ponsaelius

This really is the craziest rule ever, however rules are rules so we must adhere to them I guess

No playmaker in the Cameroon side you say, erm...

To think the Japanese coach is aiming to reach the Semis

Japan to slip even further back into defence now.

It was mentioned earlier by Madras in reference to Alan Nielsen. Ahh apologies, I lost track of this debate after last night. I guess that one blew his mind though.

If you're British but born outside of the UK you have a choice to pick any one of the four nations. Maik Taylor was born to an English mother and German father in Germany but because he had a British passport he could pick any of the Home Nations to play for, hence why he ended up playing for Northern Ireland. How do you sit with that one Parky?

Lawrenson "Awwwwww". That was really strange and out of place.

Played there all season with Inter. Although then Cameroon don't have Milito, they should probably have him as CF.

Very annoying. Also happened throughout the Champions League aswell though. it's a given in this country that milan is ac milan and inter is inter milan. it's a bit like getting annoyed when they say PSV instead of PSV eindhoven. Inter is Inter and Milan is A.C. Milan whatever the country. If you referred to Inter as Milan to an Inter fan you'd probably get a nasty stare or a prompt slap. It's probably pedantic but it really winds me up that they always get it wrong.

Very annoying. Also happened throughout the Champions League aswell though.

Endo is supposedly Japan's best player, he would have moved abroad along time ago but he cannot obtain a work permit due to rare form of Hepatitus.

No need to apologise, World Cup talk is good. I don't know much about your team tbh but from the outset you could see a hammering was on the cards. It seems Verbeek is the opposite in managerial ability and tactical attitude to Guus Hiddink.

Yay, delighted Sociedad are back. That Nihat-Kovacevic partnership was when I first really started watching La Liga at all, they really should have won the league that year.

It's alright, within a couple of pages this political shit will be a memory and we'll be back to pictures of chicks in football shirts for good

Man, I really gotta go sleep.

I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult. Btw I'm only 3 nations! As for representing another country, every situation is different. You have Ozil tonight for example, born in Germany to Turkish parents, and he represents Germany. Now by contrast you have Podolski and Klose who are Polish but raised in Germany from very young ages. Now some families that emigrate retain their culture, by only speaking their mother tongue at home for example. Now if you live in Germany but spend all your free time speaking Turkish or Polish then you may still feel a strong connection to that part of your heritage, so the idea of representing them is not entirely alien, when you consider that one of those parents may want you to represent their birth country, it's not quite as bad as is made out. You then have people who move to a country later in life and become bonded to that country, like Liedson, Deco, or Pepe of Portugal, if you qualify as a citizen of a country you can't really stop them representing that country, as they may feel a connection towards it. The problem you have is being sure of the validity of their claim, the best examples of that are Guerrero of Poland and some of the middle eastern nations with Brazilians in their side, it's sad that players will cheapen themselves by clinging to any nationality just to experience a major tournament, but to claim that a player is incapable of gaining a bond with a nation outside of the one in which they were born is slightly naive. Compliment, probably. I think you nailed it when you said every situation is different, which is what I said on an earlier page as to their being a large grey area for the most part. The differences in the situations means that trying to pin it down to certain rulings will be unfair on alot of people. For example ruling it on birthplace is plain wrong imo because for the likes of Klose, Podolski and even Terry Butcher for England (although that's slightly different due to few cultural/family ties to a place like Singapore) they will more than likely have no connection to the country they were born in. But then pinning it down to purely citizenship reasons opens up doors to all these Brazilians latching on to any team they can after merely living in the country a couple of years. There's also alot of losers when it comes to people going with their heritage rather than their place of birth/home - it works both ways. For example the likes of Australia, USA and Switzerland have been repeatedly screwed over by players who live their lives in the countries who welcomed them (or their parents) with open arms, educated them, gave them job oppurtunities and allowed them to become the players they are through facilities and coaching - only for them players to then ditch that country at the last moment when the manager of their 'blood' nation rings them up asking if they want a game. The Serbs/Croats/.. are often the biggest culprits when it comes to this, which while you may think is down to strong allegiances to their 'bloodline' is more than likely purely so they can have a better chance of achieving. That's why players from Albania (Behrami) who have a poorer national team will often go for the better option in their host country and players from Serbia/Croatia (Kuzmanovic, Rakitic) who have better teams will choose their heritage. It's sad in this case when it comes down to furthering careers rather than making a real emotional decision. It's definitely a very touchy subject though, and will only become moreso with the loosening of borders. Good post. The thing about the fluid borders and all the extended families of Polish/Czech and other European origin is that it really will get to the point that if they really researched it the Germans could be picking a team from the whole of Europe. That is really what I'm trying to get at.... I latched onto that theory a couple of pages ago when Kaizero went overboard calling you racist, it's the integrity of the sport more than anything that is at concern. While it's nice to have a multi-cultural society it's also putting international sport at risk. International sport is built on the foundations of ultimately different cultures and peoples being pitted against each other and when countries ultimately have the freedom to as you put it 'pick from all across Europe' (and further, probably) then very basis of why international sporting competition occurs becomes completely pointless. What bothers people though is the attitude that these different nationalties should adhere to certain cultural and racial stereotypes, which is the point Kaizero was getting at.

