He's been in Europe for two years and there's no evidence that he's even been to Ireland and if he has, it hasn't been much or for long. His Irish connection comes from an "Irish-born grandfather," which sounds like a guy who'd have left Ireland as a child in the 40s or 50s and grew up in the US; contact would have been difficult and the motivation to do so would have diminished with subsequent generations. He'll surely have grown up dreaming of the Red, White and Blue rather than the Boys in Green. We're Plan B. The real use for his Ireland eligibility is the British WP IMO: only the richest clubs in Belgium can pay Championship-level wages and that won't vary according to which MNT he plays for.
Getting an Irish passport isn't just useful for his UK WP.. it helps open the door for a huge chunk of Europe as well. I will say this: I've spoke with Hines-Ike, he'll certainly answer the call if Ireland calls.
For sure, but I had Brexit in mind. Even if there's a hard(er) Brexit, Irish passport holders will still have freedom of movement, residence and employment in the UK under the 1924 Common Travel Area understanding. That's the UK government's stated position anyway. Mind you, if the Brexit is really hard we can expect Sterling to fall out of bed and stay there so there's that for his career plans
🎥Brendan Hines-Ike: "Blij deel uit te maken van deze kwalitatieve kern." 🔴⚪️#KVKStrongerTogether 💪 pic.twitter.com/iQ3tnMTtFg— KV Kortrijk (@kvkofficieel) September 11, 2018 Dude’s accent is, well...something else.
Back in the middle ages there were all sorts of stipulations governing the inheritance of aristocratic property - especially when the lack of a male heir meant a family name dying out and the inheritance passing back to the crown or on to the church - the combining of the two names was designed to make it a marriage of equal families. In the 90s there was a spike in the number of couples combining their surnames to create a double-barrel: doing so was supposed to ensure that the wife wouldn't lose her own identity through marriage. Which is where the Wright-Phillips brothers come from. Their father was ordinary Ian Wright. Nothing ordinary about Ian Wright's goal-scoring, mind
To our minds, yes. But in those days the mindset was quite different. Keeping the name going in some form could be the key to your eldest son owning 20% of, say, Derbyshire instead of 10%.
It's interesting that it's kinda popular in the UK (especially among footballers when so many come from working class backgrounds). Anyone know if that kinda thing is popular in Canada or Australia?
Given that Hines-Ike has gotten some run at RB and that Shaq Moore didn't look amazing against Mexico, I'm starting to think we should give Mr. KV Kortrijk Player of the Month a call up sometime this fall.
Don't get your hopes up. I think Reggie Cannon is the next to get a shot at the backup RB spot behind Yedlin. Hines-Ike filled in at RB but he's a central defender.
My guess? No. I think it will be at RB 1) Yedlin 2) Moore/Cannon And then in central defense: 1) Miazga, 2) Brooks 3) CCV 4) Parker/Long/EPB (a lot will be depending on the playoffs)
He seems like a reasonable candidate for the squad. Any insight as to why he might not be brought in? USSF just feel like these others are better options and Mr. Hines-Ike doesn't make the grade yet? He is only 23 and plays a position that peaks later... you'd think he would get a look. I'm not a Hines-Ike fanboy or anything. It just seems he is youngish and playing at a pretty good level and deserves an opportunity.
Having seen Kortrijk a few times this season (but Brendan only once), I can assure everyone that their other RB options are terrible. At least Hines-Ike is a decent defender and so can stanch the bleeding out there, even if he doesn't offer a great deal going forward. Kortrijk are a far cry from the team that just missed the championship playoffs last season. They're playing like a relegation side. That's not necessarily bad for Brendan: he's guaranteed PT and, since he's a defender, he's going to get practice. A whole lot of practice.
Appreciate the insight from @bshredder, and I'm not trying to pick an argument. Maybe Sarachan doesn't rate him, maybe he doesn't know about him, maybe Hines-Ike doesn't want a call up right now, who knows. But I'm always a little baffled in situations like this, where we have one solid option (who seemingly 98% of BS thinks is trash, btw) but fans are still happy to see us keep running out the same 1-2 gigantic question marks behind him, instead of wishing to see and evaluate as many fresh faces as possible. For my money, we should be taking a hard look at anyone with a US passport who's in form and getting minutes in a top-flight league.
People can feel whatever they want to about Sarachan, obviously. But the fact that he's not taking a look at as many fresh faces as possible is just wrong. There are always going to be more fresh faces, but Sarachan has essentially built an entire new team that is comprised of young players in their teens and early twenties. If Hines-Ike has a path into the USMNT, it's at central defense. He's an right back in the manner that Geoff Cameron is a right back (limited scope and a backup option). There are more natural right backs in the player pool. As it is right now, there are 3 central defenders that are clearly ahead of him (Brooks, Miazga, CCV), and he has to fight for that fourth spot. It wouldn't surprise me if Sarachan and/or the next USMNT coach started turning to U-23 Olympic options at deeper backup positions to help prepare that team.
