Canadian Nationalization Countdown

[Keegan]

I don't know of any player who has a full set of Canadian born parents.

Josh Simpson and Rob Friend are two guys who I'd gamble to have Canadian born parents.

[Cheeta]

^

Geezus, I'm going to guess the majority of players from Quebec too. But that's just a guess.

Point taken, but I'm not sure its all that relevant a point anymore. Got me to thinking and honestly I'm not sure that I'd find anything more than a slight majority of pure 2nd (plus) generation Canadians amongst my friends and associates either. And that includes the non-footie crowd in my life.

[Guest Ed]

^

Geezus, I'm going to guess the majority of players from Quebec too. But that's just a guess.

Point taken, but I'm not sure its all that relevant a point anymore. Got me to thinking and honestly I'm not sure that I'd find anything more than a slight majority of pure 2nd (plus) generation Canadians amongst my friends and associates either. And that includes the non-footie crowd in my life.

The best NA player at the world level by a country mile is Landon Donovan. Father was a Cdn hockey player, who described the way Landon plays to me years ago as 'just like a hockey player'. Don't buy this 'need immigrant parents' to be successful in the game theory one bit.

[Grizzly]

The best NA player at the world level by a country mile is Landon Donovan. Father was a Cdn hockey player, who described the way Landon plays to me years ago as 'just like a hockey player'. Don't buy this 'need immigrant parents' to be successful in the game theory one bit.

Landon plays like a hockey player? You're joking right?

[Kezmancccc]

Naturalized Canadians would inject new life into national team

http://www.goal.com/en-ca/news/4173/canadian-national-team/2013/07/17/4124228/nick-sabetti-naturalized-canadians-would-inject-new-life?ICID=HP_FT_3

Valentine backs naturalized Canadians

http://www.goal.com/en-ca/news/4173/canadian-national-team/2013/07/19/4127261/martin-macmahon-valentine-backs-naturalized-canadians?ICID=HP_FT_2

My uncle Mike Stojanovic was also a naturalized canadian that played for this country. i think its about time we get more players like this.

[Guest Ed]

Landon plays like a hockey player? You're joking right?

I was quoting his father, who I spoke to several times back when Landon was just emerging as a star.

[Grizzly]

I was quoting his father, who I spoke to several times back when Landon was just emerging as a star.

Yes but quoting something like that implies some level of agreement with it. Landon is the exact style of player that gives soccer players a bad name as being pussys. He is hated around the league for the way he plays. It is the exact opposite of how a hockey player is supposed to play. I don't expect his father to be objective about something like that but if you are going to post a quote like that at least put a smiley face or LOL beside it.

[Grizzly]

Naturalized Canadians would inject new life into national team

http://www.goal.com/en-ca/news/4173/canadian-national-team/2013/07/17/4124228/nick-sabetti-naturalized-canadians-would-inject-new-life?ICID=HP_FT_3

Valentine backs naturalized Canadians

http://www.goal.com/en-ca/news/4173/canadian-national-team/2013/07/19/4127261/martin-macmahon-valentine-backs-naturalized-canadians?ICID=HP_FT_2

My uncle Mike Stojanovic was also a naturalized canadian that played for this country. i think its about time we get more players like this.

I had not thought about Camara as a possibility but he was here in the Impact's last NASL year so he already has 3 years of residency and according to your article has filed for permanent residency and plans to settle in Montreal. Most importantly he plays our weakest position of right back as well as being capable of playing centre back and midfield. He also has some scoring ability. Camara's sometimes frustrates me for making poor decisions and lack of soccer intelligence yet he is very athletic and has excellent technical skills. On our current team he would probably be the strongest technical player. He is also only 27. Despite his flaws Camara would be a very strong addition to the national team pool and would also be well suited to playing against the central American teams.

[Admin]

It may also skew the results a bit that the players with parents who were not born here have the right ties for the young player to get a start in Europe. Pretty much a pre requisite for making the national team.

[El Hombre]

On our current team he would probably be the strongest technical player.

Poor Atiba. Still gets no respect around here.

[RS]

It may also skew the results a bit that the players with parents who were not born here have the right ties for the young player to get a start in Europe. Pretty much a pre requisite for making the national team.

