Comments on: England’s Left Side Answer

By: Martin Palazzotto

Martin Palazzotto — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 17:30:29 +0000

Pandora’s box has already been opened and, as Fab has noted, the Brazilians have all been let out. It is not just Brazilians, either. Africans, Turks and many others are being recruited and capped by foreign countries. I understand, too, that the World Cup is the biggest stage in football and the fans want to see the brightest stars competing. Still, as this trend continues to grow, the difference between international and club football becomes almost nonexistent.

By: Fabricio Presilli

Fabricio Presilli — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 20:09:41 +0000

Hey Geoff, for us is quite normal now. The first ones in this new era, played for Japan I think and it was rather unusual for us to consider a “change” in nationality. But now Brazilians are all over the place so is pretty regular for us. We believe that most of those players would not have the chance to be considered in the Seleção anyway. But some nations should consider a maximum of players not born in their country, because otherwise we may see teams with 5 or 6 Brazilians in their line up, and that is just not good for the game.

By: Geoff Edwards

Geoff Edwards — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:08:53 +0000

Fabricio, what do fans in Brazil think of Brazilian players who pledge their allegiance to other countries (in football terms at least). It seems that Brazilian players do it the most, do you know why that is?

“maybe that´s the final frontier to the Brits and the French, play football togheter”

Maybe then the Brits would actually win something!!

By: Fabricio

Fabricio — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:14:49 +0000

I agree with Steve on this one. All for open borders but not sure on how I would feel if they hired a coach of another nationality for the brazilian team, imagione an abroad player. It seems to me that those interactions between international players and their new countries are an indication of our times, more open to things and to different people, maybe that´s the final frontier to the Brits and the French, play football togheter.

By: Geoff Edwards

Geoff Edwards — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:03:38 +0000

Personally I’m not sure Beckham’s injury will have too great an impact. His dead ball skills will be missed but it wasn’t even sure he’d be on the plane to SA before his injury. I still think there are plenty of options on the right: Walcott, Wright-Phillips, Adam Johnson, David Bentley. James Milner and Ashley Young are also capable of playing on the right.

By: Ben Cohen

Ben Cohen — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:21:21 +0000

Not that I want to derail the discussion, but given Beckham’s injury, do you think the right side is in equal crisis?

By: Steve Atkinson

Steve Atkinson — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:38:04 +0000

It’s a sad indictment on our game that this is a viable option now isn’t it. As Geoff says if N’Zogbia was good enough to play for France then he would be playing for France. Is it good for us that they have better players than him so we get the opportunity to play him? The difference between France and England in footballing terms isn’t just the fantastic series of academies around the country, Clairefontaine is just one of five. It is the fact that the younger French players will move abroad in order to further their careers, get playing time and learn to play in new systems and interact with different cultures. Is this the first step to admitting we are forever going to be importing talent? I’m not sure where I fall on this one, I’m liberal enough to think borders should be open to all, but understand the importance of social pride and community spirit. It’s important to lots of people that English football doesn’t lose it’s identity, something we can only retain be developing talented players and coaches.

By: Geoff Edwards

Geoff Edwards — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:13:46 +0000

There would probably be a huge outcry from the likes of The Sun and The Daily Mail and their readers if someone like N’Zogbia was included.

Personally I’m a little confused on this issue. On the one hand I don’t see any reason why not. Other leading nations have done similar: Senna in Spain, Deco in Portugal, Cacau in Germany. On the other hand I think there’s a danger that players pledge their allegiance to other countries just because they can’t get a game for their own.