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Panama protesting naturalised Mexican player


nolando

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Looks similar to me to the Koffie situation. Will be interesting to see how this plays out. Wish it didn't involve Mexico, though, as I think that this will muddle the thinking in the minds of a FIFA not keen to lose such a regional giant.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/10/30/report-panama-asking-fifa-look-mexican-players-eligibility-play-world-cup-qu

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Admittedly I didn't word it quite correctly above (it's now edited), but if I am reading the article correctly, Gimenez, "played six times for Argentina during the 2001 South American U-20 Championship in Ecuador." This would have been well before he had the option to choose Mexico, similar to Koffie playing for his native Ghana long before had the chance to play for his second home of Canada. The fact that Argentina didn't technically need to play in those matches (since they were the host and thus already qualified) seems wholly irrelevant to the argument as they did play them and it was clearly a very official and recognized tournament.

If FIFA does find that a relevant difference, though, I wonder if the matches that Colombia or South Korea played in our Gold Cup would not have counted as cap-ties or as official Class A matches for them (or their CONCACAF opponents, which is another element) just on account of them not being required to play in that tournament, since they were invited guests? This Mexican case potentially has wider ramifications, I suspect.

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If FIFA does find that a relevant difference, though, I wonder if the matches that Colombia or South Korea played in our Gold Cup would not have counted as cap-ties or as official Class A matches for them (or their CONCACAF opponents, which is another element) just on account of them not being required to play in that tournament, since they were invited guests? This Mexican case potentially has wider ramifications, I suspect.

Didn't Thiago Motta play in the Gold Cup for Brazil which should have captied him? And he's an Italian international, now.

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^Argentina.

Hard to imagine the Mexican fed wouldn't have got something in writing regarding Gimenez from FIFA before they gave him a chance at a fitting for a jock strap little less field time during WCQing but stranger things have happened I guess.

You know, like George Bush, Jr got re-elected president of the USA. That sort of thing.

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By the way, FIFA said Mexico didn't do anything wrong. They approved the move before.

Brazil was an invited nation, thus not considered official matches for Brazil

Gimenez's situation is a bit like Motta's ie: the player played games that weren't "official". The team wasn't really playing official games.

Koffie did play in 2 official matches for Ghana U20. I'm not going to believe Koffie in Red and White until there is a breach that allows a player like Koffie to play for us.

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Let's be honest here, regardless of the situation, FIFA gives special treatment to its powerful nations, and Mexico is one of them due to their cache in CONCACAF. Remember how they were suspended from Italia 90? Those days at FIFA are long gone!

Is it me, or have these naturalization rules caused more trouble than clarity?

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  • 2 weeks later...
Personally I'm for stricter regulations in terms of who can play where, not looser ones. So I have to say sorry, I don't mind if we lose Koffie if it sets a precedent for future losses of Canadian players.

I highly doubt that there is a possible Canadian case like Koffie. Because a) most Canadian players have a choice when it comes to national team. B) If there's a footballer that is good enough, he would just say no to Canada until he is able to play for his naturalizing country

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