Football (Soccer) Thread

[Josquius]

Yeah, in the modern world internationals are becoming more and more akin to regular club football in a way. So many people legible for multiple nations, especially amongst the poor urban populations that produce such a huge chunk of top players.

Kind of ironic in a way as the old joke of Ireland and Wales being England B teams has really fell away in the past 30 years.
I was surprised to see on the BBC pre England - Wales one of their players answering his interview questions in Welsh.

OTOH, some other people remark a lot of these Moroccans were born or/and trained ( half or more) as footballers in Europe.

Data added:

Bounou - born in Canada (trained as a footballer in Morocco however)
El Kajoui - born in Spain
Hakimi - born in Spain
Mazraoui - born in the Netherlands
Saiss - born in France
Amrabat - born in the Netherlands
Ziyech - born in the Netherlands
Zarouri - born in Belgium
Chair - born in Belgium
Aboukhlal - born in the Netherlands
Amallah - Born in Belgium
Boufal - born in France
El Khnannous - born in Belgium
Cheddira - born in Italy.

That's 13 trained in Europe as footballers, who never played in a Morrocan club. Make of that what you will.

The story here is on the failure of these other nations to call them up.

[Zoupa]

OTOH, some other people remark a lot of these Moroccans were born or/and trained ( half or more) as footballers in Europe.

Data added:

Bounou - born in Canada (trained as a footballer in Morocco however)
El Kajoui - born in Spain
Hakimi - born in Spain
Mazraoui - born in the Netherlands
Saiss - born in France
Amrabat - born in the Netherlands
Ziyech - born in the Netherlands
Zarouri - born in Belgium
Chair - born in Belgium
Aboukhlal - born in the Netherlands
Amallah - Born in Belgium
Boufal - born in France
El Khnannous - born in Belgium
Cheddira - born in Italy.

That's 13 trained in Europe as footballers, who never played in a Morrocan club. Make of that what you will.

What do you make of it? I'm curious as to what your point is exactly.

Btw Thuram is born in Italy. Mandanda Zaire. Camavinga Angola.

Make of that what you will.

[The Larch]

That it doesn't matter, it never was about where you play professionally.

Yeah and personally I quite like it (but I would say that as an Ireland fan ).

I've read a few pieces in the last few years and countries with big diasporas have put a lot of thought - and in the case of Morocco investment in facilities - in how to attract diaspora talent. Those associations now have a real system in place to identify potentially eligible players young and a strategy in convincing them to pick for their team.

For some it will be because of a genuine sense that that's who they want to play for - Ziyech turning down the Netherlands. I believe it's also quite a big thing in, say, the Bosnian team and younger age categories of Croatian players.But for others it will also represent a better chance at getting picked internationally.

All I'll say is that Ireland would never leave Grealish on the bench until the 96th minute

Same for a few Croatian internationals, born in Germany and Austria, although some of them actually went back to Croatia at some point of their lives before starting their careers.

[Duque de Bragança]

OTOH, some other people remark a lot of these Moroccans were born or/and trained ( half or more) as footballers in Europe.

Data added:

Bounou - born in Canada (trained as a footballer in Morocco however)
El Kajoui - born in Spain
Hakimi - born in Spain
Mazraoui - born in the Netherlands
Saiss - born in France
Amrabat - born in the Netherlands
Ziyech - born in the Netherlands
Zarouri - born in Belgium
Chair - born in Belgium
Aboukhlal - born in the Netherlands
Amallah - Born in Belgium
Boufal - born in France
El Khnannous - born in Belgium
Cheddira - born in Italy.

That's 13 trained in Europe as footballers, who never played in a Morrocan club. Make of that what you will.

That it doesn't matter, it never was about where you play professionally.

Pour ceux qui veulent récupérer les victoires à des fins politiques, partisanes, chauvines, ça compte.
Sport national en France. Que ce soit le Maroc, le Portugal ou tout autre pays.

[Duque de Bragança]

OTOH, some other people remark a lot of these Moroccans were born or/and trained ( half or more) as footballers in Europe.

