Alphonso Davies shames Owen Hargreaves.

[Macksam]

1 hour ago, Fastfeet2 said:

How about our u19 men winning the worlds in basketball and beating USA in the semi!? @Unnamed Trialist

For real? Who's on that team? Rowan Barret Jr and Andrew Nembhart? 

[Macksam]

11 hours ago, Joe MacCarthy said:

I've been away too long, the ghost of Luis Rancagua is back. Holy smokes, talk about a blast from the past..

Haha, my man Joe Mac has risen from the grave. Please explain your absence. Long vacation? Retirement to the Bahamas? Mid life crisis that resulted in a Vegas shot gun wedding to a woman half your age? 

[Fastfeet2]

6 minutes ago, Macksam said:

For real? Who's on that team? Rowan Barret Jr and Andrew Nembhart? 

RJ barrett played 2 age groups up , got tournament MVP, poured in 38 against usa. Hes a stud.

[Macksam]

6 minutes ago, Fastfeet2 said:

RJ barrett played 2 age groups up , got tournament MVP, poured in 38 against usa. Hes a stud.

Amazing. He'll probably be our best guy yet. Fuck the NBA's age rules. I'd tell him to sign with a top Euro side until 19 so he can make some cheddah before making the plunge....but I imagine the NCAA is where he'll go.

[Fastfeet2]

51 minutes ago, Macksam said:

Amazing. He'll probably be our best guy yet. Fuck the NBA's age rules. I'd tell him to sign with a top Euro side until 19 so he can make some cheddah before making the plunge....but I imagine the NCAA is where he'll go.

Papa Barrett is a firm believer in education so wont happen.

This is actually a good example of what pro level sports in a country can do. In a interview his dad talks about RJ being much better than he was at that age, and how hard it was for his generation with basketball because generally you wouldnt start playing until age 14 high school. He gives credit to the Raptors schooling new generations early, introducing new skills to younger ages etc... 20 years later we're the world champions. I hope our MLS clubs will have a similar effect the Raptors did on the country. We're steadily increasing our player pool, just need to unearth a few more Davies'

[Joe MacCarthy]

1 hour ago, Macksam said:

Haha, my man Joe Mac has risen from the grave. Please explain your absence. Long vacation? Retirement to the Bahamas? Mid life crisis that resulted in a Vegas shot gun wedding to a woman half your age? 

LOL, you don't know how close you are with that.  Actually the retirement is close also.  Been working extreme hours so I can retire fairly young.  Nope, just realized how much time I was spending on the net and how obsessed I was getting and had to cut it off, cold turkey.  I hope to be just an occasional visitor now. 

Have to say the CMNT has been pretty uninspiring for me the past few years and not just because of the win/loss record because in my opinion that would make me a shitty bandwagon fan. Watched the game the other night and believe it or not here are my three observations.

After seeing the lineup, the first thing that came into my head was this is the traitor's lineup with all the fence sitter's on it.  But I didn't dwell on that too long because once you've got the leaf on, for me, most is forgiven (but not forgotten)

Secondly, I can tell you the exact time (I think) when the Scottish guy said that the game was in the bag (3-0).  The first thing I did was note the time (62 minutes) and my second thought was evidently you don't know the history of Canadian soccer.  Then panic mode set in.

My third observation was how well I thought Tiebert played.  He seemed to be an instrument of change turning around the momentum.

Oh yeah Hargreaves sucks and there is some revisionist stuff being posted here.  Holger pursued him fairly rigorously but I guess his snowflake feelings were too hurt.  Also in another thread they mentioned Rad spurning the CMNT.  He had a period there where he was playing shenanigans but unlike most, strangely the bigger his career got the more he committed to Canada.  It's unfortunate he cut his hand on that fence in Montreal or things may have turned out a little differently, or maybe not.

Lastly, also distracting me was my late introduction to Kodi (for cord cutting).  Now you old timers know aside from being cantankerous I like to try and give advice and headsup for things that interest me and hopefully interest others.  My latest is Kodi with which I used to access (through my laptop) the U19 basketball final.

