Obviously I’d want him on board with the US for reasons besides financial, but I don’t have a problem with doing that in addition to building a solid organization. I like what Berhalter is building, but maybe the USMNT needs a bag man too
Here's that play by Efra against FC Dallas yesterday. That's former MLS Defender of the Year Matt Hedges that he nutmegs. Only a fantastic save by Gonzalez keeps it out. 👀 @efrain_alvarez1 pic.twitter.com/LVWji1GTZm— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) March 9, 2019
Any word on what's going on with Alvarez in LA? He looked good in 2 games early this year but I don't think he has played since then. Stats on LAG website show him playing 2 games out of 7? He looked good enough in the two games he played to be considered for more time so curious if he is injured or Zlatan decided there was a little too much hype around the young guy so time to sit him down for a while.
Makes sense. Didn't know if they had a 5 week camp recently. Hopefully he gets back in the first team lineup soon.
Would be solely to cap tie him and I don’t see the issue with that from a Mexico perspective (though I’m not huge on Efra’s long term potential). I want to do the same with Dest and Araujo for Nations League.
Yes, absolutely just to cap tie him but either way Efra always wanted to play for Mexico. Kept the US only as a second option. He will have his wish, if it pans out for him good, if not will at least he got his wish. Hopefully Belhalter calls in Dest, Mendez and Araujo to do the same in the upcoming Nations League. We will win some and lose some. We just can't have all of them. Space is limited.
That's what I mean. They talked him into switching and than all of a sudden they don't rate him anymore.
Would we? Not likely. The only guy I can think of that we didn’t get who would have made any real impact on the senior team is Rossi. Nearly all the ones we had to recruit never made much of an impact. So while I am interested in who plays for the USMNT, I’ve mostly stopped worrying too much about the allegiances of teenage soccer players.
I think this thinking is pretty narrow. Sometimes player's career could take trajectories that are much greater or much less than what we anticipate. Sometimes, certain players will fit into certain playing styles much better. Pick pretty much any player on the USA/Mexico team. If you had them play for the other, their international career (caps, callups, and general importance to the team) changes dramatically in a lot of instances. That being said, I understand why you have this view about capping young players and I tend to agree. The litmus test should be..... would we be capping them if they couldn't play for another national team? In the aftermath of not qualifying to the world cup, calling up young dual nats like Antonee Robinson, CCV, and Tim Weah... They pass that standard. I don't think Efrain passes that standard for either squad at the moment. Nor did Julian Green in 2014.
I mean, I’m all about capping young players. Hell, I’d cap ‘em all! I just wouldn’t do it just because of multiple citizenships and I don’t worry much anymore when Siebatcheau says no or the Dutch start talking about Dest. That’s not to say I don’t get aggravated by a guy like Araujo who has been involved in a recent youth World Cup but seemingly tries to play one side off the other in the media to get a senior opportunity. It smells of family involvement and as someone who has dealt with families of highly recruited basketball players for years I hate it. I have four young kids with dual citizenship and I tell my wife that if any of them ever make it big in any international sport (maybe hot dog eating or the like) the only time I’d be overly tempted to meddle in their professional decisions would be to remind them they can’t ride two horses with one ass. Pick a horse and go.
And Rossi's allegiances were always clear. He never played for the US at any level, unlike Alvarez. [Subotic would have made an impact, but that's a really complicated ball of wax to unravel.] The truth is that none of the Mexican-American youth that chose Mexico over the US would have made a difference to our senior USMNT program. We freak out about the countless Edwin Lara and Alex Zendejas style dual nationals, but in the long run it hasn't mattered. Maybe Alvarez is the first, but I'm still highly skeptical. The number of Mexico-born American citizens with senior caps for the US and the number of American-born Mexican citizens with senior Mexico caps.................are both very modest numbers. The amount of emotional energy I've spent on the allegiances of youth Mexican-American dual nationals over the past 25 years has been a complete and total waste of time.
that efra interview honestly sounded just like the ones we are gnashing our teeth over in reverse. all these kids will accept full national team caps and the money they mean from whichever country offers first
I think that may be true for most Mexican-Americans, as there's probably not a major difference in opportunities offered by one vs the other. Boyd held out for USA because it's clearly a bigger opportunity than New Zealand. I would be surprised if Dest doesn't hold out a while for the Netherlands, for the same reason.
I mean if we are being completely honest.... Would you take Gio Reyna or Efrain Alvarez? Would you take Giancarlo Busio or Efrain Alvarez? I think the kid is mad talented and could end up being the best out of the three. But right now? Let everyone pick the program they are most comfortable with. I'm not going to hold a couple of U-15 caps against the kid. Committing at 17 to one program is more than admirable. We don't have the situation we used to where kids were taking slots up at Bradenton and then playing for other national teams. Efrain is a Galaxy player and the Galaxy only have a vested interest in putting the best product on the field. I've said it before and I'll say it here: When Mexico begins selecting a handful of players for their squad who were born in the United States, that means that we have reached a new level of success.