WYC team in Argentina in 2001. In retrospect, it may have backfired on the CSA, so I hope that we get what we pay for rather than regret what "could have been". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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