I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult. Btw I'm only 3 nations! As for representing another country, every situation is different. You have Ozil tonight for example, born in Germany to Turkish parents, and he represents Germany. Now by contrast you have Podolski and Klose who are Polish but raised in Germany from very young ages. Now some families that emigrate retain their culture, by only speaking their mother tongue at home for example. Now if you live in Germany but spend all your free time speaking Turkish or Polish then you may still feel a strong connection to that part of your heritage, so the idea of representing them is not entirely alien, when you consider that one of those parents may want you to represent their birth country, it's not quite as bad as is made out. You then have people who move to a country later in life and become bonded to that country, like Liedson, Deco, or Pepe of Portugal, if you qualify as a citizen of a country you can't really stop them representing that country, as they may feel a connection towards it. The problem you have is being sure of the validity of their claim, the best examples of that are Guerrero of Poland and some of the middle eastern nations with Brazilians in their side, it's sad that players will cheapen themselves by clinging to any nationality just to experience a major tournament, but to claim that a player is incapable of gaining a bond with a nation outside of the one in which they were born is slightly naive. Compliment, probably. I think you nailed it when you said every situation is different, which is what I said on an earlier page as to their being a large grey area for the most part. The differences in the situations means that trying to pin it down to certain rulings will be unfair on alot of people. For example ruling it on birthplace is plain wrong imo because for the likes of Klose, Podolski and even Terry Butcher for England (although that's slightly different due to few cultural/family ties to a place like Singapore) they will more than likely have no connection to the country they were born in. But then pinning it down to purely citizenship reasons opens up doors to all these Brazilians latching on to any team they can after merely living in the country a couple of years. There's also alot of losers when it comes to people going with their heritage rather than their place of birth/home - it works both ways. For example the likes of Australia, USA and Switzerland have been repeatedly screwed over by players who live their lives in the countries who welcomed them (or their parents) with open arms, educated them, gave them job oppurtunities and allowed them to become the players they are through facilities and coaching - only for them players to then ditch that country at the last moment when the manager of their 'blood' nation rings them up asking if they want a game. The Serbs/Croats/.. are often the biggest culprits when it comes to this, which while you may think is down to strong allegiances to their 'bloodline' is more than likely purely so they can have a better chance of achieving. That's why players from Albania (Behrami) who have a poorer national team will often go for the better option in their host country and players from Serbia/Croatia (Kuzmanovic, Rakitic) who have better teams will choose their heritage. It's sad in this case when it comes down to furthering careers rather than making a real emotional decision. It's definitely a very touchy subject though, and will only become moreso with the loosening of borders.

Debate? It's just Parky being racist and throwing random insults around rather than trying to back up his viewpoint. Fail to see the racism tbh Might be the wrong word. Whatever it's called when you don't want anyone born anywhere else than your country representing your country, in whatever way. As long as they qualify through heritage it shouldn't matter where you are born.Cacau clearly has no Deutsch claret in him. As I've said, I'm against changing your nationality by the (in most countries) five year rule. I'm just not against people that have lived in a country for their entire life not being able to represent the country they want to, love, and identify themselves with because they weren't born there. Cacau and Tulio are the 2 worst offences imo. I thought you didn't mind parentage, I think Tulio is Japanese diaspora.

Now that's efficiency for you. Ends all debates about how German he is tbh. Ah..... '39,a big year for the Germans.And the Polish too for that matter. Ouch, that's a spot.

Now that's efficiency for you. Ends all debates about how German he is tbh.

Debate? It's just Parky being racist and throwing random insults around rather than trying to back up his viewpoint. I dunno like, I sort of see his concerns. It's over the integrity of the sport more than anything, I just think his logic is based on some views that could be classed as outdated. Calling him a Nazi/Racist is abit wide of the mark.

I'm actually waiting for Mr. United Nations himself Kezman catching wind of this debate.

Snap, nicee.

Aye but at the time Guadeloupe and New Caledonia weren't allowed into FIFA, being technically regions of a country rather than seperate nations alltogether. Didn't know that but anyway if you give the Germans an inch..... ...and they will take a mile blah blah. I just don't see the problem with the German team though. It's only Cacau that annoys me because he's playing for Germany as he wasn't good enough for Brazil. The rest of them are as German as the German born players. When players start being recruited late in life to gain an advantage that's when it becomes wrong, for example Qatar tried to pay one of their African players in their league a hefty amount of money to change his passport. Thankfully he had the honour to turn it down and he played for Kenya instead, but then there's South Americans there who see it as a new oppurtunity.

Aye but at the time Guadeloupe and New Caledonia weren't allowed into FIFA, being technically regions of a country rather than seperate nations alltogether.