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Justin Smith


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51 minutes ago, Güerito said:

Boy, they use some really strong words. Justin says he's proud to represent his country. Poku and Pellegrino call him brother. Something tells me @El Hombre was right. Herdman asked Biello to instill a sense of the brotherhood.

 

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1 hour ago, Stryker911 said:

Let's get stupidly into the semantics here: 

Tomori had a "Great time AWAY with Canada" and was "buzzing to get my first international goal" while Smith was "Fier d’avoir représenté mon pays" or "Proud to represent MY country"

 Justin Smith seemingly identifies with being Canadian and is comfortable claiming that publicly while Fikayo goes out of his way to remain neutral and as a player for Canada but chooses to not identify as Canadian.

Edited by Approve My Account Pls
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It's crazy how we in this group view and rate players on opposite sides of the dual national "fence".  

Justin Smith (born and raised in France) - "Proud to represent my country" in reference to representing the country of his parents in Canada. 

Marcelo Flores (born and raised in Canada/England) - "Reposts Mexican Federation qualifying for World Cup" in reference to the nation he represents (which is the country of his father).

Us "die hard fans" have two very different views of the same scenario.  Hopefully the CSA starts putting together more of a youth program for us.  This won't solve all dual nationals but it will help. 

 

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13 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

The way the duals approach it makes a big difference to how the V's look at it.  When the guys and their reps do a lot of talking and jockeying in public I think everyone is turned off, including the fans who eventually support the team he chooses. 

This is very true as well. 

It's also a lot different when a Federation like France has little to no interest in that player.  Justin Smith is also likely smart enough to realize that France has never and will likely never be interested.  He's the young dual national that I am most excited about for Canada so it's no slight on him.  Just the reality that there are many good professional players from France that will never be able to represent France on the international level.

Edited by Corazon
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Let’s not pretend that we are burdened by rationality or consistency when it comes to dual nationals.  We all get ridiculously excited to watch 11 guys kick a balloon between some sticks - it isn’t exactly a reason-based endeavour.  Mix in a healthy dose of national pride and you can justify just about anything.  

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4 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

Let’s not pretend that we are burdened by rationality or consistency when it comes to dual nationals.  We all get ridiculously excited to watch 11 guys kick a balloon between some sticks - it isn’t exactly a reason-based endeavour.  Mix in a healthy dose of national pride and you can justify just about anything.  

This!

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18 hours ago, Approve My Account Pls said:

Let's get stupidly into the semantics here: 

Tomori had a "Great time AWAY with Canada" and was "buzzing to get my first international goal" while Smith was "Fier d’avoir représenté mon pays" or "Proud to represent MY country"

 Justin Smith seemingly identifies with being Canadian and is comfortable claiming that publicly while Fikayo goes out of his way to remain neutral and as a player for Canada but chooses to not identify as Canadian.

Very astute. 

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  • 1 month later...

Is this guy the real deal? From what I’ve seen he seems pretty committed to play for Canada and if he starts getting first team next season herdman would call him in immediately due to our lack of CB depth and the odds he even ever plays for France are little to none. but the importance of a solid top 5 league European CB to Canada in the future could be crucial so, could he be the man? Also when do we expect him to start getting first team minutes, next year, the year after that?

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 Hard to tell. He apparently impressed and featured pre-season for Nice and looked poised to break through but wasn't given the opportunity all year. Good sign he has been in the squad and on the bench a bit but wasn't chosen for the last 15 games of the season. He did feature for the reserves though. 

Looking forward to seeing him in the U20 tournament.  Big pre-season ahead for him after. 

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I think we're all hoping that. He's still very young so it seems promising that he's apparently so close to Nice's first team. He needs to physically develop still, so if he's that close to breaking through while not even physically mature yet, I think that says a lot about his skill level, awareness, positioning, etc.

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19 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

I'm not fully sure about the French system, but I think they should loan him out for minutes, like into Ligue 2, if they don't think he can get on the pitch for the first team. 

Anyone know how they tend to do it in France?

He seems to be stuck in that stage where he is almost good enough for the first team and thus they want to hold him as a bench player in case someone gets injured and they need an emergency sub.  Better than that and he is in the mix for first team minutes.  Worse than that and they loan him out because they know he isn’t even making the bench for the first team.  At different times, both Jebbison and Corbeanu seemed to be in this sort of situation.   It is a tough spot but considering his age and the quality of guys he is playing with, it isn’t intolerable over the short term.  But hopefully he gets a more settled role(one way of the other) next season.  

Edited by dyslexic nam
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31 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

He seems to be stuck in that stage where he is almost good enough for the first team and thus they want to hold him as a bench player in case someone gets injured and they need an emergency sub.  Better than that and he is in the mix for first team minutes.  Worse than that and they loan him out because they know he isn’t even making the bench for the first team.  At different times, both Jebbison and Corbeanu seemed to be in this sort of situation.   It is a tough spot but considering his age and the quality of guys he is playing with, it isn’t intolerable over the short term.  But hopefully he gets a more settled role(one way of the other) next season.  

Unfortunately it usually takes one players injury for a bench player to get his big break on stage.  If that injury doesn't come, you might not get that chance for a year or two, and those years are crucial to development.

Davies, Tomori, and pretty much every pro made it this way.  No coach i've ever seen pencils in a 19 year old with no pro experience as their forecasted starter at the beginning of a season.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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