Data added:

Bounou - born in Canada (trained as a footballer in Morocco however)
El Kajoui - born in Spain
Hakimi - born in Spain
Mazraoui - born in the Netherlands
Saiss - born in France
Amrabat - born in the Netherlands
Ziyech - born in the Netherlands
Zarouri - born in Belgium
Chair - born in Belgium
Aboukhlal - born in the Netherlands
Amallah - Born in Belgium
Boufal - born in France
El Khnannous - born in Belgium
Cheddira - born in Italy.

That's 13 trained in Europe as footballers, who never played in a Morrocan club. Make of that what you will.

What do you make of it? I'm curious as to what your point is exactly.

Btw Thuram is born in Italy. Mandanda Zaire. Camavinga Angola.

Make of that what you will.

Lis ma réponse au Goupil Gris, et ne me fais pas dire ce que je n'ai pas dit.

Ce genre de récupérations est habituel en France, de rigueur même, mais on s'offusque si un autre pays le fait à l'encontre des Bleus.

[The Larch]

The story here is on the failure of these other nations to call them up.

Sometimes it's not as clear cut. The nations with good scouting networks may target some of these players agressively since they're quite young (for instance Achraf Hakimi has played for Morocco already at U-17), or can convince them to switch international allegiances before they become full internationals (Ziyech played for the Netherlands until U-23, and switched to Morocco after that).

[Duque de Bragança]

The story here is on the failure of these other nations to call them up.

Sometimes it's not as clear cut. The nations with good scouting networks may target some of these players agressively since they're quite young (for instance Achraf Hakimi has played for Morocco already at U-17), or can convince them to switch international allegiances before they become full internationals (Ziyech played for the Netherlands until U-23, and switched to Morocco after that).

That was the case for a former "Moroccan Portuguese" defender, Manuel da Costa in Morocco, Manuel Marouane da Costa in Portugal (mother's arabic surname only showing up in the Portuguese naming conventions. He was called sometimes by Scolari, but ended up playing for Morocco in 2014 since he was never called in the A Portuguese squad, unlike youth squads. Played vs Portugal in 2018 in Moscow during the World Cup.
Oh, and he was born in France. 

[The Larch]

The story here is on the failure of these other nations to call them up.

Sometimes it's not as clear cut. The nations with good scouting networks may target some of these players agressively since they're quite young (for instance Achraf Hakimi has played for Morocco already at U-17), or can convince them to switch international allegiances before they become full internationals (Ziyech played for the Netherlands until U-23, and switched to Morocco after that).

That was the case for a former "Moroccan Portuguese" defender, Manuel da Costa in Morocco, Manuel Marouane da Costa in Portugal (mother's arabic surname only showing up in the Portuguese naming conventions. He was called sometimes by Scolari, but ended up playing for Morocco in 2014 since he was never called in the A Portuguese squad, unlike youth squads. Played vs Portugal in 2018 in Moscow during the World Cup.
Oh, and he was born in France. 

In the past Spain would call some of those players with dual nationalities just to prevent them from switching, just in case, like Munir El Haddadi. He became a full international at 18, when he was starting to feature for Barcelona, and never called back again. He had to wait until regulations changed to switch to Morocco at 26.

[Duque de Bragança]

The story here is on the failure of these other nations to call them up.

Sometimes it's not as clear cut. The nations with good scouting networks may target some of these players agressively since they're quite young (for instance Achraf Hakimi has played for Morocco already at U-17), or can convince them to switch international allegiances before they become full internationals (Ziyech played for the Netherlands until U-23, and switched to Morocco after that).

That was the case for a former "Moroccan Portuguese" defender, Manuel da Costa in Morocco, Manuel Marouane da Costa in Portugal (mother's arabic surname only showing up in the Portuguese naming conventions. He was called sometimes by Scolari, but ended up playing for Morocco in 2014 since he was never called in the A Portuguese squad, unlike youth squads. Played vs Portugal in 2018 in Moscow during the World Cup.
Oh, and he was born in France. 

