Everybody, not just TTians like shortcut, we master trying to find it
England, Germany, Italy,Mexico, Argentina, France, many African contries, all seek to get the best players possible,not many 'foreign' born make their cut mind you but a few come to mind...Hargreaves e.g. touted by England & Germany..
even Brazil does bring a largely 'foreign' team these days...and this from countries that originate and have heavy investements, finance & time in the game
Doh talk for US & Canada, actively recruiting anyone who is a citizen, irregardless where they born or who dey Parents are...
OETPETLDTT, that is the short cut of today, even for the countries that have had long term
Observe, Evaluate, Test, Prectice,Evaluate, Test,Learn, Develop,Teach, Test
Like with any recipe, the proper steps of combining the ingredients would produce the required goals... sometimes one may even get a negative success, not followinging the recipe, yet still producing the cake, but we know it to be a fluke, and such successes would be few and far between...
Our shortcut seem to be OETPETLDTT...and every round we wonder why we not eating cake
So if all them big & small alike, football entities, willing to woo and recruit whoever is available, and getting some measure of success, why can't we ?
Sometimes shortcuts could make an individual quite lost..
Here in Canada, an kid from a community where his/her parents are from Italy, is considered Italian,from Haitian origins etc..etc...yet they are all canadians, and many love, and grow, with their parents, their culture and respect their historical origins...they are not true Italians mind you, they are true Canadians, but although they may have never touched foot in their parents country, they are familiar with their history, ancestry and origins...Proud to be of both...if they are good enough they will represent and defend either to the best of their capacity....why should we alienate our own ?
I think it was RF who quoted "If ah dog born at sea, is it not a dog", when speaking of the JA britz.
We need the best we can get for us, regardless of their origins...US soccer did not develop on the backs of US born players, yet now they are reaping the benefits of seeing WC regular. The majority of our brightest and best players would always be foreign, wheter through scholarship, or club. We must not, cannot afford to discard them, and their proteges( their own or the ones they develop). We ship them away for 'better-ment' and do not make the necessary plans to bring them back, which acts negatively not only for them, but for our society, and country....this applies to all facets of our society...what is eventually left, we expect to compete on a mass scale against the world...not so..
On the Birchall point, I like him too..yet, If Birchall was a certified Premier League player (he's not..KJ & BZ are), would we have heard of his parentage, would he have graced our shores, that we would never know...Yet, we act/react negatively to those and the things that we do know....
To close, "Attitude and Desire" are important characteristics that define a player, but also necessary of who/what that player represents as well...And if we demonstrate such to them, what do we really expect in return. As Aretha says "Just ah little bit...R.E.S.P.E.C.T", sometimes nurture all such admirable charecteristics...hope yuh see my point
