It looks like the CBF knows what's good for it: http://www.sport.es/es/noticias/barca/rafinha-convocado-con-seleccion-brasilena-sub20-1518263 Rafa will be promoted to Barca's first team full-time within the next two years. He should get some matches next year. Full list for camp: Porteros: Mateus Caldeira (Corinthians), Víctor Brasil (Coritiba) Defensas: Antonio Carlos (Corinthians), Gustavo Vernes (Santos), Luiz Eduardo (São Paulo), Wallace (Fluminense), Denner (Corinthians), Claudio Winck (Internacional) Medios: Lucas Silva (Cruzeiro), Joao Felipe (São Paulo), Misael (Grêmio), Thomaz (Flamengo), Rafinha (Barcelona), Cidinho (Botafogo), Adryan (Flamengo) Delanteros: Marco Junio (Fluminense), Taiberson (Atlético-PR) y Ademilson (São Paulo)
does that mean Rafinha is staying with Brazil and not Spain? Cidinho and Ademilson are some names that caught my eye.
I really missed Lucas Otávio in this list, I believe he will be our Xavi for years to come, but perhaps his physique is not up to par yet, and he is more of a U18 rather than U20.
i believe also that most of this team is made up of youth team players. lucas piazon has already been promoted to the chelsea senior team.
As Kluivert has said, his first choice has been Brazil for some time -- Thiago in an interview last year said so himself. I don't believe his participating in this tournament amounts to a binding switch of nationality. If this was a FIFA tournament, then yeah.
I thought nothing is binding until you play for a respected National Team is a tourney. So any friendlies and/or youth based teams do not count as a cap, and the player is still free to chose which country they want to represent.
there are 2 ways to be bound, i believe. one is if you play in a full FIFA tournament or qualifier - Thiago was not bound when he played for Spain in friendlies, but was bound, when he played in the Lichtenstein qualifier. the other is if you have already played for a youth team. then, you must petition FIFA to have a one-time switch in order to play for a different U20 team. from then on, you are bound. this happened most recently with Fabian Hurzeler of Germany/USA. But, he didnt file his papers in time, so he couldnt play for the US (although he still can). "Since he has played for Germany in official youth national team competitions, Hürzeler will need to file his one-time switch of federations with FIFA if he wants to play for the US in U20 qualifying or the U20 World Cup. He will not need to file the switch for the January U20 camp or to play in any friendlies.As for whether or not there would be other players in addition to Hürzeler and Zahavi that would switch national teams to play for the US, Rongen did offer a hint." This leads me to believe that Rafinha can still "test the waters" with Brazil, since the Mediterranean tournament is but a "friendly" tournament. But, he would need to file the "one-time switch" papers later this year if he wanted to play in any U20 qualifiers.
He isn't officially a Brazilian National Team player till he plays for the Senior team in a World Cup Qualifier or a FIFA Tourney like Confederations Cup, Copa America, or World Cup.
you can't just go back and forth between national teams at the youth level - that is, playing U17, U20 qualifiers or World Cups. that's why the "one-time switch" rule exists. i dont know if rafinha has even appeared at an official U17 or U19 FIFA/UEFA tournament/qualifier for Spain. but if he has, and then he opts to play for Brazil in a U20 qualifier for us, he's a Brazilian for good. that means he has to petition to FIFA for the switch. Which is exactly what's going on with German-American youth players who have been involved with Germany and now want to play for the American U20 team in official tournaments. They make the switch and they can never play for Germany again.
Rafa's been capped multiple times for Spain at the U17 and U19 levels. I can't remember in what capacity as far as official tournaments or qualifiers are concerned though. Of course, the advantage Brazil has in his case is that he was born in Sao Paulo and the family (DAD) wants him to play for Brazil. Rafinha made quite an impression when Brazil trained against the Barcelona youth team about a year or year and a half ago. If Brazil keeps him involved, he will represent the Selecao over La Furia. Simple as that.
You can only make that switch once! when it comes to the Senior Level.. Lets say I play for the Honduran U-17 and 19 sides then play for the Brazilian U-20 side... I can still play for Honduras Senior Team because I haven't been capped at the senior level in any FIFA sanctioned games/tournament. That 1 switch only works for the senior level, not for the youth level... Rafinha can play for Spain in 2 years if he's only been capped by Brazil at the U-20 level. heh.
i'm not sure. im just going by what the article i read said, and it said that once that Hurzeler guy switches to the USA youth team, he can never play for Germany again -- and that article specifically mentioned the youth teams and being tied to that country after the switch. either way, these rules are completely bogus anyways. FIFA basically let thiago motta play for italy when he played for brazil at a FIFA tournament (but they made the rule that since brazil was invited and they used a de facto U23 team, the caps didnt count).
Bojan stupidly picked Spain over Serbia before he was ready (a truly worthless qualifier against Armenia and now he's stuck for good with Spain). Look what happened to him. Not playing for Barca. And may not see the Spanish national team again for some time. There's a place for Rafinha if he develops at the appropriate pace.
It's hard to blame Bojan. The dude was young, had gotten into Barca's first team and was playing well enough to get a call from Spain. One would assume that quite a percentage of people in that position would say yes to Spain than "meh, I'm trying to have international career with Serbia". Agreed about Rafinha 100%.
Spain is the flavor of the last few years that's why many want to play for them and for barca. But prior to 2010 and euro 2008 they havent won anything but that's what happens when you are on top everybody wants to join you. []__[]
Spain is the flavor of the last few years that's why many want to play for them and for barca. But prior to 2010 and euro 2008 they havent won anything but that's what happens when you are on top everybody wants to join you. []__[]
I think you will find him quite useful. He's further along than Thiago was at this point. Physically, he's built more like Dad. He is more of an attacking player very adept in box arrival. He's got the rare physical and technical combination many young players lack.
depends. i believe there was another touted player -- i think his last name was Christiansen. Danish-Spanish and also played for Barcelona in the early to mid-nineties. he was tearing up Barcelona B, and Spain called him up to screw over Denmark. Mind you, Denmark had just won the Euro in 1992. He picked Spain. Was forced out of Barcelona like Bojan, and never played for Spain again. Spain is just more attractive a country, even when compared to a pretty good team like Denmark, and they were excellent back in the early 90s.
No doubt the potential is there. At least the traits that Thiago have more or less line up with our current strengths in midfield and the wing. But we don't have a Rafinha-type player. With that said, Spain intends to call Rafinha to their U19 qualifiers which are to take place in the end of April, I believe. So, Rafinha may have to decide now, but at least he can seek solace that any decision he makes won't be binding, at least for a few more months.
too bad Barcelona said no. They rejected the chance to let Rafinha go and play with Brazil in the Mediterranean Cup. O wellz.