"Imported" or minority players on Asian Nat. Teams?

singapore's got a brazilian and a croat (i think) as their strikers.

 

You are correct; Singapore's starting strikers are Mirko Grabovac (Croatian) and Egmar Gonçalves (Brazilian). They also have an English defender (Dan Bennett).

Lebanon have three Brazilians (Jadir Morgenstern, Gilberto dos Santos, and Newton de Oliveira).

 

I dont know if you can refer to him as an "import" any more but Cullen David (David Cullen for those who prefer listing names in "European" order), a striker for the U-18 team is the first Japan national team member who has European ancestors but was born and raised as a Japanese citizen.

His father is from Ireland and his mother is Japanese. He was raised in Chiba and according to the NHK announcers, he doesnt like to give interviews to foreign reporters because he is ashamed of his poor English.

I think it is only a matter of time before an ethnic Korean or Chinese citizen of Japan becomes a national team member for Japan (rather than for Korea or China). There are already quite a few such players in the J.League now, and even more at the youth level. In fact during the recent high school championships, Takigawa Daini H.S. had two "Japanese" midfielders named Lee and Ko.

 

Singapore also got a few Indians and many Malaysians, but had not many from the Chinese majority as compared to population ratio.

I heard of a Korean with the Chinese team. I don't know about other minority. I will not be surprised if China had many Manchurians. Liaoning is the hotbed for Chinese soccer and it is part of Manchuria back in the old days. Since most Manchurians had assimilated into the Han majority, I won't be surprise if Liaoning Bird or Dalian Shide had a few Manchurians. All the Manchurians I know carried Han surnames.... spoke only Mandarin Chinese....

 

malaysia and singapore are multi-racial countries. it doesn't matter if you are chinese, indian, or malay. at the end of the day you are either malaysian or singaporean.

but i do agree with the ratio thing. it's quite funny how very little chinese players make to the malaysia or singapore national team.

 

Some of the Saudi NT players are of african, Yemen, or central asian origien. This is so since a lot of muslims that came to perform Hajj (pilgramig to makkah) stayed in the contry through out the years.

I only thought about this when u brought it up , so that would mean we don't think about it that much here in saudi.

 

Yes, i did notice for a long time that a few Saudi players are not of Arab descent. I know of a few Sudanese, right?

 

SB,

These players are born Saudi, they're not naturalized citizens. Please don't start the tired old (Najdis are "pure" arabs, everybody else are remnants of pilgrims) argument. The discussion here is about players who naturalized in order to play for a certain country.

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As to my opinion on naturalized players. I don't have a problem with them. Although having said that, there is a hint of cheating in naturalizing a player for the sole purpose of getting him to play for your team (The kind who's never been to that country before representing them in their national team).

 

For the sake of devil's advocate, I disagree with foreign players playing for another national team (but only in certain cases). In cases like the one Matsu mentioned, sure no problem. But I would definitely disagree with a Chinese player playing for Japan. The reasons for this are obvious, and I will not say anything further in case some trolls like Hamatachi try to start a fight.

 

The discussion is also about Minority players (read the topic thread), I mentioned these groups since they are minorities in saudi.

Sorry, but that argument came from u, not me. Please read the second paragraph of my previous post. He who has sand on his head...

 

As HiJazzy mentioned all the players in the Saudi NT (and other age groups) were Saudi born nationals.

One promenant example is saudi born striker Majed Abdullah, he is of Sudanese origin.

 

There was a player on the 1998 Korean World Cup roster named Jang Dae-il, who was half-British. I think he's lived his entire life as totally Korean though.

 

Maybe Im misunderstanding you or something, and if so I apopogise in advance, but why on earth would you have any objection to a Chinese player playing for Japan?????

Keep in mind that Japan's rules on naturalisation are very strict, so in order for him to play it would mean that he has to have lived in Japan for AT LEAST six years, and demonstrate proficiency in the language. For a person who meets those requirements, why would you object??? (unless this is some little emotional problem you have with him being of a particular race, rather than something "harmless" like Brazilian)

Different sport, but most people are aware that the player many people consider to be Japan's greatest baseball player ever, Sadaharu Oh, is ethnic Chinese. And yes, before anyone starts carping about it, I know very well that he faced severe prejudice for much of his career (probably no worse than Jackie Robinson, but hey, thats another story).

