I am not going to bemoan Damani if he chooses (chose?) to go to this meaningless friendly over playing in our very, very important first game in NSF and prepping for the ultra-important Open Cup Championship. There are two motivating factors at work here for him. First, national pride. Any soccer player dreams of playing for their national team. Here is basically his first real chance. Second, exposure to further his career. Soccer is Damani's livelyhood. Exposure from playing in a match against such a high profile team, especially if he plays well, will do great things to promote his young professional career. I can't blame him if he goes for either of those reasons. From a standpoint of his loyalty to the team though, it is very questionable for him to leave at this juncture. If he goes he is going for completely selfish reasons. I wont blame him for that but I will be sad at that choice. I will gladly blame the Jamaican soccer federation for choosing such a crappy time to finally call him up. What awful timing! No matter how you look at it though, it realy sucks for the fire. Which is depressing.
Three things, don't forget the Supporters Shield, we can still pull it off. By the by, it was interesting to hear that Tyrone Marshall tried to convince Damani to get capped by the US instead.
I agree with you 100 percent. Damani would be a fool to miss out on this opportunity. No soccer player in their right mind would refuse an invitation to display their skills against a full strength Brazilian squad. Additionally, Carl Brown would be a big idiot if he did not extend an invitation to an in-form striker such as Ralph for a game like this. I wish him lots of luck and I am happy that I'll get a chance to see him play live for the first time.
And miss one and potentially two important club games from the team that pays his bills as a result. Stupid.
Ummm, I have to disagree with you here, it happens a lot, Brazilians (Gilberto for Arsenal come to mind) have had to fly out for friendlies (only these are commonly in Japan for $$$) for a midweek match and come back for a weekend match. Another example is the Argentina v. URA match in Italy about a month ago where players like Veron had to travel for a meaningless friendly in midweek and then come back and play for the weekend. (I understand England to Italy isn't US to England, but it isn't exactly a walk either...) Damani can't pass this opportunity up, he has a chance to be a special international player and a special club player, if you reject a call up you may not get another for a while. He'll be back for the USOC most likely, and he is missing a what will most likely be meaningless game with the East already in hand and the Supporters Shield drifting away to SJ. I personally am happy for Damani, and think people who question his loyalty to the team are not that bright....
I think people who equate a persons intelligence on whether not they agree with ones point of view are not very bright. But hey, that's just me. The supporters shield is still in reach. The division is still tight and it's very important to win the division outright. We have the chance to win the Open Cup on the 15th and any player is stronger on 5 days rest then they are on 3. The soldier field opener is going to draw a lot of fans, some of them new/prospective fans. Having our most exciting striker on the field is important. As I said before, you can't begrudge Damani for looking out for himself. It is everybodies personal responsibility to look out for themselves. But you can definately make a case for loyalty to the team. The scenerio being A) I go play for Jamaica so that I can fulfill a personal goal of playing for my country and get great exposure which can enhance my earning potential and possibly get me to Europe faster or B) I can respectfully decline and play some very important matches for the team that gave me the exposure that would afford me this oppurtinity in the first place. I can chose my team and my club fans over my own personal interest. To say Damani is unloyal because he decides to go is wrong, I would agree. But to say that deciding to stay wouldn't be a display of incredible loyalty is also incorrect. I think and wish that Damani would skip this meaningless (as far as match results) friendly and play some meaningful matches for us. If he doesn't I wont love him any less.
I never questioned Damani's loyalty, I questioned the audacity of jamaica to call him up during an important stretch for us which may/may not include the USOC final. They likely wouldn't have pulled a similar job on an English club with one of their players had the match been in the Americas, and if they had tried, they'd never have gotten away with it.
I strongly agree with you in this point, but it is the way the club v. country row currently is structured and FIFA seems content to let it run its course. But somehow I doubt Jamaica is particularly worried about our results in MLS. Well, to be a smartass right back, you are basing me not being very bright on not agreeing with my point of view, which is that someone's intellegence can be based on their point of view. But now this is getting confusing. I think we are largely looking at this the wrong way. Damaini looking out for himself? I honestly don't view international competition as such, if he were looking out for himself he would bypass the international scene to work on establishing himself and keeping himself fresh (see the actions of many players like Dwight Yorke). I view international competition as a sacrafice for your country, I'd bet Damani would want to stay here but he knows he has to play ball, if you reject a call up you might not see another one for a while (how are you doing Mr. Anelka?). Is it disapointing? Yes. Is it angering? Yes. But I think he will be back for the USOC final and the Fire can easily deal without him for one game. Anyway, I think I have hijacked this thread enough, I won't post again on it.
I have no idea of what any of that means. But then again, I'm not very bright. I don't think I'm looking at it the wrong way at all. I am basing my thoughts directly off of conversations I have had with Damani Ralph and people around him. As I've said a couple of times already playing for the national team does two things for Damni (in his eyes). First is to play for his country, second is to provide exposure for his professional career. It's pretty cut and dry. I just hope he plays well, doesn't get hurt and is fully ready for the most important game of the season so far which is on October 15th in New Jersey (so I've been told).
It's BS to call him up to a meaningless game in such a different time zone when his team normally plays in (roughly) our time zone. The trip back across the Atlantic can be a bitch. It's easier going from England to Rome by train, bus or plane than it is to go round trip to London from Chicago.