Good move.
JJ flies the Schalke coop
With TSG fave Steve N’Zonzi shelved for most of the year and Blackburn under new management, the procurement has begun.
Yesterday it was Paraguayan Roque Santa Cruz.
Today? Every American soccer fan’s favorite German, Jermaine Jones.
Sky Sports reporting that Jones to Elwood Park is happening with the terms being a loan with an option to buy.
Good fit for both the club and Jones.
Jones rids himself of a manager that he seemingly frustrated to no avail and gets himself to a system, at least under Sam Allardyce, that relies heavily on the midfields ability to attack.
Blackburn gets a solid starter, some steel in the midfield that’s been lacking since N’Zonzi, and nice physical player to pair with the offensive-minded duo of Morten Gamst Pederson and Chris Samba.
Now, let’s just make sure he doesn’t hang out with El-Hadji Diouf.
Catching-up:
• Robbie Findley gets his work permit approved. Look for big things in my opinion with Findley. He’s arrested and nobody in the Championship knows his game. I can see him netting four or five times through the end of the year.
• US Soccer confirms friendlies versus Argentina and Paraguay. The trend of playing quality sides continues under Bob Bradley. Kudos to that.
• The Gooch Watch: Score! Didn’t see him in action, but the big US centerback scores a goal in his first scrimmage. Encouraging after what must have been a very difficult 2010.
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Posted by BW on 2011/01/14 at 3:03 PM
That’s awesome. Hopefully it will bring him into the public eye more. What is the deal with a work permit?
Actually, TSG, could you do something along the lines of a “Work Permits 101″ piece? I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to the permits, but it seems to be an element of the game that affects a lot of these transfer/trades/etc – particularly for yanks.
Posted by Berniebernier on 2011/01/14 at 5:51 PM
While we are requesting things… Could TSG do something about when you are cap tied, when you can switch teams etc. It seems like the one thing that even the die hard fans have no idea how it works. Seems important to the National Team fans (which seems like most of the readers)
Posted by GeorgeCross on 2011/01/14 at 8:14 PM
Read FIFA Article 18.1(a?)
Posted by Dave on 2011/01/15 at 2:38 PM
For those of us who have a little trouble finding stuff, search for Fifa statutes, and thanks GeorgeCross for helping me find them.
Posted by bunkelUSA on 2011/01/14 at 9:30 PM
I agree, I thought I understood the situation with players switching national teams/being cap tied, but the Nguyen situation you guys reported informed me that in fact, I do not.
Posted by dth on 2011/01/14 at 11:24 PM
It’s pretty simple, actually.
A youth national team cap in an official match provisionally ties you to whatever country you played for AND whatever countries you were eligible for at that time. So, with the Lee Nguyen situation–the question is whether he was eligible for Vietnam at the time of his playing for the US u-17 team. If you do decide to switch it’s only a one-time thing.
Actually, FIFA’s rule here is–I think–basically reasonable so I anticipate their changing it soon.
Posted by bunkelUSA on 2011/01/15 at 11:45 AM
Right, but a player can only do that one-time switch if “he has not played a match (either in full or in part) in an official competition at “A” international level for his current Association” (quoting from FIFA article 18 here). Nguyen played 2 games in the 2007 Copa America…shouldn’t that make him ineligible to switch?
Also, if he is now applying for Vietnamese citizenship, doesn’t that mean is is not currently eligible to play for them? (and therefore wasn’t eligible at the time of his USA caps)
Posted by GeorgeCross on 2011/01/15 at 11:56 AM
Article 18.1a stipulates that any player who wants to switch to the second of his dual nationalities must have held that second nationality at the time he represented his original country.
In short, Lee Nguyen had to have been eligible to play for Vietnam at the same time that he played football for America. Without that qualification it is impossible for him to play for the Vietnam senior team now.
FIFA need to be firm on this otherwise it’s going to open up the floodgates with bogus applications for citizenship just to play international football.
Posted by matthewsf on 2011/01/14 at 3:20 PM
It’s different by country, but take a look at this piece. It lays it out really well:
http://sport.stv.tv/football/scottish-premier/rangers/193378-explained-uk-work-permit-rules-for-footballers/
(A little slammed for time, but I’ll try to come back to it).
Posted by Iggystar on 2011/01/14 at 4:45 PM
If he is arrested he’s getting off to a bad start!
Posted by nelson on 2011/01/15 at 3:30 PM
lol…i think he meant rested, iggy