If anyone is interested I could start a thread dedicated to Kodi for anyone interested in how to start using this brilliant piece of software.  I'm not one that has a lot of time for things that aren't relatively easy to setup or use.  Also even if all the third party addons disappear under threat of the media conglomerates using Kodi totally legally is still well worth it, especially for someone like me who doesn't have cable.

Anyway if anyone is interested please post, sorry for the long off topic post.

[Joe MacCarthy]

1 hour ago, Macksam said:

Amazing. He'll probably be our best guy yet. Fuck the NBA's age rules. I'd tell him to sign with a top Euro side until 19 so he can make some cheddah before making the plunge....but I imagine the NCAA is where he'll go.

I believe he only turned 17 less than a month ago, so he was the youngest by far.

Men's U18/U19 Profiles

[Unnamed Trialist]

4 hours ago, Fastfeet2 said:

How about our u19 men winning the worlds in basketball and beating USA in the semi!? @Unnamed Trialist

Well obviously that is great news. When Spain won the u-19 in 1999, that led into them winning the world's in 2006. Other countries have been consistenly on podiums, like Yugoslavia/Serbia, Italy. We have to find the way to have consistency.

Remember, this is Canada's first time even playing for a medal, including senior side. It is a breakthrough, but important. 

[matty]

6 hours ago, jpg75 said:

Again with the typo/spelling mistake. It's  not pwning it's pwening.

My splling is fine mate 

[kungfucious]

23 hours ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Posters like Anthony Totera's main booster on here Pat Carrasco use this as a way to virtue signal how hard core they are about their support of the CMNT and people do that sort of thing on soccer messageboards all around the world, so there is nothing unusual in that. He should have played for Canada as that was clearly where he had the strongest basis to play in eligibility terms and deserves some criticism for his decision, but how many people can honestly say that they would turn down the chance to start regularly for a team that usually gets to around the quarter final stage in World Cups, so they can play for a team that struggles to reach the hex, if they had been in his shoes? It's easy to say you would turn down the chance to play on the greatest stage there is for a soccer player when there was or will be zero chance of it ever happening in your case. The constructive way to move forward is to strengthen Canadian soccer to the point that it's a lot easier for future Owen Hargreaves type players to see the CMNT as a viable vehichle to reach the World Cup. Launching the 48 team era from 2026 onwards with a co-hosting is going to make that easier.

thnx for taking the time to write such a succinct and thorough explanation. i had sensed the truth was somewhat like that, but i appreciate the effort u put to shed light for the rest of us.

 

to be fair... my point is that its ok to hate players like OH, but just be mindful that AD just did the same to his country of birth and everybody here is lauding him with confetti for similarly being a 'traitor'

[BrennanFan]

1 hour ago, kungfucious said:

thnx for taking the time to write such a succinct and thorough explanation. i had sensed the truth was somewhat like that, but i appreciate the effort u put to shed light for the rest of us.

 

to be fair... my point is that its ok to hate players like OH, but just be mindful that AD just did the same to his country of birth and everybody here is lauding him with confetti for similarly being a 'traitor'

Davies did the same as OH to his country of birth?  Just how stupid are you?

Has Davies publicly stated he'd play for Liberia, only to go on and play for Canada weeks later? 

Has he switched international allegiance like he switches socks?

There is no comparison here.  The issue is not whether an immigrant chooses an adopted country over his birth country. OH publicly lied and whored himself to the highest bidder to further his career. OH played for a country he'd never lived in.  Canada is Davies family's home. Davies is playing for a country he's lived in for years for non football reasons.

And I don't buy the idea that OH didn't play for us due to how the CSA treated him.  That's a convenient excuse.  He would've stabbed us in the back regardless, just as he did to Wales. Let's not forget OH had fully committed to Wales and yet pulled out from a Wales camp at the last minute after England approached him.  Just shameful and pathetic.

