Search: ' Under-17'

The rules which determine international eligibility must be looked into, argues Steve Menary

Equatorial Guinea’s run to the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations augurs badly for the credibility of future international tournaments. Only five players in the co-hosts’ squad were born in the country. Nine came from Spain, Equatorial Guinea’s former colonial rulers, but players such as Thierry Fidjeu and Narcisse Ekanga – the perpetrator of a shocking dive regularly revisited on YouTube – seemingly have no links to Equatorial Guinea at all.

Read more…

A controversial exit from Celtic has angered the Scottish club, but Graham Davidson asks if they have the right to feel aggrieved

It has never been unusual for Scottish players to move south at an early age. Denis Law and Billy Bremner never kicked a ball in club football at home, while more recently Darren Fletcher arrived in Manchester before he was a teenager. None of these moves, however, generated the publicity recently given to Islam Feruz’s decision to move from Celtic to Chelsea.

Read more…

Nick Dorrington on how footballers’ private lives are rich in gossip for sections of the Peruvian media, whether the stories are true are not

On the corner of every third street in every medium-sized Peruvian town people gather to stare intently at newsstands with an awe that suggests the advent of print press is still, to them, a new phenomenon. Very few of them ever buy the newspapers and magazines displayed; it is the headlines on the front and back pages that stick with them for the rest of the day.

Read more…

Dave Hannigan looks at how Ireland are hoping to attract young footballers with a US education but an old country sentiment

In a little-noticed cameo during the February international break, Derby County striker Conor Doyle made his debut for Ireland Under-21s in a friendly against Cyprus. Born and raised in Texas to a father from Dublin, the 19-year-old’s appearance came just three months after Giovanni Trapattoni expressed interest in establishing a scouting network to find new talent for Ireland in the United States. Indeed, Trapattoni went as far as asking for a full list of Major League Soccer players with Irish-sounding 
surnames.

Read more…

Mike Woitalla explains why US players are having to cross the Mexican border in order to get their break

José Francisco Torres and Edgar Castillo were born and raised in the US, the children of Mexican immigrants. Both showed signs of great soccer talent from an early age. Both were told that they were too small at the trials that lead to youth national team selection. Neither would have been heard from again as soccer players if they hadn’t moved to their parents’ homeland as teenagers to join Pachuca and Santos Laguna respectively.

Read more…