Poaching Players

[ChrisE]

In light of the continuing debate about whether the USA really 'produced' Adu, I thought it would be interesting to make a list of prominent players poached by other nations. This list is by no means intended to be definitive, and I'm interpreting poaching very broadly, so please feel free to add.

USA: Adu (Ghana), obviously. Mastroeni (Argentina), Preki (Yugoslavia), Earnie Stewart (Netherlands), Regis (France).

England: Owen Hargreaves (Canada)

Germany: Miroslav Klose (Poland), Gerald Asamoah (Ghana), Mustafa Dogon, Mehmet Scholl, Mahmut Yilmaz (Turkey)

France: Patrick Vieira (Senegal), Lilian Thuram (are Guadeloupe an independent team?), Marcel Desailly (Ghana)

Poland: Emmanuell Olisadebe (Nigeria)

Italy: Christian Vieri (Australia)

Sweden: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Bosnia)

Portugal: Deco (Brazil)

Turkey: Yildiray Basturk (Germany), Ilhan Mansiz (Germany)

[Ombak]

How do you define poaching in the first place? (Yes - I know you said broadly, but then, what's the point of the list?)

Why are Mastroeini and Adu "poached"?

Did they play any organized ball in their "home" countries? How can a player who moves to the USA at 8 years old because his mother won an immigration lottery be considered "poached" by the national team?

I'm not familiar with all the other players on the list (as far as nationality controversies go) but wouldn't be surprised if some are similar cases.

[steve hog]

Ryan Giggs could of (should of) played for England, and Owen for Wales. I dont think its a good idea to dwell on things like this though. Many Irish, Scottish and Welsh players have been English but with some kind of relation that allows them to represent another one of the home nations. Who cares though? A player opts to play for a country and thats the end of it, get on with it!

[ChrisE]

Originally posted by Ombak
How do you define poaching in the first place? (Yes - I know you said broadly, but then, what's the point of the list?)

Why are Mastroeini and Adu "poached"?

Did they play any organized ball in their "home" countries? How can a player who moves to the USA at 8 years old because his mother won an immigration lottery be considered "poached" by the national team?

I'm not familiar with all the other players on the list (as far as nationality controversies go) but wouldn't be surprised if some are similar cases.

Maybe poached isn't a fair word, but it makes for a better title. :) Really, I was basically defining poaching a player as nationalizing a player who was not born or who did not grow up in your country. I included Adu because it seems very clear that a lot of people think he was poached (whether or not that is true, I don't care), and Maestroeni because he became a citizen of the U.S. as an adult. I was including all the americans I could think of because I didn't want to be accused of being biased, or somehow pointing the finger at another country. I think this is an interesting topic, and was hoping it could be discussed without recrimination.

Vieri is probably the most tenuous example of 'poaching' that I used. He was born in Italy and returned to Italy as a teenager, but spent his childhood and adolescence in Australia, as his father was involved with soccer there. His game really blossomed once he returned to Europe (I believe he may have played rugby in Australia), and had he stayed in Australia he may never have been any good. I included him because it's an interesting story, it's a very interesting 'what if' (Imagine Australia with Vieri at striker), and I wanted to keep the countries somewhat balanced.

[ChrisE]

Originally posted by steve hog
Ryan Giggs could of (should of) played for England, and Owen for Wales. I dont think its a good idea to dwell on things like this though. Many Irish, Scottish and Welsh players have been English but with some kind of relation that allows them to represent another one of the home nations. Who cares though? A player opts to play for a country and thats the end of it, get on with it!

I agree absolutely, get on with it. And now that we're getting on with it, I think it should be completely possible to discuss the subject without shouting or whining or whatever else usually comes with this topic.

I considered putting Giggs up there, but didn't have any idea about Owen. What is the deal, did he grow up in Wales, or are his parents Welsh? Did any Welsh ever hold out hope that he would join their team?

[steve hog]

How would you have known you know nothing. He grew up in Wales and could of played for them, there was a lot of bolloks coming from the Welsh about how he should "choose" them, but there was never gonna be any other option than "England." Legally he could of pted to play for that godforsaken nation. Hundreds of players in Britian are in this situation, as many of the Scottish Welsh and Irish teams are comprised as such. People like Steve Staunton who used to be a leader in the Irish team is English, Macteer etc. Happens all the time, who cares?