Fikayo Tomori

[matty]

12 minutes ago, canta15 said:

never heard of him

Hedges was the MLS Defender of the Year for 2016

[Macksam]

30 minutes ago, matty said:

Hedges was the MLS Defender of the Year for 2016

Never heard of him either but that's a decent achievement I suppose. I looked st his wiki profile and couldn't find any Canadian connection. What is it?

When it comes to Tomori, I'm just going to reiterate that we should forget it. That great Chelsea appearance way back when spoke a thousand words, especially considering English kids his age never put in a decent start at a big Prem club during that time. He was always going to jump to the head of the line after that.

Edited January 24, 2017 by Macksam

[matty]

Just now, Macksam said:

Never heard of him either but that's a decent achievement I suppose. I looked st his wiki profile and couldn't find any Canadian connection. What is it?

When it comes to Tomori, I'm just going to reiterate that we should forget it. That great Chelsea appearance way back when spoke a thousand words, especially considering English kids his age never put in a decent start at a big English club. He was always going to jump to the head of the line after that.

His grandfather was born in Canada. He expressed minor interest in playing for Canada a while ago but I think that was just the result of him and Tesho joking around about it.

[Complete Homer]

Pretty sure it came out that Hedges was fooling around

He's also very much in the USMNT picture with Arena

Edited January 24, 2017 by Complete Homer

[matty]

6 minutes ago, Complete Homer said:

Pretty sure it came out that Hedges was fooling around

He's also very much in the USMNT picture with Arena

I know. My OP on it was kind of tongue and cheek

[Edwin]

1 hour ago, Macksam said:

Never heard of him either but that's a decent achievement I suppose. I looked st his wiki profile and couldn't find any Canadian connection. What is it?

When it comes to Tomori, I'm just going to reiterate that we should forget it. That great Chelsea appearance way back when spoke a thousand words, especially considering English kids his age never put in a decent start at a big Prem club during that time. He was always going to jump to the head of the line after that.

"...I enjoyed playing for Canada but now I am playing for England and I want to do the best for my country".

[One American]

It depends on what you mean by "in the USMNT picture." Ultimately, the CB pool starts with Besler, Cameron, and John Brooks. Likely Steve Birnbaum and the teenager Cameron Carter-Vickers.

Could Hedges do it? Sure. But I wouldn't count on it. Jurgen didn't rate him, and one of his strong suits was individual talent evaluation. 

Hedges can probably defend well enough to play at least the Concacaf level. Whether he has a well-rounded enough game to beat out a deep US pool remains to be seen.  But he would instantly upgrade Canada there. 

[matthew]

I had no idea Matt Hedges had Canadian ties. Interesting. Klinsmann certainly ignored some quality American MLS players and Hedges was one of them. Not sure he'll make an impact for the U.S., but he's arguably the best defender in the MLS. I think Bester's better suited to the international game, but Hedges is pretty damn good.

 

cheers,

matthew

[Complete Homer]

4 hours ago, One American said:

It depends on what you mean by "in the USMNT picture." Ultimately, the CB pool starts with Besler, Cameron, and John Brooks. Likely Steve Birnbaum and the teenager Cameron Carter-Vickers.

Could Hedges do it? Sure. But I wouldn't count on it. Jurgen didn't rate him, and one of his strong suits was individual talent evaluation. 

Hedges can probably defend well enough to play at least the Concacaf level. Whether he has a well-rounded enough game to beat out a deep US pool remains to be seen.  But he would instantly upgrade Canada there. 

By "in the picture" I mean that I think he'll keep getting invited to enough camps to keep him on the line, and probably a couple of official caps. He's not a major player for them but he's one of the better MLS guys

[Stryker911]

13 hours ago, canta15 said:

Perhaps Sam's most vital role for the Canadian program so far.

One of our best players ever couldn't convince his brother to play for us. Don't think someone who would have preferred to play for England in the first place will do a very convincing dell job.

[matty]

34 minutes ago, Stryker911 said:

One of our best players ever couldn't convince his brother to play for us. Don't think someone who would have preferred to play for England in the first place will do a very convincing dell job.

I think it's a joke.

[matty]

Look at these poor bastards. Their hope will only hurt them. Do they not know?

