Was a last minute addition to the starting lineup today: Last minute wijziging: @BDejaegere valt af en wordt in de basiself vervangen door Kenny Saief. #GntRem— KAA Gent (@KAAGent) February 26, 2017 Out in the 64th: 64': wissel bij Gent: Kenny Saief UIT, Thibault De Smet IN #gntrem #jpl— KAA Gent (@KAAGent) February 26, 2017
Starts: 📋 Line-up KAA Gent vs Waasland-Beveren #wbegnt #jpl pic.twitter.com/Hf1oABDrDk— KAA Gent (@KAAGent) March 4, 2017
Starts against Genk: Line-ups #GntGnk #UEL pic.twitter.com/6KLFRuPAkR— KAA Gent (@KAAGent) March 9, 2017
Starts: 📋 Line-up KAA Gent vs @kvmechelen #gntkvm #jpl pic.twitter.com/Xa18jCQyk0— KAA Gent (@KAAGent) March 12, 2017
Here we go again... http://www.espnfc.com/blogs/64/post...ent-in-the-champions-league-and-europa-league GHENT, Belgium -- When Kenny Saief sustained an abdominal injury during warm-ups before KAA Gent's Belgian league match on Sunday, he was understandably frustrated. Gent has the second leg of a Europa League match scheduled for this Thursday, and the Belgian league's playoffs are a few weeks away. But Saief, a talented midfielder who was born in the United States, raised in Israel and is eligible to play for both countries' national teams, did find a lone positive in the situation. "From the international perspective, the timing might not be a bad thing," he said. Along those lines, the United States has scouted Saief -- they had a representative at one of the Europa League matches against Tottenham -- and the evaluators are also not necessarily convinced he is a significant upgrade over the other attacking midfielders on the roster (Arena has expressed an interest in seeing Fabian Johnson further up the field, while Christian Pulisic and Michael Bradley seem entrenched). Additionally, since U.S. Soccer, which declined to comment on Saief's situation, would have to shepherd Saief through the paperwork of a switch from Israeli-to-American registration with FIFA, it would have to be fairly certain that Saief could make an impact right away. At this point, it doesn't appear to have that level of certainty. The article leaves unsaid some of the internal US issues about bringing in players with an unclear connection to the US.
I missed this paragraph: "I hope I will get a call from the United States; let's be honest," he said. "The U.S. is a much bigger and better national team than the Israeli national team. They qualify for almost every World Cup, and it's a dream of every football player to play in the World Cup. So that is where I want to play. I'm just waiting." Dude, you might as well put together the paperwork. Call Arena and let him know you are filing the switch.
Wasn't he holding out for Israel and using the US media as leverage? Something changed I guessed. Agent doing a good job promoting him.
That seemed to be the case. He even promised his dying father that he would play for Israel. But he was irritated about the politics of not getting called up. Of course, the "fake American" issue inside the US team and some of its supporters could be a dangerous place to tread.
Arena should probably have a phone interview with Saief to help gauge if he's a good candidate for a Gold Cup callup. He seems ambitious and especially eager to play high-level international soccer, and talent wise somewhat intriguing. Gent is a pretty good team.
I have 0 problem with him being brought in. He good on a good team, he's young and he increases depth in the pool.
Well a lot more info in that article than we've ever had before. I do wonder if the "political" issues of representing Israel have anything to do with his being Druze. That could be what's between the lines here.
Could you give a little background? I'm a bit unfamiliar with this topic and I don't know much about where he's from.
There are Arab Israelis who play for Israel as well, so it seems odd to think that being Druze would be problematic. Maybe it's just a matter of not being in favor with the coaches and FA organization, and perhaps he didn't do his chances any good by publicly flirting with the US.