Ayo Akinola

[Dominic94]

2 hours ago, red card said:

He won't be able to play in the friendly as he hasn't filed any switch paperwork yet - maybe window shopping.

 

Huge for the US if both commit, but I don’t think long term Araujo will....

 

he’s going to have to compete with Reynolds, Cannon and Dest for playing time... not sure what the case with Mexico is but I’d imagine he’s got a better shot there.

 

As for Alzarez I mean tough at both spots but I’m still stunned that both are going.

[SpursFlu]

Watching Alvarez recently against the Whitecaps I kinda don't get it. Didn't look like much to me

[MtlMario]

18 hours ago, Bison44 said:

Well he has been convinced to do exactly that (play for the USA) for the last 5 years eh??  Why would we expect him to do much different now??  He probably has never worn a CDN jersey, so switching to us would be the strange thing for him.    

Then do we really want someone that lived here all his life and feels strange wearing his country's jersey?

[Floortom]

There’s not much separating the top few striker options between US and Canada, but the US’ depth and pipeline is 20x bigger than ours.

they have 10+ young guys that are relatively interchangeable with Akinola (Dike, Soto, Ebobisse, Wright ,etc). 
 

so while Ayo might not get more starts with Canada he would probably get frequent call. Who knows if that’s the case with the US a few years from now. That might factor into his decision 

[baulderdash77]

58 minutes ago, Floortom said:

There’s not much separating the top few striker options between US and Canada, but the US’ depth and pipeline is 20x bigger than ours.

they have 10+ young guys that are relatively interchangeable with Akinola (Dike, Soto, Ebobisse, Wright ,etc). 
 

so while Ayo might not get more starts with Canada he would probably get frequent call. Who knows if that’s the case with the US a few years from now. That might factor into his decision 

Ayo is our best young striker except for David and to be honest they would work well together due to their playing styles.

While Canada may have a couple better strikers -at the moment- among our young players he stands ahead of everyone else.

 

[VinceA]

No surprise he's on the roster.

[Bison44]

So I guess either our rumored Jan camp is a voyageur fueled fantasy, or Akinola has made up his mind.  Or I guess he could make a grand gesture and refuse a US call up......its crunch time.  

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

16 minutes ago, VinceA said:

No surprise he's on the roster.

Details here:

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2020/11/berhalter-calls-22-players-ahead-of-usa-el-salvador-on-dec-9-in-ft-lauderdale

If it makes anybody feel any better, almost 6 years ago, Tesho Akindele also went to a senior #USMNT camp before joining us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqEun7-sy3s

[Obinna]

12 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

So I guess either our rumored Jan camp is a voyageur fueled fantasy, or Akinola has made up his mind.  Or I guess he could make a grand gesture and refuse a US call up......its crunch time.  

it's just a natural progression of Akinola's career. He was a us youth international, now he gets to play with the us senior team. I don't think there's anything more to it than that. This won't cap tie him, so there was no reason for him not to accept the call. He has absolutely nothing to lose, and in fact we should ask ourselves "why would ayo make a one-time switch to canada when he hasn't even tested the usmnt waters yet"? He was always going to check the usmnt out first if you ask me.

Like others have said, it was expected. I guess technically he could show up to our Panama camp and train with us to see which program he likes better. If that doesn't happen it will be telling of what his intentions are. For now it is too early to say for sure either way.

Considering how poorly our association is ran and financed compared to the Americans, I would give us about a 20% chance at this stage, and that's being very optimistic and factoring in the great players like Davies and David he could play with, and I am considering the TFC factor here as well.  

[Ansem]

31 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

So I guess either our rumored Jan camp is a voyageur fueled fantasy, or Akinola has made up his mind.  Or I guess he could make a grand gesture and refuse a US call up......its crunch time.  

We're still the nation that can officially cap him the soonest.

