I don't think I'll ever see a better example of "Well, that escalated quickly" than that 10 minute spell in the spurs/west ham game today. Yeesh.

If you live in England for five years it doesn't make you English.

The only people who should play for England are English people.

I hate people like that.

Junuzaj probably wants to play for Albania anyways.

aye

aye

Sad. That only further highlights the pretentiousness some (note the some, I know we have awesome, forward thinking English posters here) English people have towards their international squad - it's a squad of a bunch of world-class names, but they're not a powerhouse.

I understand its a tough pill to swallow having a domestic league that is, top to bottom, the strongest in the world, yet your national team is not a favorite for the wc or euros..but be serious.

I hate what I would call the Jack Charlton syndrome in International football.
I believe a player should play for the country he is a national of. None of this grandparents and parents shit. I have a British Passport (unfortunately there is no Scottish one), and I also have an Irish passport, but I firmly believe that I should only be allowed to play for Scotland. It's not that I am patriotic, I couldn't give a fuck about patriotism. I just think a person should only play for the team of his nationality.

I see where you are coming from and I don't like mercenaries in football. But if someone becomes a citizen of a new nation even if he wasn't born there I have no problem with it. Mario Balotelli and Panagiotis Kone are good examples. The only exception that bothers me is when they have represented their country on previous occasions -- like Diego Costa. He represented Brazil twice and now wants to play for Spain? That's a mercenary.

Jermaine Jones is my favorite international mercenary.

Especially because he wrecks shit on the field like an actual mercenary.

Though Aron Johannsson is moving up the list.

I'm completely with sirjock on this one. A player should have at least an identity to that nation. It's ridiculous that you should play for a nation because your grandmother was born there or because you lived in a country for a couple of years but still identify with the nation you grew up in.

International football serves absolutely no purpose if anyone with some loose tie to a nation can play for them and may as well been gotten rid of.

And how is this pretentiousness by the English btw? It's an opinion that's held byatt people in the game throughout the world. England are much more lax on who they allow to play for them than other countries.

I'm against the football mercenary as much as the next guy, but I have no problem with people acquiring dual citizenship and choosing which nation to represent. As long as their intentions are genuine it shouldn't be an issue.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bjkk411Mpc[/youtube]
posted already?

I agree with Pink. If someone moves to a certain country and they have adapted well enough to emotionally consider themselves of dual nationality then they're welcome to play for their adopted country. Admittedly, this does encounter a problem when certain players may choose to play for their adopted country on the basis that they're not good enough to play for their birth country (eg. Almunia).

i think that if you can get a birth on a national team because your skill set earns you that spot, then have at it.

singapore buys olympic athletes. not that anyone other than chinese people every notice that. and then there is hannah wilson who was raised in hong kong http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Wilson
Originally the IOC's policy would have barred Wilson from representing Hong Kong (she held a British passport, and being still a minor she could not renounce her British citizenship), which was a cause for distress throughout Hong Kong. She has since renounced her British citizenship to take up Chinese citizenship and a Hong Kong SAR passport in her pursuit to represent Hong Kong in swimming for at least the next decade.

http://www.rferl.org/content/athletes-s ... 45792.html passport switching for sport

Don't you think buying athletes makes a mockery out of international sports? There has to be a set of standards in place otherwise you are diluting the intent of international football and effectively reducing it to a form of club football by another name.