[dyslexic nam]

1 hour ago, kungfucious said:

thnx for taking the time to write such a succinct and thorough explanation. i had sensed the truth was somewhat like that, but i appreciate the effort u put to shed light for the rest of us.

 

to be fair... my point is that its ok to hate players like OH, but just be mindful that AD just did the same to his country of birth and everybody here is lauding him with confetti for similarly being a 'traitor'

Davies has been here since he was 5.  Whore lived here until he was an adult and moved abroad.  The fact that you equate the two is ludicrous.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Also worth noting that Davies was born in Ghana to refugee parents and as far as I am aware never actually lived in Liberia, so he hasn't actually turned his back on the land of his birth as he doesn't even have citizen rights in the country where he was born. There are players that have played for the CMNT where that line of argument can sensibly be used, but this isn't one of them.

[xman14]

This thread is shambles haha. Hargreaves, Davies, and FIBA basketball.... We should honestly make a weekly general chatter thread

[theaub]

1 hour ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Also worth noting that Davies was born in Ghana to refugee parents and as far as I am aware never actually lived in Liberia, so he hasn't actually turned his back on the land of his birth as he doesn't even have citizen rights in the country where he was born. There are players that have played for the CMNT where that line of argument can sensibly be used, but this isn't one of them.

Woah now

You're telling me that your parents fleeing a country because of Civil War and getting cut from a u-17 camp aren't the same thing? 

[A_Gagne]

As a slightly off topic comment (but that's kinda what we do here)...

I find the evolution of this kind of discussion over time interesting. I think there's probably nothing that brings out passionate debate or that we love to tap keyboards about more around here than a prospect or fence sitters' CMNT eligibility decisions. It's been my observation that opinions amongst V's, about the legitimacy of a dual nationals choosing another country over Canada has become much more mixed. It used to essentially be the rule around here that such players would get vilified. Heck, I remember when this site wouldn't even let you write the word "Hargreaves". Now when someone like Tabla shows up for our youth teams, but turns down a call for the CMNT, we fill 33 pages of relatively even debate for and against his decision.

Not saying that's a good thing or a bad thing... just pointing out the trend.

[Macksam]

13 hours ago, Joe MacCarthy said:

LOL, you don't know how close you are with that.  Actually the retirement is close also.  Been working extreme hours so I can retire fairly young.  Nope, just realized how much time I was spending on the net and how obsessed I was getting and had to cut it off, cold turkey.  I hope to be just an occasional visitor now. 

Have to say the CMNT has been pretty uninspiring for me the past few years and not just because of the win/loss record because in my opinion that would make me a shitty bandwagon fan. Watched the game the other night and believe it or not here are my three observations.

After seeing the lineup, the first thing that came into my head was this is the traitor's lineup with all the fence sitter's on it.  But I didn't dwell on that too long because once you've got the leaf on, for me, most is forgiven (but not forgotten)

Secondly, I can tell you the exact time (I think) when the Scottish guy said that the game was in the bag (3-0).  The first thing I did was note the time (62 minutes) and my second thought was evidently you don't know the history of Canadian soccer.  Then panic mode set in.

My third observation was how well I thought Tiebert played.  He seemed to be an instrument of change turning around the momentum.

Oh yeah Hargreaves sucks and there is some revisionist stuff being posted here.  Holger pursued him fairly rigorously but I guess his snowflake feelings were too hurt.  Also in another thread they mentioned Rad spurning the CMNT.  He had a period there where he was playing shenanigans but unlike most, strangely the bigger his career got the more he committed to Canada.  It's unfortunate he cut his hand on that fence in Montreal or things may have turned out a little differently, or maybe not.

Lastly, also distracting me was my late introduction to Kodi (for cord cutting).  Now you old timers know aside from being cantankerous I like to try and give advice and headsup for things that interest me and hopefully interest others.  My latest is Kodi with which I used to access (through my laptop) the U19 basketball final.

If anyone is interested I could start a thread dedicated to Kodi for anyone interested in how to start using this brilliant piece of software.  I'm not one that has a lot of time for things that aren't relatively easy to setup or use.  Also even if all the third party addons disappear under threat of the media conglomerates using Kodi totally legally is still well worth it, especially for someone like me who doesn't have cable.

