“Judas” de Guzmán Chooses Tulips
By: Daryl | February 8th, 2008
Bad news for Canadians yesterday as 20 year old attacking midfielder Jonathan de Guzmán turned his back on all things maple leaf and decided to play for Holland instead. De Guzmán was born in Toronto, but snapped up by Feyenoord Rotterdam at the tender age of 12. He’s been playing in the Eredivisie since he was 18 and Canadian fans have been salivating to get him into a red shirt. Official word until this week was that de Guzmán was still deciding who to play for, but his recently acquired Dutch passport settled the matter pretty quickly.
Canada had been given hope by Jonathan’s older brother Julián de Guzmán, who plays for Deportivo de La Coruña in La Liga but comes home to play for The Canucks. Seems brotherly love wasn’t enough to lure Jonathan back, and apparently he’s been given the nickname “Judas” de Guzmán on some Canadian messageboards. It’s no surprise that the fans are angry. Owen Hargreaves was lost to England in similarish circumstances and between those two players that’s a pretty impressive Canadian midfield that will now only exist in the imagination.
But there’s an argument in The Globe and Mail from de Guzmán’s dad that this is really the Canadian Soccer Association’s fault. Not for failing to pursue de Guzmán, but for failing to be anything close to organized. Though Canada made the semi-finals of last year’s Gold Cup (only exiting via a questionable offside decision) and have talent like Julián de Guzmán and Dwayne De Rosario to call on, the administration doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. For example, they’re still waiting to appoint a new chief executive after screwing up the last hire. Seems that if Canada wants to persuade future talent to wear the national team shirt then the CSA needs to get its house in order first. Certainly the fans agree that something has to change in Canadian football.
Here’s a quick look at what the Canadian national team will be missing out on:
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Category: North America
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Comments
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Wait… He’s 20, a hot talent and he hasn’t even managed to be called up as a sub by the Canadian FA? I don’t know who Canada’s manager is, but he should learn that budding countries like Canada should pretty much play every possibly good player as soon as they notice him. Even if it’s only for 15 minutes against Nicaragua, and he’s 16. It’s still better than losing him out to, say… The Netherlands. Or England. And dreaming about what never will be…
Posted from
France
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Shaz, it’s not like our coaches are incompetent, he didn’t want to come. Even if his brother plays for Canada.
Posted from
Canada -
I misunderstood then. Anyway, if at 20 he hadn’t accepted a call-up by Canada, it was pretty much focked anyway…
Posted from
France -
why would you fly back and forth from Europe to Canada/N. America for a organization that isn’t in order when you have an option to stay in a top flight situation???
The De Guzman’s left Canada to pursue their careers. They don’t owe anything.
Posted from
United States -
That makes no sense Safari!
It’s like saying the young European/Russian Hockey players that come to North America as teenagers to play hockey shouldn’t play for their respective national teams ! Because they don’t ”owe” anything and it’s too far
it’s weird to see 2 brothers from the same mother facing each other !
Posted from
Canada -
Whore. Don’t worry, I’m writing an article about this for Canada WCB right now.
Posted from
Canada -
let the boy do what he wants.
Posted from
Canada -
Well I love Canada and visit often, and de Guzman is more than welcome in his adopted country. But can’t help but feel a bit sorry for the Canadian soccer fans losing out on another talented player this way. Seems to be the common view in my circles.
Posted from
Netherlands
Comments are closed
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