I think you can count on your hand the amount of times that’s ever come up. Players decline call ups all the time and its no issue at all. Ben White is a notorious recent example. No chance USSF causes an problems for Adams.
As Paul pointed out, the FA did it to Matip @ Liverpool in 2017 just to be safe. FIFA didn't have to threaten them, the FA took a precautionary measure to avoid stepping on FIFA's toes. That said, there is a growing resentment (PDF download warning) from the ECA (European Club Association... basically a union for the clubs in all of UEFA's top-flights) over FIFA attempting to expand the number & length of international windows in which competitive matches are played. It started in 2021 when CONMEBOL had their request to extend the September and October windows from 9 to 11 days in order to play 3 matches in the window. Between this and the player's resentment of FIFA not doing anything to stop schedule inflation, something’s gotta give. This Q&A is basically a guide to just how much of an obligation clubs have to respect callups during international windows, on the off chance the ECA endorses clubs ignoring international callups.
The FA has gone out of their way to say that they respect White’s desire to not be considered for selection. To my knowledge, he hasn’t been put on a roster that gets submitted to FIFA in accordance with the RSTP and refused to go.
It almost happened during the pandemic. The concern from the EPL side was the the South American players who would have gone would have been required to face a mandatory quarantine on their return. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/24/...-league-world-cup-qualifiers-coronavirus.html https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/58418702 https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/s...s-who-play-south-american-players-2021-09-10/ After players were not released in September 2021 FIFA was going to suspend them but a deal was worked out with the UK government for the next window to ease the quarantine requirements and FIFA backed down. I’ve never heard of anyone getting suspended for turning down a call up themselves though.
Exactly. If a player says "I'm not fully fit yet. I can't be sure I can manage the travel and a tournament's condensed intensity." he's never been suspended except by the MNT coach himself. And that kind of exchange, which is more common than is realized, is just about always behind closed doors anyway. .
This is what I was trying to say... in this situation, a callup as defined by FIFA's RSTP hasn't taken place. In the most famous case of a player being unable to play for their club during an international competition, the Cameroonian FA wrote to Liverpool to request Matip's release in accordance with the RSTP, and Liverpool said "uh... we thought he retired from international play". The problem was that Matip told FIFA he was retired, but did not tell the Cameroonian FA, leading to confusion that spooked Liverpool. When people say "Adams should've turned down the callup if Gregg wasn't ready to rest him", they're talking about a rare and super specific situation that Adams and Bournemouth would've had navigate carefully to avoid FIFA's scrutiny. Once USSF writes Bournemouth asking for TA's release, it's assumed that he's on the same page as the FA and is thus obligated to accept. As noted in the ECA's Q&A document, there was a commentary on the RSTP published by FIFA in 2004 (PDF download link) which laid out what a player should do if they do not wish to be called up during an international window:
The thing with Adams is he very much wants to play for the national team even when he’s still recovering. One of the podcasts for the Nations League Berhalter had originally suggested that he come just to be in camp and be around the team. And it was Adams who said if he’s coming to camp then he’s definitely playing.
That's because it hasn't happened. Onana was threatened with a ban if he didn't show up for Cameroon in January. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/andre-onana-manutd-afcon-ban-31572702
FIFA hasn't had to hand them out because there are like 4 levels of authority between them and a club, and the clubs are so risk averse that they tend to be safe and not sorry. No one actually "banned" Matip, Liverpool willingly held him out of a PL match and an FA cup match even though they were right about Matip's status, because the punishment from the FA could have resulted in Liverpool forfeiting those matches for fielding an ineligible player. It was the same in Onana's situation: no one threatened him with a ban, but ManU wouldn't have played him out of caution because clubs actually dislike forfeiting matches.
Hasn't Leon Bailey declined call-up's to the Jamaican NT? Don't remember him getting reprimanded on the club side? He was suspended from the NT (not that he cared since he declined call-ups).
This is becoming a problem of terminology: a “call up” in the legal sense (like, according to FIFA’s RSTP) means that a federation has written to a club requesting that a player be released for senior national team matches during an international window. Generally, by the time that has happened, the fed and the player have spoke about it and agreed to it. The Jamaican fed keeps asking Bailey, Bailey says no, so most likely, the fed isn’t writing his clubs requesting his release.
A pure hypothetical that makes Gregg Berhalter / USSF look like psychopaths for “forcing Tyler Adams to play” in the Copa, as though Tyler wasn’t champing at the bit to represent his country I think?
Mexico has had a few that didn't want to play for certain coaches. It seems to be a weird dance where the team doesn't want the player to retire from international duty and hope they come back so they don't call them in until they want to be called in.
A player can’t be forced. It’s entirely an unenforceable scenario as there ample excuses which cannot be proven either way. To borrow a phrase from Lampard, all you’d have to say is I have an awareness in my hamstring. Plus a NT won’t be calling a player who has made it clear via back channels they don’t want to play for the team.
99.9% of the time if a player wants to decline a national team call up for any reason the federation doesn't cause a stink. National team duty is viewed by basically every party, federations, coaches, players as an honor and voluntary act. Players getting sanctioned by FIFA for declining call ups is essentially not a real issue even if there are handful of examples like Joel Matip floating around. Certainly Tyler Adams nor any other USMNT player are in danger from USSF if they decide they don't want to play for the USMNT anymore or for a period of time.
Some background on club v country with England if you have an Athletic subscription. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/21...and-premier-league?source=user-shared-article
Your confidence here followed by the next 25 comments is pretty funny reading. True if and only if they formally retire.
Be as pedantic as you like. We both know national team play is entirely voluntary functionally speaking.
A player can retire from international football at any time. However, if he hasn't filled out the right forms and a team refuses to release him he faces a suspension from domestic games during and post international breaks. Without the threat of punishment most the top teams wouldn't release players for AFCON. They don't get compensated. In most cases, when it comes to friendlies and low profile tournaments arrangements are made amicably.