If he prefers Croatia to us, then he'll never be a Nat. Even if you think Croatia is better than us, they aren't so much better than us that they would not even give him a sniff if we were willing to push for him to make a switch. That's okay - wish him luck.
One positive we have on our side is guys like JAB, Fab, & JJ that could make the transition easier for him. I can't imagine he'd feel that uncomfortable with other Germans around as opposed to Croatians.
i I agree that's likely what would've happened and if I had to take a guess I would say he'll never wear a U.S. kit but the fact is we just don't know. I was originally just trying to illustrate why we keep these threads going to dissuade the people (not you) who feel it necessary to post the obligatory "this guy's never going play for us, why bother discussing him?"
Toljan went 90 minutes yesterday in Hoffenheim's 3-1 away win at Hamburg: http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...cht_hamburger-sv-12_1899-hoffenheim-3209.html
Well, Croatia has a lot more talent across the board and ought to be playing in all of the major events. You can't buy this sort of exposure with the US. Plus, Klinsmann seems to love his MLS superstars. Anyway, 'tis was a game of errors. https://rutube.ru/video/ad35d7e4f3b9d18bb854652d352753ef/?ref=logo
You've entirely missed my point. My point was that if he's good enough that the US would be actively trying to sell him on the idea of swearing his allegience to the US, he's good enough that Croatia will take a flyer on him and ask him to do a one-time switch so he can play in a friendly to see how he does. And if he prefers Croatia to the United States, that's how it will play out. If he shows so little that when his agent calls up Croatia to see if there is any interest, they say no, he's probably not going to be a priority for the US anyway.
Went 90 minutes in a 2-1 win over Ingolstadt http://www.espnfc.us/gamecast/statistics/id/426840/statistics.html
Starts for Germany in the Olympics: #GER XI:Horn, Toljan, Klostermann, Ginter, Suele, S. Bender, Meyer, L. Bender, Selke, Goretzka, Brandt#Olympics— FIFA (@FIFAcom) August 4, 2016
The Germans looked really slow and unathletic compared to the Mexicans. Goretzka and Selke really looked like crap. Toljan actually looked OK on the right, with Julian Brandt shielding him and helping him double team Chukie Lozano. Then the idiot Mexican coach moved Lozano to the right flank and Klostermann did OK there one-on-one while Brandt and Toljan began to give Torres Nilo quite a bit of problems. Lozano may have made himself $20M today. He was the best player on the field. His cross preceding the second goal came from Tojan's side.
Starts again in the Olympics, against S. Korea: XI de Alemania ante Corea del Sur: Horn; Toljan, Ginter, Süle, Klostermann; S. Bender, L. Bender; Brandt, Meyer, Gnabry; Selke. #Rio2016— Mi Bundesliga (@mibundesliga) August 7, 2016
Olympic performances aren't going to move the needle very much from a $$ standpoint, not sure why you think that's the case. Agreed that he played very well though.
Twice he missed an easy goal by not one-timing it. I think that, more than anything, will have been noticed by potential suiters.
The German team has Ginter, the Benders, Goretzka, Brandt, Mayer, Gnabry and Selke among others. The last time the rumors swirled about the Bender brothers, their clubs were asking about $40M for them. Lozano may not be a finished product but his first step and feel for the game made him look like a star in waiting. The Olympics, as a competition, may not be a big deal but seeing someone next to an established, proven (albeit over-aged) talent is. There's an old story. When Garrincha was a 20 year old minor leaguer, he had a trial set up with Botafogo. As a right winger, he was given a chance to go one on one against a national team member and one of the greatest leftbacks in history (made Pele's 125 Greatest Players Ever list) Nilton Santos. Garrincha dribbled past Santos once. Then twice. Then three times. Santos walked over to the head coach and (allegedly) said, "If you don't sign this guy, he'll make me look like an idiot in real games, not practice". Sometimes, it's all it takes.
Question: do Olympic appearances cap tie a player, or could he theoretically still use his one time switch? I'm sure there's an answer somewhere on the Internet, but I'd rather defer the question to my BS buddies .
I'm sorry, but the way you worded this is confusing. Does this mean after you play in the Olympics you can use your one-time switch to play for another country?