Anyway if anyone is interested please post, sorry for the long off topic post.

Kodi does sound interesting no doubt. Understandable about spending too much time on the Internet and we all need to take a step back every now and again. 

Anywhow, the shot gun wedding was close? Lol, well let's hear the details. ?

 

[theaub]

And? I don't think anyone would debate that Arfield is a mercenary, considering the first time he stepped foot in Canada was to play for us.

[BrennanFan]

7 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

And the OH haterz had better start posting about how much they hate SA or they are just a bunch of hypocrites!

I don't know how you can read this thread and come to that conclusion.  

Scott not being wanted by Scotland changes his situation entirely.

[Floortom]

32 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

Scott Arfield was born and raised in Scotland, and was a regular in the Scotland under-21 team, but plays internationally for Canada.

Oh dear, what an inconvenient truth!

Kind of a ridiculous comparison. Arfield desperately wanted to play for Scotland but was never called. 

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

1 minute ago, Floortom said:

Kind of a ridiculous comparison. Arfield desperately wanted to play for Scotland but was never called. 

What sort of signal does it send to a young Canadian player who holds a second passport when a guy that has never lived in Canada gets drafted in like that though? The signal is that you can pick and choose what national team suits your career best just as you do with clubs. If people are going to get so hysterical about what Hargreaves did then there has to be a culture where only players with a very strong eligibility case are taken seriously in CMNT terms. At least with Arfield it's his father that is the key to eligibility, so he probably always knew he eligible for Canadian citizenship and felt Canadian to some extent. The truly bizarre one was Marc Bircham qualifying after finding out his grandfather was born in Winnipeg and playing for Canada without ever having visited the country.

[rightback]

6 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

Well, more accurately he had not been called up until the moment he opted for Canada. What if Scotland wanted to call him tomorrow? They can't!

Or are you suggesting an age limit? I must hate a player if he chooses a country I don't think he should play for before the age of 25 (?), but the day after his 25th birthday, all is well?

Or is it just related to whether he is called by the country I think he should play for?

I'm just trying to apply some logic to this hate thing. Because in my world, FIFA make the rules and the rest of us just live with them, whether we like them or not.

I thought he had been explicitly told by the Scottish manager that he would never be called in future so he might as well play for someone else.

[rightback]

4 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

And of course managers of national teams never change.

Arifled was 27, at the peak of his career with no reasonable prospect of ever playing international soccer for his birth country. There is no moral equivalency with OH as far I'm concerned. 

[theaub]

26 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

Well, more accurately he had not been called up until the moment he opted for Canada. What if Scotland wanted to call him tomorrow? They can't!

Or are you suggesting an age limit? I must hate a player if he chooses a country I don't think he should play for before the age of 25 (?), but the day after his 25th birthday, all is well?

Or is it just related to whether he is called by the country I think he should play for?

I'm just trying to apply some logic to this hate thing. Because in my world, FIFA make the rules and the rest of us just live with them, whether we like them or not.

This is a rather correct post.

Considering 3/11 of  our starters on Friday have distinctly stated they would prefer to play for different countries (and two of them represented other countries extensively at the youth level), it is rather weird to start getting off on guys who have ditched Canada in the past.

Which is not to say that Owen Hargreaves isn't a dickwad though.  And also Davies is rather clearly not one of those three.

[rightback]

1 minute ago, dsqpr said:

Well, I'm glad I now know where to come for moral guidance!

Yeah, I was second guessing myself about using that word :-) I don't know that Arfield is in any better form now than before, it demonstrates the quality required to play in the top leagues. That being said, I don't know what the Scotland brain trust was thinking...their loss and I'm sure glad they told him to get lost.

If OH had been playing professionally and expressing his desire to play for Canada until he was 27 and was told by the manager he would never, ever be considered to play for Canada and that he might as well sign up with some other country, then you'd have the same situation, and I wouldn't have a problem with him at all.