In the past Spain would call some of those players with dual nationalities just to prevent them from switching, just in case, like Munir El Haddadi. He became a full international at 18, when he was starting to feature for Barcelona, and never called back again. He had to wait until regulations changed to switch to Morocco at 26.

Yeah, I have heard of that case. Made FIFA change its laws.
Rumors accused Deschamps of doing the same.

[celedhring]

The story here is on the failure of these other nations to call them up.

Sometimes it's not as clear cut. The nations with good scouting networks may target some of these players agressively since they're quite young (for instance Achraf Hakimi has played for Morocco already at U-17), or can convince them to switch international allegiances before they become full internationals (Ziyech played for the Netherlands until U-23, and switched to Morocco after that).

That was the case for a former "Moroccan Portuguese" defender, Manuel da Costa in Morocco, Manuel Marouane da Costa in Portugal (mother's arabic surname only showing up in the Portuguese naming conventions. He was called sometimes by Scolari, but ended up playing for Morocco in 2014 since he was never called in the A Portuguese squad, unlike youth squads. Played vs Portugal in 2018 in Moscow during the World Cup.
Oh, and he was born in France. 

In the past Spain would call some of those players with dual nationalities just to prevent them from switching, just in case, like Munir El Haddadi. He became a full international at 18, when he was starting to feature for Barcelona, and never called back again. He had to wait until regulations changed to switch to Morocco at 26.

Moriba did the same, although he was never fully capped. But yeah, when the choice is having just single digit caps for a "big" nation or becoming a regular for a "smaller" nation, many players prefer the second, particularly if they still feel culturally attached to the second nation.

[Duque de Bragança]

The story here is on the failure of these other nations to call them up.

Sometimes it's not as clear cut. The nations with good scouting networks may target some of these players agressively since they're quite young (for instance Achraf Hakimi has played for Morocco already at U-17), or can convince them to switch international allegiances before they become full internationals (Ziyech played for the Netherlands until U-23, and switched to Morocco after that).

That was the case for a former "Moroccan Portuguese" defender, Manuel da Costa in Morocco, Manuel Marouane da Costa in Portugal (mother's arabic surname only showing up in the Portuguese naming conventions. He was called sometimes by Scolari, but ended up playing for Morocco in 2014 since he was never called in the A Portuguese squad, unlike youth squads. Played vs Portugal in 2018 in Moscow during the World Cup.
Oh, and he was born in France. 

In the past Spain would call some of those players with dual nationalities just to prevent them from switching, just in case, like Munir El Haddadi. He became a full international at 18, when he was starting to feature for Barcelona, and never called back again. He had to wait until regulations changed to switch to Morocco at 26.

Moriba did the same, although he was never fully capped. But yeah, when the choice is having just single digit caps for a "big" nation or becoming a regular for a "smaller" nation, many players prefer the second, particularly if they still feel culturally attached to the second nation.

Things are a bit more complicated for "Africans" with the continental tournament every two years, instead of four, in the middle of the season most of the time, i.e less interesting for clubs (partially offset by the higher "international" value, otherwise, that's pretty much spot on.

[Valmy]

Ok let's wait until Morocco actually wins before we start making up excuses why they won eh? France still has a shot.

[Duque de Bragança]

Ok let's wait until Morocco actually wins before we start making up excuses why they won eh? France still has a shot.

Happened in 2016
But political or chauvinist uses just need a good tournament, not only a final victory.
France obviously the favorite, by far. That Saïss can't play on a leg for two games, for instance.

[HVC]

Let's go croatia!



Despite your racist fans.

[The Larch]

Let's go croatia!

Despite your racist fans.

The team itself doesn't have a great track record either...

Jasmin Mujanović @JasminMuj

Croatian players celebrating their WC run by singing songs from neo-fascist crooner Thompson, which explicitly make reference to the criminal "Herceg-Bosna" regime in wartime Bosnia, whose entire senior leadership was convicted of crimes against humanity.

https://twitter.com/JasminMuj/status/1602341106498170895?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw