Joseph Lapira

**GavinZac** · 26/05/2007, 11:45 AM

Originally Posted by Metrostars

These names might not mean anything to you and I'm not saying they're world beaters but I follow footie in the US and all the players in 2000 have had pretty successful careers in MLS.

would any be able to make the step up to the eircom league?

**eirebhoy** · 26/05/2007, 12:33 PM

It's hard to tell if that's sarcasm.

I backed New York a couple of days ago and most of their team is full of internationals from Holland (Waterreus, den Bergh), USA (Reyna, Mathis, others), Colombia (Angel), Austria (Markus Schopp) and a couple more. If they're anything to go by the top teams in America are fairly strong. Last summer Celtic played DC United and they got destroyed 4-0. Celtic hadn't trained much but DC United really impressed.

**osarusan** · 26/05/2007, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by Paddy Garcia

The hysteria is amazing. A meaningless friendly is exactly the right time to try something from left field.

Exactly right. There were over there - they heard about a decent prospect, decided to have a look at him not just in training but also under the (relative) pressure of an international match. Whats the problem?

So what if he hasnt seen him live...........the question is - "is he any good or not?" That should be all that matters.

All these whingers pointing out that Stan picks from only one league while ignoring another........Stan breaks with tradition and picks a player who...if he is good, then great, we have a decent prospect on our hands, and if he is no good...and if he is no good...we wasted 10 minutes of a nothing game.

Where he plays his football is irrelevant. Whether he has "earned" a cap is irrelevant (whatever that even means). How good he is - that alone is relevant.

And I'll bet that if Stan hadn't played him, and in 5 years he was banging in goals for the USA, people would be whinging about how Stan had a great chance to check him out when he was over there in 2007, and blew it.

**Qwerty** · 26/05/2007, 1:51 PM

From that list Ben Olsen and Reyna went on to play for the US, Olsen is a very good player who would be plenty good enough to be in our squad. Just remember Stan also capped Alan O'Brien

who will probably play again aginst Bolivia and show us how effective speed alone without football brain/technical ability is.

**DmanDmythDledge** · 26/05/2007, 2:36 PM

Originally Posted by osarusan

Exactly right. There were over there - they heard about a decent prospect, decided to have a look at him not just in training but also under the (relative) pressure of an international match. Whats the problem?

Still can't understand how anybody can justify his selection. His uncle, who works in the FAI, told Stan about him and what do you know he's in the squad. That's nepotism and could have both of them sacked, although it seems impossible to prove.

By the off chance of that being untrue the best case scenario is that Stan's a muppet for picking a player of his calibre.

**pete** · 26/05/2007, 3:04 PM

Originally Posted by Qwerty

Just remember Stan also capped Alan O'Brien

who will probably play again aginst Bolivia and show us how effective speed alone without football brain/technical ability is.

O'Brien is an experienced international with 5 caps which clearly how Lapira got picked ahead of him...

**tetsujin1979** · 26/05/2007, 6:35 PM

Originally Posted by DmanDmythDledge

His uncle, who works in the FAI, told Stan about him and what do you know he's in the squad. That's nepotism and could have both of them sacked, although it seems impossible to prove.

So what if his uncle told Stan about Lapira? If he didn't call in Lapira to have a look at him, everyone would be complaining that Stan wasn't listening to his uncle, who works for the FAI. It was Ron Atkinson who told him about St Ledger, it was Kevin McDonald who alerted him to Gary Cahill's eligibility, and, in all likelihood, to O'Halloran's progress this season.
Wasn't Kerr alerted to the eligibility of various players in the youth setup by a parish priest, and a cab driver? Stan is listening to those around him, like I said, if wasn't people would complain about that.
I'm starting to think that his start in management is still counting against him and people are refusing to see any progress in the setup as a positive, and only focusing on the negative

**dr_peepee** · 26/05/2007, 6:59 PM

Originally Posted by Metrostars

Friendlies are not official competitions.

You sure?

Why then if you're red carded in a Friendly the suspension applies to competitive games? Like Scholes and Rooney at the start of the season?

"With the exception of the conditions specified in par. 3 and 4 below,
any Player who has already represented one Association in a match
(either in full or in part) in an official competition of any category or
any type of football may not play an international match for a representative team of another Association."

I dunno for sure and the FIFA .pdf on the issue is a bit vague to me, but based purely on the noises being made by international managers over the last decade regarding the tying up of players like Steven Reid, Clinton Morison etc i'm fairly sure that a FIFA sanctioned friendly is enough to tie them in.... But I could well be wrong.

**fergalr** · 26/05/2007, 7:21 PM

Originally Posted by Manc Irish Wolf

FergalR - "So tell me why Lapira deserves a cap more than the any of the players that have played in the eL this season?" - I'm not saying that he does, however players are called up in such friendlies based upon their potential ability - which having had a look at hime, Stan obviously thinks he has. I would be more than happy to see players like O'Donovan & Gamble get the chance to prove themselves that they deserve, however the exceptional circumstances in this instance is that players like Lapira (like Dixon) have the option to represent other countries - so if they are adjudged to be any good, we need to poach them while we can.

ok - let me try to understand the logic at work here.