The point Im making is that today, Oh-san is viewed as a great sports hero, and an icon of **Japanese** baseball. Times have changed, and nowadays nobody gives a damn that he happens to have Chinese ancestry. Im sure that if Chen Xian-Tai, an ethnic Chinese who currently plays for Vissel Kobe's youth team, ever becomes a national team member, there would be very few objections from people in Japan. So tell me, what sort of beef do YOU have with it?????

 

To keep it simple and short - Japanese people don't like Chinese people. Constant tense relations with the two countries in the past prove this. Thus I don't think it's wise if a Chinese represents Japan in anything. Like you said about that baseball player you mentioned, he's experienced severe prejudice. Was all that prejudice and hate he had to endure worth it to finally become an icon of "Japanese" baseball? I don't think so. This is just my opinion. It's all up the the individual himself though. If Japan can afford to dish out a more lucrative deal, you know how the saying goes, money talks, ************************ walks.

 

No offence to Japanese people, but living in a country for AT LEAST 6 years isn't that long... and so many people can speak Japanese well, it wouldn't be that difficult to get Japanese citizenship.

 

Errrrrr. . . . in case you have never heard of Sadaharu Oh, that was more than 30 years ago. Nowadays the situation is completely different. This belief that Japanese people dont like Chinese people is no more accurate than to say that white people in the US dont like black people. There are some racists in japan, sure. But nowadays they dont dare display their feelings in public because the character of Japanese society has changed a great deal in the past 30 years.

Was it "worth it" for Jackie Robinson to go through the prejudice, so that black people in the US can now play baseball and be treated the same as any other American? Yes, in my opinion it was "Worth it"!!

Is it "Worth it" for ethnic Korean and Chinese people in Japan to try to get people to treat them the same as any other Japanese? Yes, I believe that it is "Worth it"!!! Any effort whatsoever that helps to eliminate prejudice and racial hatred in this world is "worth it"!!!

Sorry, I guess our perspectives on this will just have to differ. But based on the past history of this message board, alone, I think it is pretty obvious that Koreans and Chinese still have a lot more "issues" to deal with than Japanese, in terms of treating other people with respect, regardless of their race or ethnic background. From my own personal experience (and yes, Ive spent long periods as a "foreigner" in both Korea and China, as well as living as a "foreigner in Japan), Japan is miles ahead of its Asian neighbours in terms of dealing with and eliminating racial prejudice.

If you disagree, fine, thats your choice. But dont post it on this board. Take it to "free for all" or the rivalry boards. This isnt the place for that type of discussion.

Moderators please take note.

 

You have to take an examination, in order to gain citizenship of Japan.As for the examination, not only the examination of Japanese reading and writing but personal investigation is included.Many Kanji are contained in the examination of writing and it is a very difficult examination for the person born except Japan.The period takes in about one year.Although it does not become boast,the country where it is difficult to gain citizenship most in the world is said to be Japan.

 

It is very difficult to get Japanese citizenship .
The people who gained citizenship of Japan except Koreans and the Chinese has only 619 persons last year.

 

Last year, there was an article about one brazilian striker looking to acquire a Vietnamese citizenship.

http://www.soccernet.com/global/news/2002/0403/20020403vietnamstriker.html

And folks, let's leave the insults to the rivalry boards, thanks!

 

WOW I didn't know that!

No wonder he looked a bit different!

 

Korea's rules for naturalization are also strict. However, as far as I know, there are always exceptions...exceptions which exists everywhere on earth.

I believe Japan made an exception in the case of Alex even though he couldn't fully satisfy the requirements (or was it Lopes?). However, Alex was naturalized as he was deemed to be of a benefit to the nation. Korea has similar laws. If the country deems that the person is of a benefit to the nation, then exceptions can be made even if the person couldn't fully satisfy the requirements.

As for naturalizing and letting them play for the NT, I think the half-Irish half-Japanese kid born and raised in Japan has ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEM playing for Japan. I personally think it's the culture issue. The players thinks the country he lives is where he truly belong and where he feels truly comfortable, then that's where he should play for as that's where he's heart's at. But if a player naturalizes for the sake of his player career, then I'd say no.

 

I think you're thinking of Lopes for WC98. I was in Japan at the time, and I remember them rushing the process through.

As for ethnic minorities playing for the national team, it is a personal choice. It is also my personal choice to like or dislike someone for doing it. In case of ethnic Koreans in Japan, they have been there so long that many don't really identify themselves as Korean...and why should they. Koreans and Japanese are virtually indistinguishable from each other.