I'm not so sure that is the case any longer, but we'll see how things go under Floro.

[Guest Ed]

Yes but quoting something like that implies some level of agreement with it. Landon is the exact style of player that gives soccer players a bad name as being pussys. He is hated around the league for the way he plays. It is the exact opposite of how a hockey player is supposed to play. I don't expect his father to be objective about something like that but if you are going to post a quote like that at least put a smiley face or LOL beside it.

Hit a nerve did I? Anyway, I do agree that he plays like a hockey player in the way he plays, not certainly in terms of toughness. Although I have seen a great increase in diving / cheating at the NHL level, by Cdns even, can you imagine??!!!! But Landon plays the game like a hockey forward, getting the ball forward when there is a player ahead of him and when given the opportunity, he heads to the net with the ball better than anyone in North America

[BearcatSA]

Hit a nerve did I? Anyway, I do agree that he plays like a hockey player in the way he plays, not certainly in terms of toughness. Although I have seen a great increase in diving / cheating at the NHL level, by Cdns even, can you imagine??!!!! But Landon plays the game like a hockey forward, getting the ball forward when there is a player ahead of him and when given the opportunity, he heads to the net with the ball better than anyone in North America

I can see your point here. He's a more direct player and goes to the net well.

That's what I like about Osorio's potential because from midfield he drives to the goal when he sees the opportunity (hockey style?) and in MLS he's popped a couple of goals in those situations. To generate more offense from open play Floro is going to need to encourage more of that from our midfield.

[Grizzly]

Poor Atiba. Still gets no respect around here.

Are you serious? Atiba gets a lot of respect around here from both myself and practically every other poster on the forum. He is almost the only player on the team that is universally liked and prasied on the forum. He is our best player both overall and technically. His technical skills are good but not exceptional by any means and he is our best technical player mostly by virtue of the poor technical skills of most of our other players. Atiba's strength is his football intelligence, a skill not talked a lot about on here but one our team is as equally deficient in as technical skills. Atiba seems to know where he should be on the pitch, is good at anticipating what is going to happen, can think a few plays ahead, plays very well in a tactical formation and rarely makes mistakes. Just a very smart player who uses what he has very effectively.

Camara is very technically skilled both offensively and defensively. The bicycle kick goal he scored a few weeks ago was no fluke, he does stuff like that regularly though that was a particularly spectacular example. And defensively I am often even more impressed by some of the things he does even though they are less flashy. Quite regularly a striker is running through the box about to have a very high probability goal chance and suddenly Camara has taken the ball away from him when it did not seem possible. Camara is one of the most technically skilled players in MLS and indeed in this category he is starter in a big 4 league level. Additionally he is very athletic, fast and strong, much more athletic than Atiba. The problem with Camara is exactly where Atiba excels in football intelligence is where his weakness is and that is the reason he is in MLS and not a top league. He is pretty good making fast decisions on instinct though also prone to huge errors from time to time but the intellectual side of the game is poor from him. In particular he is very prone to making poor decisions about when to go up the pitch and when to defend and he is often caught up the pitch nor does he make a huge effort to get back quickly when he is on the wrong side of half. He is the type of guy that as a right back decides to run into the attacking zone without the ball 2 minutes into a game when the centre back next to him is a 19 year old making his first start in MLS (that cost us a goal and ultimately the game). In our last game he really made me nervous because he seemed to think he was playing attacking mid/striker and most of the time I looked at our defence we did not have a right back. He has cost us some goals and games this year due to this though he has also scored a few goals and more importantly stopped a lot of potential goals. To be fair he is a little more disciplined when he is at CB and I often wonder what instructions Schalibaum is giving him when he is playing RB, ie. is Schalibaum telling him to spend half his time attacking and ignoring his defensive responsibilities or is he doing that on his own?

Despite his flaws though, Camara would be a huge upgrade over anyone we have available at right back and would also give us a much faster, technically proficient option at CB than the rest of the CBs we have. If Simpson ever comes back at a similar level to pre-injury with Camara moving up from RB we could have a pretty potent attack on both flanks with Atiba also able to go through the middle. DeJong/Simpson on the left with Camara/Tiebert on the right and Atiba in the middle would be a pretty fast and technically strong attack though obviously we still need a finisher and someone would have to be on his toes to cover Camara when he goes forward. I think overall Atiba is a better and more well rounded player but Camara would be a huge addition to the team.