So ... If you are Irish born and playing professionally in Ireland then you have to get in the queue behind players of lesser quality because they have a hypothetical chance to represent another country?

Give me strength.

**Paddy Garcia** · 26/05/2007, 7:27 PM

Originally Posted by fergalr

So ... If you are Irish born and playing professionally in Ireland then you have to get in the queue behind players of lesser quality because they have a hypothetical chance to represent another country?

How do you know if he is of lesser quality ? If you do know this then fair enough.

**zenokelly** · 26/05/2007, 7:53 PM

Originally Posted by fergalr

ok - let me try to understand the logic at work here.

So ... If you are Irish born and playing professionally in Ireland then you have to get in the queue behind players of lesser quality because they have a hypothetical chance to represent another country?

Give me strength.

Just think about it this way. If Stan didn't decide to go on this tour to the US, Lapira would probably never have been mentioned by the Irish officials or Stan. It was just luck for Lapira that he was in the right place at the right time for Ireland to take a look at him.

If Stan sees enough in him in training on this trip to include him in future squads then good luck to the lad. How do we know where he could go from here.

And you could also say that Stan can watch the eircom League lads every day of the week (not saying that he does at all) whereas he won't get to see Lapira too often "up close".

**Soper** · 26/05/2007, 10:26 PM

Stan probably watches the Eircom League as much as he watches Notre Dame play

**tetsujin1979** · 27/05/2007, 12:48 AM

Originally Posted by Soper

Stan probably watches the Eircom League as much as he watches Notre Dame play

Isn't that why Devlin was brought into the setup - to report on, and recommend, players from the eircom League?

**timmy mallet** · 27/05/2007, 1:41 AM

Originally Posted by DmanDmythDledge

Still can't understand how anybody can justify his selection.

Stan's a muppet for picking a player of his calibre.

Player of his calibre? How many times have you seen him play? Is he any good? YOU HAVE NO FU**ING IDEA.

Stan might have seen him before, might not have. You do all you can as a manager to get ahead and be successful, fair play to Stan for sticking his neck out and having a look at him. The best young player in the US is eligible for us then you have to take a look at him, regardless of the circumstances. I almost guarantee you that he'd be better than alot of the players in the EL.

**Metrostars** · 27/05/2007, 1:52 AM

Originally Posted by dr_peepee

You sure?

Why then if you're red carded in a Friendly the suspension applies to competitive games? Like Scholes and Rooney at the start of the season?

"With the exception of the conditions specified in par. 3 and 4 below,
any Player who has already represented one Association in a match
(either in full or in part) in an official competition of any category or
any type of football may not play an international match for a representative team of another Association."

I dunno for sure and the FIFA .pdf on the issue is a bit vague to me, but based purely on the noises being made by international managers over the last decade regarding the tying up of players like Steven Reid, Clinton Morison etc i'm fairly sure that a FIFA sanctioned friendly is enough to tie them in.... But I could well be wrong.

Cards in games have NOTHING to do with this.

You forgot to highlight the most important part of that statement: "official competition". "Official competition" would mean World Cup qualifiers, euro qualifiers etc, even Youth level qualifiers are "official competitions" but that has the whole Under-21 switching brought in a few years ago.

In any case one of the guys over at bigsoccer sent an email to the FAI about this and got this reply:

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showp...6&postcount=48

**Dodge** · 27/05/2007, 1:55 AM

Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Isn't that why Devlin was brought into the setup - to report on, and recommend, players from the eircom League?

LOL, you really have no idea about the LOI, or Devlin, if you think thats the case.

And Lapria, amy or may not be the best "young player in America" but if any of his defenders are going to be pedantic about him getting a call up, please call him the "best player currently attending college" rather than the title YOU HAVE NO ****ING IDEA about

**timmy mallet** · 27/05/2007, 2:07 AM

Originally Posted by Dodge

And Lapria, amy or may not be the best "young player in America" but if any of his defenders are going to be pedantic about him getting a call up, please call him the "best player currently attending college" rather than the title YOU HAVE NO ****ING IDEA about

Oh the irony nearly made me explode. Now run along, big boy.

**Dodge** · 27/05/2007, 2:21 AM

It seems you didn't even get close to seeing the irony...

**timmy mallet** · 27/05/2007, 2:31 AM

show yer workings

**ColinR** · 27/05/2007, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by timmy mallet

Player of his calibre? How many times have you seen him play? Is he any good? YOU HAVE NO FU**ING IDEA.......................... I almost guarantee you that he'd be better than alot of the players in the EL.

How many times have you seen him play to say this???? , which LoI players are you including - "alot of the players in the EL" - first division players, u21 players, squad players, or the top players who many people believe should be in the ireland squad???

btw what is an 'almost guarantee' - if your tv breaks down and you return it to a shop, do you get a refund if you have an 'almost guarantee'