Most people think he is a lock for Honduras but I think he should hold out for his citizenship then make a decsion. It will most likely be before 2014 World Cup, (I think the honduras paper said 2013). I don't see how playing for the under 20 team will help him, I am sure D.C. United will not let him go for the qualifiers anyway. I have read there not going to let Perry Kitchen go for the U.S. Hopefully he doesn't make a rush decsion.
yall are paranoid.. I don't see anything wrong with them. I think its the fact that he's rocking Honduran gear that has yall thinking his pictures are "suspect"
No he couldn't. He's not a citizen of the U.S. yet. Once you make any appearance with a national team, you can only switch to nations you had citizenship with at that time.
No he couldn't. That would only worked if he was eligible to play for the United States right now, which he is not.
Sandon is right on this one. There's a caveat to that you guys need to remember. Once he makes an appearance in an official FIFA "A" international...........he can't ever switch to the US. (because he's not eligible for the US. If he was, he could petition for a one-time switch a la Teal Bunbury) So if Najar plays in a friendly for Honduras at any level, it wouldn't cap-tie him. If he plays in the U20WC qualifying match, U20WC, Gold Cup match, etc. then he could never play for us.
And speaking of Teal Bunbury, it turned out that his FIFA switch hadn't been processed when he appeared for the US in South Africa. Clearly, friendlies have zero import in these matters.
You still have to submit the proper paperwork...............which, for instance El Salvador failed to do for Dustin Corea. But since the US' match with South Africa was a friendly, it didn't matter. If it had been a Gold Cup match, the US would have violated the rules. The modern USSF wouldn't mess something up so badly, though. In the past, these issues weren't as big of a deal. Joe Gaetjens, our hero of the 1950 World Cup, was never a US citizen in his entire life.
Yeah, I know the early days of the World Cup were a bit like the current World Baseball Classic (Arod played for the US and Dominican Republic in different tournaments). You might be right about Najar, but I can't find the actual rules anywhere.
Here ya go. In relevant part: 18 Change of Association 1. If a Player has more than one nationality, or if a Player acquires a new nationality, or if a Player is eligible to play for several representative teams due to nationality, he may, only once, request to change the Association for which he is eligible to play international matches to the Association of another country of which he holds nationality, subject to the following conditions: VII. ELIGIBILITY TO PLAY FOR REPRESENTATIVE TEAMS (a) He has not played a match (either in full or in part) in an offi cial competition at “A” international level for his current Association, and at the time of his fi rst full or partial appearance in an international match in an offi cial competition for his current Association, he already had the nationality of the representative team for which he wishes to play. (b) He is not permitted to play for his new Association in any competition in which he has already played for his previous Association. From: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/generic/01/29/85/71/fifastatuten2010_e.pdf
You and Sandon are both saying the right thing (approximately) for the wrong reasons. You're right that Najar could play a friendly for Honduras (at any classification) and still play for the U.S. in the future. FIFA's regulations are clear and consistent on the point that a friendly does not tie a player in any respect. You're wrong, though, that he could play in a non-"A" level official match. Because he's not currently eligible to play for the U.S., any cap-tieing match (that is, an official U-XX match) would eliminate the U.S. as a possibility for a future switch. CapeCodFutbol quoted the relevant section of the rule, but only highlighted one of the important parts. The other is, "at the time of his first full or partial appearance in an international match in an official competition for his current Association, he already had the nationality of the representative team for which he wishes to play."
yup. you pretty much need to be a dual-citizen at the time you played for one of the U-XX teams. look at many of the french-born african players now. they were dual citizens and could make the switch when they saw that they had no chance to "graduate" to the French senior level.
http://www.latribunadeportiva.hn/2011/03/11/sub-20-tras-la-gira-mexicana-se-incorporara-andy-najar/ soo... if this article has any ounce of truth to it... Andy Najar to represent Honduras. will participate with the U-20 team in Honduras when they take on Trinidad&Tobago before heading to neighbor country Guatemala for the U-20 WCQ..
I'm still waiting for a direct quote from Andy, or even better to see him on the field in a Honduras jersey.
Will believe it when I see him out in the starting lineups. If true...honestly, not as big a deal as it would seem. Andy's a talent for sure, but we've got a lot of midfielders at every level pushing for time. If he were a pure forward or LB, I'd be losing it. But as much as I hope Andy dons the shirt for the USMNT, I'm okay if he decides to play for Honduras.
Andy Najar will play for Honduras from Honduran papers is starting to seem to me like batboy from the News of the World.
The Honduran officials in that article say it's a done deal. He's gonna play for his country. His representative (Rongen relative) is trying to hold everything up by saying he's got a game on the 19th & blah, blah, blah... But it's over, Najar is Honduran after all.
Yes, and batboy just attacked five Honduran kids. I saw it in the papers. I'll believe it when I see it.
This is what's so strange about this saga. The kid isn't American. He's Honduran. He can either wait years for the US, or play for Honduras now. Who knows what could happen two years from now. He could get injured, and his career could be over. You've gotta strike while the iron is hot. Playing for Honduras..................as much as it pains me to say it, would be the absolute right choice on his part. It's not like Honduras is San Marino. They've qualified for the most recent U20WC, Olympics, and World Cup.