The sensitive issue of calling up naturalised Brasilians to our selecção has been around since Deco's first inclusion back in 2003. At first, highly respected team members such as Luis Figo and Rui Costa opposed the decision, and criticized the direction taken by the FPF. However, they later recognized Deco's immense value, and accepted him as one of their own.
Fast forward seven years, and two more Brasilians have joined the ranks - Pepe and Liedson. There is no questioning the talent of these three Luso-Brasileiros, however, there still exists a fundamental debate here. Is it acceptable to be naturalizing Brasilians, and having them take the place of a Portuguese born player, when there are in fact so many to choose from? I will be the first to admit that Pepe, Deco, and Liedson are simply better at what they do than anybody else in Portuguese soccer, as they are simply that good. However, is it acceptable to do this?
Many other successful, proven footballing nations including the likes of Spain, Germany, Croatia, Japan, Italy, France, Sweden, England, etc. have all used or still use naturalised players, so this concept is not new or isolated by any means. The problem here is knowing where to draw the line. If the boundary continually gets pushed further and further, then the national teams won't really represent the country on the jersey anymore, and it'll simply become another level of club football. In Portugal's defense, they can at least argue Brasil was once a colony, and that there are a lot of Portuguese roots still in Brasil.
Anyway, I'm a huge fan of Deco, Liedson, and Pepe, and they've definitely helped our national team a great deal, however, I'm a little wary of naturalising anyone else at this point. What do you think?
Posts
I think naturalizing players is fine within some boundries. Having 50% of your team be from another country may be pushing it a bit too much. Maybe FIFA can put a rule in place where a country can only have a certain amount of naturalized players or somethingalong those line.
ReplyDeleteI beleive the three luso-brazileiros we've got are pefect, and i also do not think there are any portuguese players that can fill their futebol boots.
I can't think of anyone i'd want to be naturalized to play for portugal at this moment.
I think it is important too for the player to request to play for the country he wants to. Like Pepe for example, i believe he turned down a place on the brazilian national side so he would be eligible to play for the seleccao da quinas. Where as i think Deco was just tired of not being called up to the brazilians then he went with Portugal instead. Correct me if i'm wrong tho, i think the same went for Liedson aswell, although he has been playing in the super liga for a long time.
deco could have kept waiting, after his move to barca from porto, he would have gotten called up by brasil for sure at some point, liedson wanted to play for our seleccao - he owes portugal (especially sporting) a great deal as they gave him his whole career and successful livelihood, pepe seemed to have the most genuine passion and interest for the portugal national team out of the three, but i don't question any of their hearts...and yes, fifa implementing a max number is definitely in order, and just so everything is cool with the fans, the player should definitely first express his desire to the public...as for a number fifa should use, i'd say 3 should be the maximum, imagine they allow 4 or 5, then ur whole midfield, the creative engine of the team, could be all brasilian lol not cool
ReplyDelete