Scenes on here if this ever happens to us. Marcho would need a defibrillator! Achraf Hakimi was born and raised in Spain and grew up in Real Madrid's academy.He just sent Spain out of the World Cup with a Panenka 🥶 pic.twitter.com/fkyA6tkkYW— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 6, 2022
We have Scotland next year in a friendly where it could happen there as there have a few English born players.
That wouldn’t be the same thing though, neither of those two were born in England, don’t think it’s the same as Hakimi And realistically they were always probably going to choose Germany.
While not the same the press would use an photo of either in an England shirt to say they were the one who got away. I think had either stayed in the UK and broke through in the Pl they might not have switched. Once they returned to Germany they were always going to.
There was an interview with Balogun the other week, certainly doesn't sound particularly commited to England considering he's talking about making a decision soon: He'll be a very tough one to keep hold of I think, the US will be in recruitment overdrive given striker is a big weak spot for them. Difficulty will be especially hard after he finishes up with the under 21's in the summer where he will no longer be within the system.
I think if he wants to play then the US would be the best option but he's recently talked about Nigeria. The Super Eagles have good competition in his position though.
Just seen a new interview with Kevin Kilbane on why he never wanted to represent England. I swear no one would remember this guy if he wasnt coming out making that same statement every 6 months.
Did he mention he got over a 100 caps for Ireland or that England under 21s called him up and he turned them down? He usually does..
Funnily enough, that did come up. He's never mentioned that before...... The guy speaks like he's Messi and that England were begging him.
Its all kicked off in the US camp about Gio Reyna. Might make more duels think twice from jioning them.
Don’t know whether you have come across an Irish channel called OTB on YouTube, but he is always on there. Anyway he was on there the other day and the worst thing was that the Irish presenter was being very fair on England and saying he doesn’t mind England winning, but Kilbane was retorting and talking about how much he wants France to win and that he never wants to see England win. Just a really weird bloke.
I don't know if it's just me, but he seems to have become more anti english since the declan rice situation. He never came out and said these things before. Like you said though, strange guy considering he was born and bred here and his kids are all english.
Guys like Kilbane and the other guy I can't remember right now that are really chippy about this, I think they were brought up in England probably by Irish nationalist parents that always told them that they're Irish and not English. Then they go and play for Ireland and you get a decent amount of Irish people saying they're not really Irish and 'plastic Paddys'. It makes them want to prove their allegiance all the time.
Absolutely this. I've said before that my Irish mum always says 'if you have to prove your Irishness, then you're not really irish'. P. S. I think you're thinking about Gary breen.
I think there's something a bit performative to Kilbane's anti-Englishness, as if he feels he has to constantly prove that he's Irish. Comparable to the Orange Order's desperate need to assert their Britishness in a way that looks slightly baffling to people from Britain itself. Not sure he's worth discussing though. It's his problem, not ours.
I used to play footy with his brother for a while and to be honest, you wouldn’t even have guessed he was Irish but then again, not sure the conversation ever really swayed that way to notice how patriotic he as to Ireland or maybe we did talk about it but I can’t recall as was about 20 years ago.
Maybe his brother feels differently to him.... Then again, he's never been asked to asert his Irishness on TV so maybe he doesn't feel the need to prove it as much as Kevin.
Balogun up to 10 league goals for the season, highest under 21 scorer in Europe this season. In addition only Neymar and mbappe have scored more in ligue 1. All this while playing for a fairly awful reims attack. US will be coming for him hard with their striker woes but he will be deserving of an England call up if he can keep this up till March.