Zac McGraw

[toontownman]

6'4 yeah!

At 25 he is yet to hit his peak but is also not hugely likely to take off and be the CB answer to our prayers. Certainly looks like a decent depth piece though potentially.

 

[Bigandy]

This is great news but of course hes a leftie!!

Fifa 23 lists him as right footed. Can anyone confirm?

Edited June 1, 2023 by Bigandy

[Kent]

2 hours ago, Norrin Radd said:

 

 

How was he missed until now?

66cm seems a bit too short to be a CB.

[matthew]

He usually plays on the left for Portland, but I think McGraw is naturally more right-footed. His CB partner Zuparic is right-footed as well, so that's probably why McGraw is on the other side. Looking forward to paying more attention to him now though.

[Bigandy]

10 minutes ago, matthew said:

He usually plays on the left for Portland, but I think McGraw is naturally more right-footed. His CB partner Zuparic is right-footed as well, so that's probably why McGraw is on the other side. Looking forward to paying more attention to him now though.

Thanks.  Do you know if hes forced on the left or if hes more comfortable on the left like van dijk, hiebert, de ligt even though hes right footed.  

[Markoaleks]

I love a surprise "cap tie"- this guy is my new favourite player as of today, though I had not heard of him till today either 😀 still recall taking the train to BMO and the surprise of an Ugbo cap tie before a match too

We V's need a name for these events - I can't think of one

[shermanator]

3 hours ago, PopePouri said:

I don't know. Zac McGraw is the one of the American names I've heard.

Zac McDoogle it is...

[MauditYvon]

3 hours ago, Norrin Radd said:

Apparently you don't require US citizenship to join their military. I remember some stories in the press, twenty years ago, about Canadian citizens who had joined the US army in order to fight in Iraq. The same was true back in the Vietnam era.

René Lévesque served for the US in WWII

[matthew]

52 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

Thanks.  Do you know if hes forced on the left or if hes more comfortable on the left like van dijk, hiebert, de ligt even though hes right footed.  

I'm not sure. I can tell you that the two goals he's scored with his feet in MLS were both with his right foot. For what that's worth. The other two were headers. I watch a lot of MLS, but I wasn't really paying too much specific attention to McGraw because I had no idea he was a dual-national. 

[VinceA]

In this comment thread, a Timbers fan mentions being in the army and not being allowed to have dual-citizenship. I assume the CSA knows this and it is not an issue for McGraw, otherwise that's quite an oversight.

[sose]

3 hours ago, shermanator said:

Zac McDoogle it is...

Canada has too many McDoogles .. that's why we have no trophies

[Pasta88]

No thank you. He has nothing to do with Canadian soccer.

If you want to cheer for players born and raised in the US, then I suggest cheering for the USMNT. Let’s keep the Canadian team Canadian.

[phresh]

7 minutes ago, Pasta88 said:

No thank you. He has nothing to do with Canadian soccer.

If you want to cheer for players born and raised in the US, then I suggest cheering for the USMNT. Let’s keep the Canadian team Canadian.

If a player is eligible and makes the team better, then I don’t see the problem. 

[SthMelbRed]

40 minutes ago, Pasta88 said:

No thank you. He has nothing to do with Canadian soccer.

If you want to cheer for players born and raised in the US, then I suggest cheering for the USMNT. Let’s keep the Canadian team Canadian.

If he's the son of at least one Canadian parent, he's eligible for Canadian citizenship and to represent Canada in official FIFA competition. From the looks of the ID shared above, his Canadian mother felt enough connection to sort out his Canadian nationality when he still a baby, so who are you to tell him he's not Canadian enough?

[SthMelbRed]

Is McGraw not just the American bastardisation of the Irish surname, McGrath?

[Pasta88]

30 minutes ago, SthMelbRed said:

If he's the son of at least one Canadian parent, he's eligible for Canadian citizenship and to represent Canada in official FIFA competition. From the looks of the ID shared above, his Canadian mother felt enough connection to sort out his Canadian nationality when he still a baby, so who are you to tell him he's not Canadian enough?

I’m not policing whether he feels Canadian or not. I don’t care what he feels because I think it’s irrelevant. If you grew up playing exclusively soccer in the US, then you’re American for soccer purposes and I’m not sure why we want American soccer products on our national team as it has little to nothing to do with Canadian soccer.

