Robbie Findley Issues

I think it would be cruel to cap this guy simply because he may never get more than a few caps in his life for the USMNT. Let him go to T&T where he can at least exceed 5 caps. Even with our shallow depth at the forward spot I don't think Findley has shown enough to warrant a call-up to the U23s. I see Robbie Findley being nothing more than another Herculez Gomez.

 

And I believe Olympic qualifying now does not cap tie a player, so it may be of good service for all involved to do it.

 

You would be wrong.

 

I don't know, Sandon. I think at this point, other than playing in the Gold Cup, Confed Cup, World Cup or World Cup qualifier, we don't really know what cap-ties a player. The rules say Freddy is cap-tied, FIFA says he isn't. So I'm not sure it matters what those same rules say about Olympic qualifiers.

 

Please show me something that says playing in a qualifier for a FIFA-sanctioned world youth championship (U17, U20, U23) or said world championships DOESN'T cap-tie a player.

And, given that Findley is already 22, he can't take advantage of the "switch rule" for dual citizens.

This is pretty cut and dry.

 

So was the rule regarding Freddy.

 

I think it's pretty clear here-- he's over 21 and the rules are clear that's the age where things become permanent. Oly qualifiers are more certainly a FIFA event than a US-Canada friendly.

 

Let me be the first to admit I might be the victim of an urban legend. I had heard that as part of the ongoing fight of FIFA to marginalize the Olympic tournament they don't make much money from, they had decided to withdraw Olympic status as an official competition.


FIFA communicates so badly that they are particularly prone to this--for instance, so many of Blatter's pronouncements as 'rules' turn out to have no effect, such as the '18 team rule', that people are kind of in the dark about what official FIFA policy is.

 

i say call him up...he's a grown ass man. he can decide if he does or doesn't want to play for us.

 

http://www.fifa.com/tournaments/index.html

Check out the tournaments listed on FIFA's official site. Should end all discussion on this issue.