• Canada : World Cup Qualifiers March 2021

• USA : CONCACAF Nations League Semifinals June 2021

So it comes down to an ultimatum from Herdman before March. Until then, there zero harm for him to check it out

Edited November 30, 2020 by Ansem

[LeoH037]

3 hours ago, Obinna said:

Considering how poorly our association is ran and financed compared to the Americans, I would give us about a 20% chance at this stage, and that's being very optimistic and factoring in the great players like Davies and David he could play with, and I am considering the TFC factor here as well.  

playing with Davies and David are not as big "pulls" as most on this website seem to believe... I don't even know where that misplaced notion arises from, when the USA has young stars on its own right...

Edited December 1, 2020 by LeoH037

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

3 hours ago, Ansem said:

We're still the nation that can officially cap him the soonest.

• Canada : World Cup Qualifiers March 2021

• USA : CONCACAF Nations League Semifinals June 2021

So it comes down to an ultimatum from Herdman before March. Until then, there zero harm for him to check it out

As we have seen in the past, the paperwork for a one-time-switch takes months to process. Unless Akinola had filed it back many weeks ago, it wouldn't be ready for Camp Poutine.

In theory, he could file it immediately after this match vs El Salvador to join us for March but I still believe he thinks he can go to Tokyo 2021 with the USA.

That squad has 22 players + others to be added after the MLS matches in the next few days.

As per all friendly matches, you have a starting 11 + 6 subs. 17 players get playing time and inevitably 5 will miss out on the action.

 

Edited December 1, 2020 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[toontownman]

Oh 2020 can you just fuck right off again. 

Get Tesho on the phone. Actually maybe don't, he hasn't always been called up!

 

[Shway]

Inactivity if our program can only be the blame....but It’s okay we have Davies and David to answer any problems.

All I need to hear now is Martin Amuz called up to Uruguay U-23 team, and I’m saying Gareth Wheeler is a fake squealer. 😆

[Bison44]

35 minutes ago, toontownman said:

Oh 2020 can you just fuck right off again. 

Get Tesho on the phone. Actually maybe don't, he hasn't always been called up!

 

BOOOO....Tesho got into 16 games.....thats not too bad in 5years.  But maybe get Bunbury to call Akinolas Dad...remind him how many games Teal got into.  Hint hint...you wont have to use more than 1 hand.  

[Dominic94]

7 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

BOOOO....Tesho got into 16 games.....thats not too bad in 5years.  But maybe get Bunbury to call Akinolas Dad...remind him how many games Teal got into.  Hint hint...you wont have to use more than 1 hand.  

Yeah But Tesho is going to hit 30 for his life, this summer he will add, and we are going to play more games in the future. With a domestic league now as players are sold money will flow into the piggy bank and with guys like David and Davies, the sponsors will pay better and more.

[toontownman]

22 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

BOOOO....Tesho got into 16 games.....thats not too bad in 5years.  But maybe get Bunbury to call Akinolas Dad...remind him how many games Teal got into.  Hint hint...you wont have to use more than 1 hand.  

There have been times I felt Tesho should have got more minutes over the past 5 years. Not really anyone's fault David emerged and Cavallini recommitted. Like you say it's hardly Teal territory. I don't think he would regret a thing. He wouldnt have had more caps had he picked the states. Akinola is in a very similar situation.

[Obinna]

5 hours ago, LeoH037 said:

playing with Davies and David are not as big "pulls" as most on this website seem to believe... I don't even know where that misplaced notion arises from, when the USA has young stars on its own right...

I almost didn't add that, because honestly I agree with you. I don't think it's that much of a factor. I think Corbeanu mentioned it, but so did Yankov and we know how that ended, so really it probably doesn't matter a whole lot. Especially when the alternative have their own young golden generation which is much deeper than our own. 

[Dominic94]

43 minutes ago, Obinna said:

I almost didn't add that, because honestly I agree with you. I don't think it's that much of a factor. I think Corbeanu mentioned it, but so did Yankov and we know how that ended, so really it probably doesn't matter a whole lot. Especially when the alternative have their own young golden generation which is much deeper than our own. 