All I'm saying is this: Assuming he's still in good form, it would cost us nothing to call him into camp for the November friendlies, which are in his neck of the woods. Just to see how he gels with the other guys. I hope we do it, even if he is in the 5-7 range on the CB depth chart. I just think of Bjorn Maars Johnsen. It would have been cool to be able to figure out if he could contribute to the USMNT in 2018, but we never got him in and now we'll never know. At minimum he seems like he would have been an adequate third striker on a roster for games that matter, especially given that options 1 and 2 aren't that clear at present anyway. I would really prefer not to be in the same position with Hines-Ike and Ireland in a few years if he ends up growing into a mid-table BL-quality defender who could be in the 3-5 range on our CB depth chart. As a fan base, we seem a lot more comfortable right now with projecting 16 year olds than 23 year olds. Not that it matters since we don't pick the rosters, but still. You have people on here wishcasting Efrain Alvarez into the number 10 shirt for 2022 and the kid can't drive yet and hasn't even committed to the US. Guys like Hines-Ike seem much more likely to be relevant. Which, if he continues to get better, is OK and we should, as fans, be OK with that. I feel like I've become the resident Brendan Hines-Ike stan and I don't even care about the guy that much. I would just like to see top-flight players in Europe get a look, not even necessarily a spot, just a look.
Mid 20's and under CB's better than BHI (imo): Brooks, Miazga, CCV, Parker, Long, Zimmerman, Glad, EPB, Trusty, (Durkin), etc. RB's better than BHI (imo): Yedlin, Lima, Cannon, (Adams), (Roldan), Rosenberry, Lennon, Moore, (Arriola), etc. I agree with the perspective that Sarachan should have cast a wider net in some areas, with cb being one. But BHI is in all likelihood a frog not a prince relative to the alternatives who we could catch instead. Yes, there is a cost, and that's it. The Bjorn Maars situation isn't analogous. CF and AW were much thinner positions for the US than CB and RB are now. And Bjorn has a lot more physical talent + flashes special technical ability. BHI is a physically mediocre jack-of-all trades akin to Parkhurst or MOF. Make decisions out of love and not fear. Everything exists on that continuum, as we learned from the teacher in Donnie Darko.
1) Beyond the first two CBs and and the first RB on your list, everyone you name is a lottery ticket whose development could easily plateau at sub-NT levels. No reason to assume any or all are going to be international caliber at this point. Hope, yes. Feel pretty good about the odds, in some cases? Sure. Assume, no. 2) There actually isn't a cost to not calling in most of those guys because they can't choose to play for another country 3) If we have to play someone out of position a game that matters, that's exactly when we're all going to wish we hadn't been so satisfied with the quality of the pool when we could have been growing it.
So we call in BHI now cuz fear of losing out, Europe, and in spite of not projecting well physically or instinctually. I've been familiar with BHI for quite a while. I picked him for my BS pseudo fantasy team a couple years ago because I thought he was underrated then. Now he's becoming overrated simply because he's gotten a promotion which I suggested he should have gotten. I've thought this is around his peak - sub elite lowlands level. That's not a regular national teamer at his position. You want to play BHI out of position too. You're suggesting he play at rb. As far as his main position, it's virtually unanimous that it's stronger than at any point in our history. Yes, we do lose out on not calling in better prospects, especially stateside. That's really what we saw a lot more than neglect of a couple European players like BMJ last cycle. Derailed prospective club careers (BHI has club mobility unlike MLS'ers). Talk about destroying depth. You have a finite amount of caps to award and time before big comps internationally. It's always a countdown. There are occasional players you can break general rules for. BHI is not one these players given his potential or lack there of.
you have obviously much more experience watching BHI than i do (i have none). but this is a guy who was named player of the month, man of the match, had 2 assists in 1 game for a team in beligum as a defender- most importantly, imo....he just signed with them! - to be able to waltz into a belgian team and pick up awards/recognition for his play....makes me seriously question whether your assessment of his ceiling is accurate. in my experience following players, the ones who have already maxed out dont usually make such an instant impact as he has.
He's a very confident guy and I think he elicits respect beyond his ability the way he communicates authoritatively on the field. But you watch him try to manage his own area and he can't thwart attacks that well due to mediocre physical ability and average instincts. He's confident on the ball, but again I think that's a partial optical illusion because he had a couple of bad giveaways I saw. Whoscored doesn't cover the Jupiler League, but they did for the Allsven last year, and he had a 6.87 rating. That's very average, in a worse league than MLS. Let's say he maximizes his ability. He's Time Ream. Ream also had a knack for making a good early impression. Would we have been a worse national team if he had ever been an option, let alone this cycle with the massive amount of cb quality relative to our stand that everyone who just about everybody that is paying attention has recognized?