For anyone who missed it, here is the Camara goal:

Edited July 25, 2013 by Grizzly

[El Hombre]

Are you serious?

No, I'm not.

[Guest Ed]

I can see your point here. He's a more direct player and goes to the net well.

That's what I like about Osorio's potential because from midfield he drives to the goal when he sees the opportunity (hockey style?) and in MLS he's popped a couple of goals in those situations. To generate more offense from open play Floro is going to need to encourage more of that from our midfield.

USA scored 3 last night, first was a excellent 'head-manning of the puck' to an in-flight Johnson by Donovan, 2 others were Donovan 'crashing the net' and popping in two crosses at close range.

[BearcatSA]

USA scored 3 last night, first was a excellent 'head-manning of the puck' to an in-flight Johnson by Donovan, 2 others were Donovan 'crashing the net' and popping in two crosses at close range.

Donovan was definitely hitting on all cylinders, for sure. That first goal reminded me of the kind of interplay used by Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke during their time at Man U. There was a lot of strong running off the ball for the States last night.

[john tv]

We still have many millions of Canadians who don't want soccer and their children in competitive soccer.Many of those that make it to the top in other sports and are children from foreign parents who have a competitive soccer background.The list is very long and very impressive.We don't have to bring players from other countries to represent Canada.Being Canadian is a gift of a very fighting spirit.We have some education and conversion to do.As I told you when I am talking to a Canadian parent they always and without exception bring up the diving.When I press them for a game the response is ,don't remember.Try it guys ,it is that story and response.I tried to get Simpson and Friends parents background but could not find it except Friend is a very Dutch name meaning just that friend as well.

[ThiKu]

Grizzy - your posts are too long.

John TV - if players become Canadian and are good enough for our national team we have to select them. Period. It will only serve to raise the standard of our natural Canadians.

[john tv]

After all these years still very few if any that come from Canadian born parents.I realize that Canada is build around those that come from foreign countries but to accept after having been one of the pioneer soccer countries to field a team without that magic background makes no sense.We have a great selling job to do to ensure that we should not have to rely on imports.

[shamrock]

Magic background? Are you serious? The programm at this moment needs all the help in ca get, who gives a flying f^%$# were the players come from?

[Califax]

No, I'm not.

Hahahahahaha. The brevity made it that much better.

[alberta white]

I can see your point here. He's a more direct player and goes to the net well.

That's what I like about Osorio's potential because from midfield he drives to the goal when he sees the opportunity (hockey style?) and in MLS he's popped a couple of goals in those situations. To generate more offense from open play Floro is going to need to encourage more of that from our midfield.

The same can be said of anchovies....

Just me then

[alberta white]

Grizzy - your posts are too long.

John TV - if players become Canadian and are good enough for our national team we have to select them. Period. It will only serve to raise the standard of our natural Canadians.

I'd also add to that you really don't want to hang about keeping them in the U21/U23 squads. I know some have an inflated Idea of the value of full caps but there is not the strength in depth in Canada to be that picky. What happens when you find a Saha or Sterling? even the English know that jerking these kids about too long can lead to them been Poached (yes poached) by other countries.

It may have something to do with how Canadians view Junior (age) tournaments like the World Hockey Championships. Mainly because Top flight hockey has no real international level on a par with the NHL (I note even the Olympics/ NHL have to negotiate player release)

But as we know Soccer's not like that. How many World cup winners Medals have been draped around the necks of Players between the ages of 21 and 25?

Something for the new bloke to consider?

[Admin]

After all these years still very few if any that come from Canadian born parents.I realize that Canada is build around those that come from foreign countries but to accept after having been one of the pioneer soccer countries to field a team without that magic background makes no sense.We have a great selling job to do to ensure that we should not have to rely on imports.

My point above is that those are the kids with ties to Europe, and those are the kids once playing there become players that are more likely to get selected.

Given we have basically had nothing domestically, it's probably one of the strangest filters in soccer.