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/603375/Chelsea-news-Fikayo-Tomori-Brighton-fans

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Although he's been a late game sub for Brighton & Hove Albion during most of his loan, he played a full game today.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/39760417

Back in March with the England U-20s during the 4-nations friendly tournament he

Was a sub in the first game for the 2-2 draw with Portugal: http://www.thefa.com/news/2017/mar/23/england-u20s-v-portugal-230317

A starter in the 1-0 win over France: http://www.thefa.com/news/2017/mar/25/england-u20s-france-report-250317

& a starter for the 2-0 win over Senegal: http://www.thefa.com/news/2017/mar/28/senegal-v-england-u20s-report-280317

 

England should announce their U-20 World Cup Squad in the next 24hrs.

[Gordon]

Selected for England U-20s. 

[SCF08]

2 hours ago, Gordon said:

Selected for England U-20s. 

 

 

Edited May 8, 2017 by SCF08

[Dominic94]

Fuck

[Ed_S]

Friend of mine in the know said there was very little chance he would ever choose Canada as his father had his sights on England or Nigeria.

[Grizzly]

I dislike it when players who should play for us use the Canadian program to boost their careers and then play for another nation. When our program goes after players like this who have stronger ties to other countries, losing them is part of the risk of bringing them into the program and I can't really blame the player since both sides know the situation when he is selected. Our coaching staff really has to calculate the risk of players like this taking up a place of someone who will certainly play for Canada in the future when selecting superior prospects with a strong risk of playing for another country. It is a bit damned if you do, damned if you don't though since if they don't select a player like this they are blamed for not selecting him but if they do they are blamed for him taking up a spot a someone with stronger ties to Canada could take.

[bwilly11]

Well, he is more English then Canadian really. Have to be realistic here, cant blame the guy. I'll cheer for him on the sides because of his Canadian connection. 

[jpg75]

He can still switch back to Canada (never played in an official competition) some day, he's not a total lost cause yet.

[matty]

I don't have an issue with him playing for England U20 because the guy is English and is young, so if things don't work out he could still fall back on Canada.

[MtlMario]

1 hour ago, bwilly11 said:

Well, he is more English then Canadian really. Have to be realistic here, cant blame the guy. I'll cheer for him on the sides because of his Canadian connection. 

AH no .

[PopePouri]

1 hour ago, Grizzly said:

I dislike it when players who should play for us use the Canadian program to boost their careers and then play for another nation. When our program goes after players like this who have stronger ties to other countries, losing them is part of the risk of bringing them into the program and I can't really blame the player since both sides know the situation when he is selected. Our coaching staff really has to calculate the risk of players like this taking up a place of someone who will certainly play for Canada in the future when selecting superior prospects with a strong risk of playing for another country. It is a bit damned if you do, damned if you don't though since if they don't select a player like this they are blamed for not selecting him but if they do they are blamed for him taking up a spot a someone with stronger ties to Canada could take.

How did playing for Canada boost his career? He was already highly touted, the point of getting minutes with the first team at age 17. Not only that but I'm tired when we trivialize the thought process for the player. It's more nuanced especially for Tomori who probably feels some sort of connection with Canada due to birth but pulls more to England where he grew up. Even for someone like Arfield who probably feels more Canadian now than he did a year ago. 

Edited May 8, 2017 by PopePouri

[Bison44]

Why didnt he wait for his England call then?  He could have used his "thought processes" to hold out for the big call from the England squad because he "pulls more" for them.  If he was so close to an England call he should have waited if that was his wish.  Heres a news flash, Canada were the only ones calling, and after he looked like a stud for us England made sure to include him so he wouldnt get away from them.  

People give these kids alot of slack, when there are plenty of kids in the real world making more important decisions that this when they are 17.  

[Grizzly]

30 minutes ago, PopePouri said:

How did playing for Canada boost his career? He was already highly touted, the point of getting minutes with the first team at age 17. Not only that but I'm tired when we trivialize the thought process for the player. It's more nuanced especially for Tomori who probably feels some sort of connection with Canada due to birth but pulls more to England where he grew up. Even for someone like Arfield who probably feels more Canadian now than he did a year ago. 

I don't think you read properly what I wrote.