Yea but our top 2 is better than theirs, but in all seriousness...

 

Ayo can bet on himself it’s fine and it’s allowed but shit, they have like 9 2000 born strikers, most of which are rated ahead of him, Weah and Sargent have always eaten most of the playing time and taken from him and are expected to keep doing so.  Soto, Dike, Giochiacci or whatever are all going to fight him and that’s for the year 2000....

 

listen he may be Jozy lite but the USA never rated him that highly and we all know it. He’s not dumb, if that’s 2000 what abojt the birth years after it ? They’re exploding with talent, yes they might not get dike and Soto and tbh a little lucky that Dest is actually an idiot with 0 ambition, but at a point these duals are going to say well shit I have to be realistic I want to be sure fire.

we all knew Bunbury wasn’t going to be a big part of the USA setup, Akinola will be a bigger part than him but I mean if the guy wants a fringe role with them then fine. He’s not going to be a world beater and tbh he may not even hit as many caps with us as we think. I think rn for European ambitions with he must have the US setup makes sense in terms of exposure etc, but to actually wear a countries shift... I doubt he’s dumb enough to think that he’s going to be one of their main guys long term, if he is so be it.

 

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

2 hours ago, Obinna said:

I almost didn't add that, because honestly I agree with you. I don't think it's that much of a factor. I think Corbeanu mentioned it, but so did Yankov and we know how that ended, so really it probably doesn't matter a whole lot. Especially when the alternative have their own young golden generation which is much deeper than our own. 

I think part of it is where the player is. What a kid sees at home and in the States is very different from Europe in terms of football. 

Yankov went with who called him, it wasn't us because of circumstances that can and have been debated. 

But Corbeanu gets the same media I do basically and I can totally see why David and Davies would be a factor.  They are not one of the bigger stories in a niche sport; Davies was one of the biggest stories in one of the biggest bits of news - not just sports.  Everyone knew how he made one of their rising national team stars look slow and weak repeatedly.  David has no ties to England other than being linked to English teams but he still was, and (I believe) will be, a great story.

Right or wrong, that has to be on a kid's (and his agent's) mind.   

[VinceA]

 

[CanadaFan123]

Akinola playing for the USA just makes such a mockery of international football. It's hard to even take seriously.

Literally raised in Canada, played soccer in Canada, went to school in Canada, his family had no issue taking handouts from the Canadian government, signed his first pro deal in Canada, continues to live in Canada... then it comes time to choose a national team and let's play for the USA. With character like that - good riddance. 

FWIW I would be eligible for the USA too. But never in a million years would a true Canadian do that. The happiest guy right now should be Teal Bunbury ... when you compare Teal to Ayo he pales in comparison. This is by far the biggest joke defection ever. Worse than Hargreaves or De Guzman imho.

Edited December 1, 2020 by CanadaFan123

[N1ckbr0wn]

Just now, CanadaFan123 said:

Akinola playing for the USA just makes such a mockery of international football. It's hard to even take seriously.

Literally raised in Canada, played soccer in Canada, his family had no issue taking handouts from the Canadian government, signed his first pro deal in Canada... then it comes time to choose a national team and let's play for the USA. With character like that - good riddance.

This comment might get some hate, but this is probably how the average American would look at it if the roles were reversed. You’re not completely wrong 

[RS]

9 hours ago, Dominic94 said:

listen he may be Jozy lite but the USA never rated him that highly and we all know it.

Wait, are you saying the USA never rated Akinlola or are you saying the USA never rated Altidore?

[CanadaFan123]

3 minutes ago, N1ckbr0wn said:

This comment might get some hate, but this is probably how the average American would look at it if the roles were reversed. You’re not completely wrong 

Well, with all due respect, I'm not wrong at all - these are just facts. If this is okay then we may as well give up watching national team football and focus solely on clubs. Karma is a patient gangster though and I have little doubt it will rear it's head.