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Ayo Akinola


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1 hour ago, Vince193 said:

He's only featuring for the US because Weah, Sargeant and co are all playing up a level. Otherwise realistically he's not high on the depth chart for the US.

 

Someone mentioned earlier he was a key player for the US program. Not remotely true. He was just named for the u20 camp prep for the upcoming u20 WC but that's because the 4 or so forwards ahead of him aren't likely to be released or possibly have outgrown the u20s. Nearly all thought his performance at the u20 qualifying was subpar. Best description for Ayo was: Every cycle has a few decent enough players who are called into a million camps because they aren't terrible but also because they aren't that good and their clubs don't actually need them.

There are way more mentions about him on this board about last night's performance than there is on Big Soccer's US players in MLS thread. I will not be surprised when there will be eventually be more posts about his goal last night than Davies' goal.

Edited by red card
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10 hours ago, RS said:

So he was following proper protocol for both anthems then.

Technically yes......although he could have pulled a Jay Chapman (who did have his hand on his heart during the Canadian anthem last night) and kept it on for both. In any event, its a small thing an indicator that he feels patriotic about the US and my guess is we get him only if the Americans ending up not wanting him (or if Herdman gives him his own private TedTalk ;) )

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10 hours ago, RS said:

So he was following proper protocol for both anthems then.

I dont think you'd catch Osorio or Chapman following protocol for both anthems.  Only an American would do the hand over heart routine.   I think it speaks volumes to where his head is at.  I find it disturbing.

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9 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

Technically yes......although he could have pulled a Jay Chapman (who did have his hand on his heart during the Canadian anthem last night) and kept it on for both. In any event, its a small thing an indicator that he feels patriotic about the US and my guess is we get him only if the Americans ending up not wanting him (or if Herdman gives him his own private TedTalk ;) )

Geez, Chapman too?  Disturbing.

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I would have looked the other way if he was only in the US program because he thought it would advance his career, but still felt canadian.  But doing the hand over heart without being instructed to do so and on Canadian soil indicates that he has some patriotic feelings to the US, which is odd given he grew up here, he's never lived in the US, and his parents most likely identify as Nigerian and not american.

This is very different than Johnson for example who grew up there and not here. 

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I know he is a US youth international, but where does Akinola rank in comparison to our best attacking prospects?

Obviously behind Alphonso and David, probably Millar and Ballou as well. 

He looked great yesterday (like a mini altidore), but I think it'll be hard to him to break into either national team at the moment.

US have a much deeper pool and thus cap many more players than we do. A good season might earn him a camp cupcake invite.

But if we run a camp poutine first (probably with a bunch of CPLers), we may have a chance of swaying him to switch before it's too late.

As an aside, we really need to take advantage of CPL and run national team camps with the best from that league.

 

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1 hour ago, mpg_29 said:

This hand over heart debate is probably the most pathetic thing I have seen on this forum yet..

Were you here for specialks rant about playing nations in our region not being useful for qualifying and a large majority of our games should be against the giants of football

Edited by Guest
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At worst the hand over heart debate is in like a 20 way tie for most ridiculous arguments on this site, just from the few years I've been on here. Some high level examples are anything Robert brings up (unless it's purely historical information without commentary, but those are pretty rare), or anything about John Herdman since he was hired as CMNT manager.

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As silly as it may sound to some here, the hand over heart may in fact be an indication of allegiance, some of us dwell on these things and look for any clues which may indicate where these dual nationals end up, of course we want more depth and competition for squad spots! Is Akinola a key player if he chooses us, it's too early to tell at this point, he looked good on the goal but we have other forwards capable of scoring!

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6 hours ago, mpg_29 said:

This hand over heart debate is probably the most pathetic thing I have seen on this forum yet..

Lol, what can you you do? 

Anyhow, I do not care if he doesn’t end up choosing us. 5 years ago? Probably. 3 years ago? Maybe. Today? Not a chance. The ironic thing with the CPL is that we’re going to have more defectors who choose other nations and that’s a good thing. Shows we’re producing quality, just as long as the best ones choose us lol....which they will no doubt. Anyhow, even though I would like Canada to get Akinola, the country will produce another Akinola in a few months time, and then another one after that.  

Edited by Macksam
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1 hour ago, El Hombre said:

Remember when Fuad Ibrahim came on in his first game and was competent and everyone thought he was going to be something extra special?

Why do I bring that up?  Oh, no reason....

You know what, I don't remember a single thing about him besides vaguely recalling his name. Not surprising considering the revolving door of mediocrity that TFC use to attract, Dan Gargan, Ty Harden, Andrew Boyens, Laurent Robert, Peterson, that Latvian guy that nobody knew how to pronounce his name.

Ty Harden couldn't even control the ball. I can't recall the number of times I saw his first touch bounce off him and in to touch. He was like that kid on your house league team where the coach had to put in for 30 minutes to not upset his parents.

Edited by Macksam
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While I like that we have a bit of depth and swagger up front, I don't think we are anywhere near the stage where we can start dismissing young guys playing at a solid level and who could make big contributions going forward.  You never know what is around the next corner (e.g. Larin) so i don't think we have the luxury of a 'take it or leave it' approach to guys like Akinola.   Do I know if he would be a big part of our program going forward?  No idea.  Do I want him in the player pool, either proving he deserves a spot or pushing hard to keep pressure on the top guys?  Absolutely. 

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1 hour ago, dyslexic nam said:

While I like that we have a bit of depth and swagger up front, I don't think we are anywhere near the stage where we can start dismissing young guys playing at a solid level and who could make big contributions going forward.  You never know what is around the next corner (e.g. Larin) so i don't think we have the luxury of a 'take it or leave it' approach to guys like Akinola.   Do I know if he would be a big part of our program going forward?  No idea.  Do I want him in the player pool, either proving he deserves a spot or pushing hard to keep pressure on the top guys?  Absolutely. 

That is where you and I differ then.  I've moved on.  Much prefer to talk about Perruzza and Bair.

Mentioning Akinola in the same breath as Tabla and Millar as was done above, is sacrilege.

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