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View Full Version : Alex Pena called up to Uruguay U17



Greatest Ripoff
11-15-2014, 11:12 AM
TFC academy player who has previously represented Canada has been called into a Uruguay camp. How long till he jumps ship from Toronto?

RealG-TFC
11-15-2014, 02:00 PM
TFC academy player who has previously represented Canada has been called into a Uruguay camp. How long till he jumps ship from Toronto?

Not necessarily imminent. Didn't Burgos go train with Chile but he's now committed to Canada. Who knows if he's even good enough to continue with them, there's more people in the GTA then the entirety of Uruguay so maybe they are just looking for bodies. Can't blame someone for taking up an invitation to World Cup winning nation. If I was going to York and suddenly got offered a chance to go to Oxford I'd at the very least consider it.

shwade
11-15-2014, 02:05 PM
Not necessarily imminent. Didn't Burgos go train with Chile but he's now committed to Canada. Who knows if he's even good enough to continue with them, there's more people in the GTA then the entirety of Uruguay so maybe they are just looking for bodies. Can't blame someone for taking up an invitation to World Cup winning nation. If I was going to York and suddenly got offered a chance to go to Oxford I'd at the very least consider it.

Uh this isn't him training with a domestic club in Uruguay so your analogy doesn't hold. If you were living in Canada and had the chance to move to Switzerland (or whatever country you consider better than Canada) that would be a more apt comparison. And that would be your choice to up and leave the country the country that welcomed you but let's call a spade a spade - it would make you an ungrateful opportunist if you (Pena) were to take up that offer.

RealG-TFC
11-15-2014, 02:25 PM
It's just an analogy (Opportunity A > Opportunity B).

To call someone doing that an ungrateful opportunist it pretty much opening a whole can of worms concerning identity, nationality, and citizenship. I think people forget that this is ultimately about FOOTBALL. One does not win the World Cup for being the "best" nation or for being the most democratic nation or the one with the highest HDI or the best Gini coefficient. The world cup is a sporting competition that is won by a sports team. Pure and simple. Whats tricky about it is that nationalist bs gets tossed in there because the teams are 'representing' sovereign nations.

Why isn't anyone upset about how cubs that seemingly represent a city or a neigbourhood no longer employ solely players from that precise city/neighbourhood? That's how it used to be back in the day.

RealG-TFC
11-15-2014, 02:28 PM
Forget the idea that it is a time 'when the world comes together blah blah blah'. National teams are simply football clubs on a macro scale and with FIFA being their league. In the end its all about $$$.

TFC07
11-15-2014, 03:20 PM
I believe TFC has a policy that these kids sign where they're committed to Canadian men/youth teams. So I wonder if TFC will kick Pena out of their academy that he decided to trial with Uruguay Under 17 team.

flamehawk
11-15-2014, 03:26 PM
I believe TFC has a policy that these kids sign where they're committed to Canadian men/youth teams. So I wonder if TFC will kick Pena out of their academy that he decided to trial with Uruguay Under 17 team.

I thought the commitment was to TFC and not the nat team, but I may be wrong.

TFC07
11-15-2014, 03:30 PM
I thought the commitment was to TFC and not the nat team, but I may be wrong.

Well back in the good old days, Paul B discuss about creating letter of intent which included commitment for national team. I guess Paul B and co didn't want to waste their resources on players who aren't committed to Canada (which make sense, since TFC takes pride of being Canadian club).

So who knows now with current TFC FO if they will follow through policy.