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Canada are stepping up their efforts to convince Scott Arfield to play for them after his latest Scotland snub by using former Burnley star David Edgar to sound out the midfielder, whose dad was born in Toronto. (Sun)

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It's happened so many times to us. Canadian players being poached to play for other countries. I don't mind us going after him. He would be a huge boost. 

 

It's obvious Floro knows of all players that could play for Canada and has been reaching out to them. 

 

Sidenote: how the hell has Scotland not called him up?

Edited by king1010
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Germany, Italy, Spain, Croatia ENGLAND, NETHERLANDS, Portugual  (cough cough) all have a couple of players with loose ties to their country. 

 

If the top teams in the world do it I don't see why we can't. We already do it with guys like Pacheco, De Jong, Hume. 

 

I'd rather have a better chance of qualifying for the World Cup than fall on our sword and crash out of 4th round qualifying. 

 

And it's not like its some sort of technicality, his dad is Canadian. He is well within his right to obtain his Canadian passport. 

Edited by king1010
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It would be ridiculous of Scotland to lose him but crazier things have happened.  Scotland must be the best of the bad teams, Arfield would be great for us and they don't even call him but I don't think Scotland on the whole is much better than Canada.

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I feel like I'm almost the last guy who wants the Canadian national team to be Canadian.

 

What constitutes being Canadian? If they were born here? If one of their parents were born here? If one of their grandparents were born here? If they migrated to Canada at a young age? 

 

Way too many factors beside the one that really matters "they choose to represent Canada"....that makes you Canadian to me.

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Germany, Italy, Spain, Croatia ENGLAND, NETHERLANDS, Portugual  (cough cough) all have a couple of players with loose ties to their country. 

 

If the top teams in the world do it I don't see why we can't.

We can also hold ourselves to a higher standard.

What constitutes being Canadian? If they were born here? If one of their parents were born here? If one of their grandparents were born here? If they migrated to Canada at a young age?

A philosophical question. Someone who was born and raised here? Obviously Canadian. Someone who emigrated here, worked their way up, got their passport? Obviously Canadian. We can quibble around the margins, but ultimately it's irrelevant. "Somebody who may never have been to Canada but has a fluke family connection?" Obviously not Canadian. Either that matters to you or it doesn't.

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We can also hold ourselves to a higher standard.

A philosophical question. Someone who was born and raised here? Obviously Canadian. Someone who emigrated here, worked their way up, got their passport? Obviously Canadian. We can quibble around the margins, but ultimately it's irrelevant. "Somebody who may never have been to Canada but has a fluke family connection?" Obviously not Canadian. Either that matters to you or it doesn't.

 

 

I respect the idea but I just want to do what benefits the team and as a consequence the greater pool of Canadian players. Take Bircham as an example, he was barely Canadian, but because of his connection to the national team we saw Canadian kids given a shot in the QPR academy. Any exposure helps us at this point.

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Yeah I am in this camp as well. It's a shame international soccer has devolved to this extent, and if we aren't part of the solution we are part of the problem, but I prioritize strong international showings above all. If they are eligible within the flakey FIFA rules, they are welcomed by me.

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We can also hold ourselves to a higher standard.

A philosophical question. Someone who was born and raised here? Obviously Canadian. Someone who emigrated here, worked their way up, got their passport? Obviously Canadian. We can quibble around the margins, but ultimately it's irrelevant. "Somebody who may never have been to Canada but has a fluke family connection?" Obviously not Canadian. Either that matters to you or it doesn't.

 

We can hold ourselves to the highest of high standards. Heck we could be Cuba, if you leave the country to play football in a league other than our domestic league you aren't on the NT. 

 

In the end holding a higher standard than soccer powers isn't going to get us success. 

 

International soccer is a different beast than it was decades ago. Times have changed and we must change like all other countries are. If a player has a Canadian passport and WANTS to represent us, we aren't in a position to turn him away because "we hold ourselves to a higher standard" than Euro and WC winners like Spain Germany Italy England etc. 

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If a player has a Canadian passport and WANTS to represent us, we aren't in a position to turn him away because "we hold ourselves to a higher standard" than Euro and WC winners like Spain Germany Italy England etc.

Why not? If the most important thing to us was winning we'd all cheer for Germany. Clearly it isn't.

I'm a nationalist. I believe Canada should hold itself to the highest standards, regardless of what everyone around it is doing.

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I think it depends on the situation, you can definitely become a Canadian and proudly represent this nation.  Marc Bircham is the perfect example of why we shouldn't turn away people who are passionate about Canada.  Bircham LOVES Canada, was honoured to represent the country and continues to leave a legacy for youngsters and on the professional Canadian game as well... he proved himself and has been/is more beneficial to Canada than 90% of Canadian internationals born and raised here.  For me Marc Bircham is a Canadian.

Edited by Keegan
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Why not? If the most important thing to us was winning we'd all cheer for Germany. Clearly it isn't.

I'm a nationalist. I believe Canada should hold itself to the highest standards, regardless of what everyone around it is doing.

 

no most important thing for me is not germany winning. rather canada winning with players with canadian passports

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It's fun when Marc Bircham, a player who retired internationally for Canada because he wasn't playing for us is considered as a god by some people on here. It was a nice story, but to say that he was more benefical than 90% of Canadian internationals is ludicrous. He was an okay player, and he drank beers in Kingston with a couple of V's, but that doesn't make him a god like Keegan has said.

 

I do think that Arfield is trying to get called by Scotland by reaching Canada. I don't know if he's geniounely interested in our program. If he is, he just has to file his one-time switch and I'll believe him. Until then, meh.

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