Sam Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Bryan Cristante is 18, made his Champions League debut for Milan 2 years ago at 16. This weekend Cristante scored his first goal with AC Milan in a 3-0 win. And best of all he has a Canadian passport via his father. Do we have any chance with this guy or is it a lost cause? Anyone know more about him other than what I've read about his history in the Milan youth system. Just a few articles here and there mention his Canadian passport, but I haven't seen much more about his actual connections to Canada. Anyone have more on Cristante? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Cristante http://espnfc.com/player?id=169213&cc=5901 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Bryan Cristante is 18, made his Champions League debut for Milan 2 years ago at 16. This weekend Cristante scored his first goal with AC Milan in a 3-0 win. And best of all he has a Canadian passport via his father. Do we have any chance with this guy or is it a lost cause? Anyone know more about him other than what I've read about his history in the Milan youth system. Just a few articles here and there mention his Canadian passport, but I haven't seen much more about his actual connections to Canada. Anyone have more on Cristante? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Cristante http://espnfc.com/player?id=169213&cc=5901 I believe it was soccernet yesterday reporting that his father was born in Toronto (can;t find the article today however). The kid is Italian though, played for their youth teams, and extremely unlikely to suit up for us... Edit...found it...was actually the Counter Attack blog http://blogs.thescore.com/counterattack/2014/01/09/bandini-milan-have-little-to-lose-by-putting-faith-in-18-year-old-wunderkind-bryan-cristante/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheFootyBlog+%28Counter+Attack%29 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 The only chance we have is that he's an early bloomer (6'1" 175lbs. at 16 yrs old) and is deemed to not live up to his potential before getting a full Italy cap in a qualifier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 Well I guess there isn't much reason to be excited. I think the "we want him to be good but not too good" paradox completely encapsulates the Canadian soccer fan state of mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazlo_80 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 He's an italian. And a huge prospect for them at that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmonte Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Besides, as we learned when researching guys like Koffie, it's very difficult to play for a youth system and then transfer over. Still doable under the rules at his age, though, but yeah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Besides, as we learned when researching guys like Koffie, it's very difficult to play for a youth system and then transfer over. Still doable under the rules at his age, though, but yeah. Cristante has been eligible for Canada since his birth thanks to his father so there is no question of him switching over as long as he does not get capped by Italy at the senior international level (ie. does not appear in a WCQ or Euro Q). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmonte Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Cristante has been eligible for Canada since his birth thanks to his father so there is no question of him switching over as long as he does not get capped by Italy at the senior international level (ie. does not appear in a WCQ or Euro Q). So at what age is it that having youth caps becomes a problem when trying to transfer sides? Wasn't it 23? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullback Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 There is potential I'm wrong but I don't think age matters at all it's just you have to be eligible to play for the country before you make youth appearances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmonte Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 There is potential I'm wrong but I don't think age matters at all it's just you have to be eligible to play for the country before you make youth appearances. This was starting to get documented when someone researched the rules for Koffie transferring to Canada, and found that he was ineligible. I'm unsure of exactly what was written there, as I have a ****e memory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 This was starting to get documented when someone researched the rules for Koffie transferring to Canada, and found that he was ineligible. I'm unsure of exactly what was written there, as I have a ****e memory Koffie is ineligible because he wasn't eligible for Canada when he represented Ghana. Had he been eligible for Canada before representing Ghana he could have switched. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertuzzi44 Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 No way this kid plays for Canada. None. Unfortunately he is simply too good/has too much potential. Sad but true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmonte Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Koffie is ineligible because he wasn't eligible for Canada when he represented Ghana. Had he been eligible for Canada before representing Ghana he could have switched. Right, I can understand that thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Right, I can understand that thanks And just to further clarify; the old rule was that you could not switch after your 21st birthday if you had been officially capped at the youth level. That rule was removed sometime around 2009-10(?). The best example of that being Asmir Begovic who was capped for us at the U20 level and then switched over to Bosnia (of course he had been eligible for Bosnia all along having been born there) after FIFA removed the rule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingback6 Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 No way this kid plays for Canada. None. Unfortunately he is simply too good/has too much potential. Sad but true. Perhaps, but we shall wait and see. The history of football is riddled with young 'phenom's who score goals and whatnot, and get first team games at a young age but never really pan out. I doubt he will ever be 'world class' and sadly, that bodes well for us. You can bet if he hasn't been capped by Italy by 23 he may begin to start thinking about Canada, and perhaps even sooner than that. Will he want to play the 2018 world cup at the age of 22. Probably. Will he want to play 2022 at 26. Absolutely. The key word there is Play. Will Italy be at those tournaments? Almost certainly. But will he be on their roster? we have to wait and see. Many players have ditched Canada for being over looked too many times at the youth level. There is not reason to think he may not do the same to Italy if the circumstances are right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theaub Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 No way this kid plays for Canada. None. Unfortunately he is simply too good/has too much potential. Sad but true. On the plus side, at least we're saying this now about players who were born in the other country they're eligible for, not Canada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpetzz Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Ricardo Ferreira is more of a possibility than Cristante and even Ferreira would be a miracle. At least in his case he went from Porto to Milan and quickly has been moved on to a smaller Portuguese team. With his stock falling, it would be worth the effort to enquire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Ricardo Ferreira is more of a possibility than Cristante and even Ferreira would be a miracle. At least in his case he went from Porto to Milan and quickly has been moved on to a smaller Portuguese team. With his stock falling, it would be worth the effort to enquire. We should just say No. I never want to see a bastard like Ferreira put on the Canadian jersey even if he would help us (which is debateable at this point, he is a bench warmer on a side in the relegation zone of the Portugese Premiera Liga. He got a couple of starts right after the transfer but now is sometimes not even in the lineup let alone on the bench). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 We should just say No. I never want to see a bastard like Ferreira put on the Canadian jersey even if he would help us (which is debateable at this point, he is a bench warmer on a side in the relegation zone of the Portugese Premiera Liga. He got a couple of starts right after the transfer but now is sometimes not even in the lineup let alone on the bench). Any particular reason why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Any particular reason why? Damn right there is a reason why! He is a born and raised Canadian who prefers to put on the shirt of another country and will only switch back to us if he ends up not being good enough for them. He does not deserve to wear the Canada shirt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Bob Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Damn right there is a reason why! He is a born and raised Canadian who prefers to put on the shirt of another country and will only switch back to us if he ends up not being good enough for them. He does not deserve to wear the Canada shirt. Yes he may be a greedy, manipulative, self-centred, dishonest character but that is describing a very high percentage of football players. It is part of the Canada management's job to deal with players like that and keep them happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Yes he may be a greedy, manipulative, self-centred, dishonest character but that is describing a very high percentage of football players. It is part of the Canada management's job to deal with players like that and keep them happy. Very funny Bob. Do I really need to spell out the differences in national and club team as well as the myriad of differences between the Ferreira and Camilo situations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeelaw Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 I'd be shocked if he ever suited up for this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmonte Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Damn right there is a reason why! He is a born and raised Canadian who prefers to put on the shirt of another country and will only switch back to us if he ends up not being good enough for them. He does not deserve to wear the Canada shirt. Kinda with you on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greatest Cockney Rip Off Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 On football weekly James Richardson referred to him as their "young Canadian fellow". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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