FIFA remove age limit on nationality switch

[Stuttgart88]

I was expecting Egypt to be better in the Confed Cup.

[Junior]

Of course Boateng is perfectly entitled to do this and I daresay Ghana are happy to have him, but I for one can't help thinking the phrase "sloppy seconds" applies - especially since his kid brother is German (at any rate whilst he's getting a game for them...)


http://www.skysports.com/story/0,195...400459,00.html
Boateng turns to Ghana
Spurs midfielder set to pursue international career with African nation

By Thomas Zocher Last updated: 25th June 2009

Kevin-Prince Boateng has decided he wants to represent Ghana at international level after turning his back on Germany.

The Tottenham midfielder has represented Germany at Under 21 level but sees his chances of turning out for senior team limited.

The 22-year-old has recently returned to White Hart Lane after an unsuccessful loan spell at Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, but he could soon find himself surplus to requirements with Spurs.

Boateng's younger brother Jerome is currently excelling for the Germans at the European U21 Championship in Sweden but the former Hertha Berlin youngster admits his own Germany career is over.

"From now I want to play for Ghana, the land of my father, and I have been starting to get in touch with the authorities of Ghana about that," he told Sport-Bild.

"I had attempted to get myself a Germany career, but I could not succeed. I do not leave Germany in conflict.

"I just do not see any chance for me in terms of a Germany career."

The word career

As has been stated many times on this forum by numerous posters, international footbal just shouldnt be a career choice. Even considering the dual nationality factor, this change in direction is further diminishing what a national team is/should be all about.

[EalingGreen]

watch out as certain african nations become very strong(well ghana and ivory coast already have class teams). also who knows maby guadelope and martinique will qualify for a world cup soon.

Disagree. International football isn't just about raw talent - of which Africa has long had an abundance. It is also about organisation of that talent.

I don't know how long it is since people were first saying that an African team was ready to win the World Cup; yet how many times has one even come close since then? Not once.

If nothing else, the chronic disorganisation, which is both a cause and a symptom of the endemic corruption amongst Football Associations out there, means that any half-decent Coach who manages to put a squad together, inevitably faces an impossible battle when it comes to facilities, training and preparation etc.

One of the worst examples of this was the outstanding Zambian international team which perished in an air crash on their way to a World Cup Qualifier in Senegal in 1993. There were no specially chartered jets for them, or even scheduled services. Instead, they were forced to travel on an outdated military transport plane, which stopped at virtually every big tree along the route, with a whacked-out crew, before the inevitable happened:

"A tragedy befell the Zambian national football team when the military plane (reg: AF-319) carrying the team to Senegal for a 1994 World Cup qualification match crashed in the late evening of 27 April 1993. The journey required two refuelling stops and at the first stop in Congo engine problems were noted in the Zambian Air Force Buffalo DHC-5D. Despite this, the flight continued and a few minutes after taking off from a second stop in Libreville, Gabon one of the engines caught fire and failed. The pilot, who was tired from already having flown back from Mauritius earlier that day, then shut down the wrong engine, causing the plane to lose all power during the climb out of Libreville Airport and fall into the water 500m offshore.

All 30 passengers and crew, including 18 players, as well as the national team coach and support staff, were lost in the accident. The Chipolopolo's [Zambians'] captain and later national team coach, Kalusha Bwalya, was not aboard the ill-fated flight as he was in the Netherlands playing for PSV at that time and had made separate arrangements to make his own way to Senegal to take part in the qualifier match"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zambia_..._football_team

I suspect that Prince Boateng may be in for a bit of a shock when he compares what he experienced with the various German under-age teams, to that which he will experience when he first joins up with Ghana. And he's not likely to be the only one...