World Soccer - UK (2020-12)

Changing Sides

“What national teams can get

without a properly managed recruitment

department is the risk of young players

going to play for the country of say their

grandparents for the wrong reasons,

using the call-ups for a jolly up, and

costing the team’s time, money and

game time,” says former player agent

turned international head scout,

Faizal Khan.

Khan, who helped find Neil Danns,

Callum Harriott and Terell Ondaan for

his native Guyana andJodiJones for

Malta, broadly welcomes the move

but warns of a downside.

“It’s not necessarily a good thing

for the smaller nations, because if a

smaller nation has a top young star,

that youngster could potentially be

persuaded to stop playing for the

smaller nation in the hope of holding out

for a bigger nation, for example if they

have a professional contract overseas.”

Real Madrid striker Mariano Diaz

is a prime example of this. Diaz grew

up in Spain but made his debut for the

Dominican Republic – the country of his

mother – in a friendly against Haiti in

2013. He has not played for them since.
      In 2017, Spain’s then managerJulen
      Lopetegui said he was monitoring the
      striker, but no call-up has emerged and
      Diaz appears lost to international football
      in both Europe and the Caribbean.
      After finally loosening up the eligibility
      rules, FIFA will be hoping that these
      sorts of stories are exceptions rather
      than a burgeoning trend.

“I am in touch with several dual-
citizen players. They wanted to wait as
long as possible to play for the bigger
country but because of this rule they
can still play for the smaller country
early and then switch to the bigger
country afterwards if the chance
comes.”
Many countries with a colonial
heritage have already been mining
their diaspora. Cape Verde and
Guinea-Bissau qualified for continental
finals with players from former colonial
masters Portugal, while an influx of
UK-based players helped propel
Jamaica to the1998 World Cup finals.
But foreign players are not an
immediate panacea for success.
“You have to find that fine line,” says
Jacques Passy, the Mexican coach of
the Dominican Republic. “Playing in
a better league does not mean that
players will benefit the team. Not
having the right attitude can mean
the player brings a disadvantage.
“It becomes critically important
to understand which players have
the right mentality.”
Passy was previously coach of
St. Kitts & Nevis, whose UK-based
scout, Lincoln Moses, has unearthed
dozens of players, including West
Bromwich Albion’s Birmingham-born
midfielder Romaine Sawyers.
“I was on standby for England but it
was not really an option,” says Sawyers.
“I also qualify forJamaica and Costa
Rica through my grandparents, so if it’s
a decision over which one is likely to get
to the World Cup, then it’s Costa Rica.
St. Kitts was probably last, but I knew
what it meant to the family and it meant
the most. I’ve never regretted it once.”
Sawyers has had a positive impact
in his 26 caps, but some players do
not have the same feeling for the
land of their ancestors.

Brothers...Jerome and

Kevin-Prince Boateng

played against each

otheratBrazil2014

Any player aged below 21 and with

no more than three senior caps can

now switch nationality

Steve Menary

TEN PLAYERS

TO SWITCH

NATIONALITY

Alfredo Di Stefano

Argentina to Colombia,

Colombia to Spain

Christian Benteke

DR Congoto Belgium

Deco

Brazil to Portugal

Diego Costa

Brazil to Spain

Eusebio

Mozambique to Portugal

Ivan Rakitic

Switzerland to Croatia

Kevin-PrinceBoateng

Germany to Ghana

Miralem Pjanic

Luxembourg to

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Riyad Mahrez

France to Algeria

Wilfried Zaha

Ivory Coast to England,

England to Ivory Coast

Controversial...Diego

Costa switched from

Brazil to Spain ahead

of World Cup 2014

Tug-of-war...

Mariano Diaz