The coming boom in multi-eligible player recruitment

You asked for it — and here it is. 🚨👀

HC Gerardo Martino has chosen his squad for our upcoming matches in the @Concacaf Qualifiers Road to Qatar 2022. 🔜🇯🇲🇨🇷🇵🇦#PasiónyOrgullo | #FMFporNuestroFútbol pic.twitter.com/CFWmibWyqC

— Mexican National Team (@miseleccionmxEN) August 27, 2021

 

El Paso is right on the border and is the smaller city in the EP / Jaurez international metro glob while SD is the bigger in their glob with Tijuana. Not sure how that affects the dynamic but feel it must somehow. El Paso is also physically in a different time zone than most of Texas and has a lot of kinship with New Mexico.

 

Agree. Just making the point that as far as having people that regularly cross the border, whether daily or every weekend, San Diego has the same thing. It will look different due to many different factors, including size of city but there are many people in SD that cross regularly. There is a group of people that live in TJ but work in SD. Some of them cross daily, some cross once a week (and stay with someone on this side of the border) and there are residents of San Diego that have family in TJ (like Pepi has family in Juarez), that cross regularly. As you say, those that live closest would be more likely to cross most often. I don't actually live in San Diego closer to LA but as you say, San Diego is a big area and depending on where you live it can take a long time just to get to the border, let alone wait in line to cross. LA is far enough away that I would be very surprised if any make the trip on a weekly basis, let alone daily.

Also, my wife is from Chihuahua and we have crossed from El Paso to Chihuahua to visit family. It is definitely an easier crossing than SD, so I am not arguing that at all.

 

And Oxnard is an hour north of LA. Crossing LA is a very unpleasnt task by itself. Might take an hour or four. You can't go back and forth on the same day, and even go for a weekend isn't that appealing. South San Diego - Chula Vista is different. Some TJ players live there.

 

I have no knowledge of Ochoa's spanish language skills, whether he is fluent or not, but it would not surprise me one way or the other.

 

.

I'd say you could cross LA in an hour pretty easily if you do it at 0300. (as opposed to 1500).

And that isn't even counting crossing from LA through OC.

 

Oh, no doubt, wasn't disagreeing. I remember talking to a waiter in downtown SD who said that a huge number of the wait staff across downton SD lived in TJ and carpooled up. Too pricey in the city now for someone making wait staff wages.

Just pointing out that El Paso - Juarez is pretty unique, even compared to Southern Cal. Of course, there are whole neighborhoods in Southern Cal that their own place as well -- a mix of Mexico and America in and of itself.

 

Julian Araujo received calls from both the USMNT and Mexico for the September World Cup qualifiers, but turned them both down. Araujo is waiting until October to make his decision.
(Via IG/somosselfuturo.usmnt) pic.twitter.com/peb7IcHDxU

— USMNT Universe (@UsmntU) August 28, 2021

 

Very true. Depending on where you are in LA, you might get confused about what side of the border you are on. I think it is true all over California, not just in LA. In the Central Valley, there is a huge Latino population and when you combine that with the farmworkers, it's even bigger. Even San Francisco has a large Latino population as do many other areas in the state.

I have only been through Mexicali and Calexico once but the dynamic there seems quite a bit different than SD/TJ. I would guess that every border area has it's own unique personality.

 

My favorite is the normal-looking street where houses on one side are in Québec and houses on the other are in Vermont.

 

I can see a bar in that neighborhood as being a great place to view the US vs Canada game!

 

Big implications for whether kids will grow up dreaming of playing for the Vermont National Maple Syrup Production Team, or want to play for the Québécois maple syrup goliath instead.

 

we don’t live near that border (la county) but our neighbors across the street have Canadian ties…father Canadian mother American. I can say that their kids, even though they don’t cross often are fluent in both languages. I can’t comment on their Canadian, but they speak American with absolutely no accent!

 

They didn't have a Spanish speaking kid named Landon by any chance?

 

Nah, no Spanish. They only speak American and Canadian.....

 

Robbie Robinson left Chile’s Camp.

Said he had a change of heart after one practice

 

There was a tweet from a Chilean reporter that Robinson's inability to speak Spanish was a problem for him.
[It didn't say it was a problem for the team, but for Robbie.]

 

robbie isnt here to aspirate any s sounds

 

Not that surprising honestly that a player from rural SC who doesn't speak Spanish and really nobody even knew was Chillean until a week ago would bail on their camp.

 

There's also a basic element of, if you are going to have a real role in the team is different than if you go to camp and maybe you aren't a top choice...

... the lure of Chile, I assume, was rooted a significant part in PT. If it suddenly didn't seem that likely, and you aren't loving the experience, I can see bailing on a cap tie.

 

Some of these Latino prospects don’t speak Spanish well enough that they are comfortable with a team full of native-born speakers. It’s absolutely a factor for some with the decision they end up making.

 

Nothing concrete, but he wasn't even really playing regularly due to injuries and mental health issues for his entire pro career and then had a real nice string of games for about 6ish weeks prior to the camp and was called in, so I would assume it was fairly rushed.

All the stories of his connection to his Chillean heritage where like he wore an Sanchez jersey in an Instagram photo at age 15 and beat Tanner Dieterich with Chile in a game of FIFA.

Situation screamed fish out of water

 

It's absolutely an issue. There are many Latinos (not just soccer players) that don't completely feel like they fit in with Mexican born Mexicans (or El Salvadr born Salvadrenos) but at the same time don't feel that they are fully accepted by the US. Furthermore, it is not limited to Latinos. You see it in many segments of our society and it is not limited to immigrants. We are a social species; acceptance and a feeling of belonging is important.