The FIFA eligibility rules are stupid so I also don’t care if he is eligible or not (I’d sure hope so if he is on the roster).

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

There was a reasonably famous Scottish footballer called Allan McGraw who played for a club called Morton that used to be in the top tier a lot but aren't as strong nowadays, so not sure why people seem to think this surname is some weird Americanism. Think it's more often Scottish than Irish originally. Even the Zac part might happen in a UK context these days because all kinds of weird and wonderful names have started to be used a lot in recent decades. Beyond that is it because this guy is American that people suddenly have a problem over using FIFA's eligibility rules to bolster the roster? Don't remember there being as much angst over Frank Sturing.

[Nate3322]

5 hours ago, Pasta88 said:

No thank you. He has nothing to do with Canadian soccer.

If you want to cheer for players born and raised in the US, then I suggest cheering for the USMNT. Let’s keep the Canadian team Canadian.

So why didn't you complain when we called up Arfield, Wotherspoon or Sturing. Where were you when we were trying to get Holmes and Solholm who had Canadian grandparents. What about Aidan Morris? Who cares if he was raised in the states he's a quality player who wants to play for us and has had Canadian citizenship (?) Since he was a kid.

[Macksam]

This is good, Moise B. and now this individual. A lot of people are clamoring for a world class CB but for that to happen, we need to build CB depth and this contributes to that. 

[El Hombre]

3 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

There was a reasonably famous Scottish footballer called Allan McGraw who played for a club called Morton that used to be in the top tier a lot but aren't as strong nowadays, so not sure why people seem to think this surname is some weird Americanism.

Why do you hate fun?

[Pasta88]

1 hour ago, Nate3322 said:

So why didn't you complain when we called up Arfield, Wotherspoon or Sturing. Where were you when we were trying to get Holmes and Solholm who had Canadian grandparents. What about Aidan Morris? Who cares if he was raised in the states he's a quality player who wants to play for us and has had Canadian citizenship (?) Since he was a kid.

I didn’t post here then or I would have. I didn’t/don’t want any of them on the national team.

I’m fine with Ugbo/Eustáquio types because although they left Canada quite young, they at least lived here for a few years at a soccer playing age (i.e I wanted no part of Tomori though).

I want a team full of Canadian trained players since to me that is the entire point of international soccer. Our Qatar WC team was pretty damn close to that thankfully. I don’t want a bunch of players who never have even played the sport in our country, no matter how much they help us win. Others can disagree of course.

[VinceA]

52 minutes ago, Pasta88 said:

I didn’t post here then or I would have. I didn’t/don’t want any of them on the national team.

I’m fine with Ugbo/Eustáquio types because although they left Canada quite young, they at least lived here for a few years at a soccer playing age (i.e I wanted no part of Tomori though).

I want a team full of Canadian trained players since to me that is the entire point of international soccer. Our Qatar WC team was pretty damn close to that thankfully. I don’t want a bunch of players who never have even played the sport in our country, no matter how much they help us win. Others can disagree of course.

 

[Jack1997]

1 hour ago, Macksam said:

This is good, Moise B. and now this individual. A lot of people are clamoring for a world class CB but for that to happen, we need to build CB depth and this contributes to that. 

Yea CB depth chart looks the best it’s ever been

Cornelius

Vitoria

Miller

Kennedy

McGraw?

Zator

Heibert 

Bombito

Mcnaugton

Waterman

Then you have a guy like AJ who can play there maybe even Tomori? (I know it’s not possible but just the thought makes me happy) and even our CB prospects like Campagana, Smith, Knight-Lebel and in my opinion the best of the bunch Stefanovic who has started every game in next pro as a 16 year old. With that group of guys one player on Davies, David, Buchanan, Kone, Eustaqio level at CB would really complete this team, it could’ve and maybe still could be Tomori but it seems very possible someone like Stefanovic or Smith will become that guy.

[blueseeka]

8 hours ago, Pasta88 said:

No thank you. He has nothing to do with Canadian soccer.

If you want to cheer for players born and raised in the US, then I suggest cheering for the USMNT. Let’s keep the Canadian team Canadian.

So dumb. Sure load up Team Canada with a bunch of CPL players and hope for a top 150 ranking.

 

Born with Canadian parents or grandparents (in my eyes) makes you Canadian. Who cares where they were raised, you don't just lose your citizenship cause pasta has joined the board

[Aird25]

136 players at Qatar represented countries other than the ones where they were born