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Michael Smith


Keegan

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So, I've never seen this name mentioned here but there is a Canadian eligible Northern Irish footballer playing at Peterborough United of League One. 

 

He is a right back (!) and plays regular minutes, 36 appearances this season.  He was also in the League Two team of the year last season when he was with Bristol Rovers.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Smith_%28footballer,_born_1988%29

Doesn't appear to have played with Northern Ireland in a cap tying competition from sites I've seen.

 

Here is an article where it states he is half Canadian:

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Bristol-Rovers-Paul-Buckle-signs-Michael-Smith/story-12825593-detail/story.html#axzz2Um8OTlOQ

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  • 10 months later...
8 minutes ago, Keegan said:

Definitely deserves a look if he's interested.  30+ appearances for a mid-table League One side.. 

If we're trying to get a MLS+ quality XI he definitely fills our void at right back.  

Do you think he was one of the players Canada was referring to when they said they would bring in 2-3 new players. Its probably Leutwiler but Smith would have been a good guess too.

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8 minutes ago, canta15 said:

Do you think he was one of the players Canada was referring to when they said they would bring in 2-3 new players. Its probably Leutwiler but Smith would have been a good guess too.

I think it was/is:  Vitoria, Arfield and Ricardo Ferreira.

Not sure there is time for Ferreira anymore since the next matches are so close and key.  And who knows if he is even ready to play for Canada.

Leutwiler will get his chance eventually but it's clear that we already have Borjan, Stama and then Crepeau/Thomas/Roberts for the 3rd spot.  Since the 3rd spot is more developmental than anything I can't see them calling Leutwiler just yet, it makes sense to reward one of the other 3 who have been in the program before.

I'd be surprised if the CSA has even reached out to Smith honestly.  Hopefully there's a time when we can get a look in the near future.  League One is a pretty good level, same as arguably our best defender.  

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I doubt Ferreira would switch now. He's 23 and starts for SC Braga, arguably the fourth best/biggest club in Portugal behind Porto, Benfica and Sporting. He likely believes he's on the Portuguese radar and just a matter of time until he gets the call.

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26 minutes ago, jpg75 said:

I doubt Ferreira would switch now. He's 23 and starts for SC Braga, arguably the fourth best/biggest club in Portugal behind Porto, Benfica and Sporting. He likely believes he's on the Portuguese radar and just a matter of time until he gets the call.

True, I could see why he wouldn't want to give up on a call just yet but him playing for Portugal is still a long shot.

He's started 13 of 22 matches for Braga this season and only had one cap for Portugal U21s 4 years ago.  He'll need to step it up to get a call.  

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Ferreira has started in 14 of Bragas' 23 league matches this season. He also came on as a sub twice. He did not play in the first 3 games of the season and then came on as a sub in Week 4 and became a starter after that game. He also has 5 Europa League appearances and 7 Cup appearances, almost all starts.

http://www.zerozero.pt/player_results.php?id=74740

Portugal are getting a little long in the tooth in central defence and there are only a half dozen or so CB's in the 22-28 age range in their player pool so I'm not holding my breath on Ferreira giving up on Portugal anytime soon.

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1) Did his father pass away recently? Was he the Canadian connection here?

2) He was very recently (or is still being) scouted by the Northern Irish: http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/sport/football/peterborough-united/posh-latest-peterborough-united-players-can-t-be-ruled-out-of-euro-2016-appearance-1-7105518

3) He can play at a high level: He played a full 90 for Peterborough's recent FA Cup game against West Brom(Premier League) on January 30th.  They drew 2-2 and forced a replay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv5KPjmY1u8

If he is #2 he was on the left side of the defence @ 1:11 . Is he playing right-back for The Posh?

 

@matty You should try to interview him.

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  • 3 weeks later...

It seems Northern Ireland will be giving him a chance at the end of the month in their two friendlies to see if he's worth a call for the EURO.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/euro2016/peterborough-star-michael-smith-all-set-for-big-northern-ireland-callup-34530526.html

Let's track him 'till he is cap tied but I'm not optimistic.

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On Friday, March 11, 2016 at 4:22 AM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

It seems Northern Ireland will be giving him a chance at the end of the month in their two friendlies to see if he's worth a call for the EURO.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/euro2016/peterborough-star-michael-smith-all-set-for-big-northern-ireland-callup-34530526.html

Let's track him 'till he is cap tied but I'm not optimistic.

You beat me to it. 

Here's another story http://m.bbc.com/sport/football/35822056

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  • 2 weeks later...

Smith was on the bench vs Wales on Thursday March 24th.
http://www.uefa.com/friendlies/season=2016/matches/round=2000582/match=2019578/postmatch/lineups/index.html

Smith did start and played 72 minutes on Monday March 28th as Northern Ireland won against Slovenia.

http://www.uefa.com/friendlies/season=2016/matches/round=2000582/match=2019538/postmatch/lineups/index.html

He now has his first full cap.

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6 hours ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Smith was on the bench vs Wales on Thursday March 24th.
http://www.uefa.com/friendlies/season=2016/matches/round=2000582/match=2019578/postmatch/lineups/index.html

Smith did start and played 72 minutes on Monday March 28th as Northern Ireland won against Slovenia.

http://www.uefa.com/friendlies/season=2016/matches/round=2000582/match=2019538/postmatch/lineups/index.html

He now has his first full cap.

As much as it was likely this ship sailed long ago, I kept expecting him to be one of the roster "surprises" 

Too bad

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46 minutes ago, Complete Homer said:

As much as it was likely this ship sailed long ago, I kept expecting him to be one of the roster "surprises" 

Too bad

There was no ship. It was a message board mirage. This guy was always on the fringes of the Norn Iron setup (deep but aging right back positron) and an injury or two away from a call up. 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Michael Smith is in one of those promotional/player-bio videos for the Northern Irish team:

 

He has been selected to the 28-man provisional squad for Northern Ireland for the EURO 2016: http://www.irishfa.com/news/2016/may/northern-ireland-squad-to-play-belarus

They play Belarus on Friday May 27th. On Saturday May 28th at noon (7am Eastern/ 4am Pacific) they will announce the final 23-man squad.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/euro2016/northern-ireland-stars-have-one-last-chance-to-stake-a-claim-for-france-euro-2016-finals-michael-oneill-34721203.html

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/northern-ireland-name-squad-for-belarus-friendly-will-grigg-and-liam-boyce-named-for-preeuro-warmup-34726917.html

 

For club news: Peterborough United just got a new manager, Grant Mccann (a former Northern-Irish International). Smith has one more year left on his contract and the new coach seems to want to keep him.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/former-northern-ireland-international-grant-mccann-raring-to-go-after-taking-the-reins-at-peterborough-34721209.html

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