Bubble bursting in 3... 2... 1... https://www.manchestereveningnews.co...njury-21758785
Bubble bursting in 3... 2... 1... https://www.manchestereveningnews.co...njury-21758785
It's an interesting squad. Vaughan seems to be very highly rated at Oldham and already gets a reasonable amount of first team minutes in League 2. He's only 17.
Possibly the most notable absentee is Sean Roughan. He was playing first team football in League 1 this time last year at 17, was on trial at Southampton and I think possibly Chelsea also during the summer but seems to have disappeared completely this season. Maybe he's injured but if not it's a strange one, thought he'd be a shoe in for the Under 19 squad.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
Only thing with Delap is that he might not do the whole Bamford thing of preferring one England cap to, say, thirty Ireland caps and might plump for us in such a situation, given what his father has said previously and the fact that he surely does identify as some bit Irish.
I feel dirty speaking like this ..
You know there's lads who won't be good enough for England that would walk into our team. Lads who'll probably get less than a handful of caps or even no caps. Michail Antonio won't get a cap but he'd walk into our team. Lewis Dunk and James Maddison have one cap each and would walk into our team. Danny Ings has three caps for England, how many would he have for us if he was Irish?
Maddison was qualified which makes it even more frustrating. I’ve said it before, but the lower we sink the less attractive we appear as an option for dual eligibility players. Having a team with prospects for qualification and a manager with status / reputation are factors that will influence players when they make that choice. At the minute, we’re not a great option for anyone with choices.
Some of Cristiano Fitzgerald's background: https://www.buzz.ie/sport/cristiano-...gible-25148929
Also eligible for France through his mother, and possibly Singapore, where it looks like he was born.
"“I would say very much that Cristiano feels both Irish and French, but he has never lived physically in Ireland or France.”"
That's absolutely ridiculous- he has no right to accept an Irish call-up if he doesn't feel 100% Irish, I don't care where he was reared. He is depriving a full blood Irishman of the honour of a call-up. On top of that, we all know that France are better so if this lad gets a call from them he will jump ship immediately and he will feel 51% French and 49% Irish.
.... End parody.
Yeah Mark McCadden retweeted that article and refers to him as being born in Singapore in the tweet. The mother definitely had a bigger influence on what his name was if the second born son is called Dean, unless the father was a massive Cristiano Ronaldo fan. Because I always assumed he was from Portugal and might not actually qualify for them by the sounds of it.
I saw another article yesterday that said that the player is named after Cristiano Ronaldo, but it's a bit of a coincidence. His dad has little interest in football, but he happened to be watching the game where Ronaldo made his Manchester United debut. Fitzgerald's mother was pregnant at the time, but they hadn't picked a name. When he came on, he suggested Cristiano to his wife, and that was that!
<EDIT>
Here's the article: https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soc...d-25150329.amp
Also says they weren't living in Portugal at the time, and only moved there four years ago, so I don't think he's eligible for Portugal under residency?
Match report: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2021...y-with-sweden/
Good to see Finn get his first cap in green!
James Abankwah from Pats looks a real talent. Delighted to see him called up.
Out for a spell, got neglected, lay on the bench unselected.
It's great to see how diverse that U19 team is as well, really reflective of a modern Ireland and can only be good for us moving forward. 8 of the starting 11 are dual nationals by my count, 9 if you want to include Gallagher and the North!
And more lads born or reared outside of Ireland that weren't even English born or reared- Rose and Seary outweighed by Fitzgerald, Finn, MacNulty and Gilsenan.
And on that group, at least 5 are second generation - I don't know Seary's background but Rose's and MacNulty's mothers, Fitzgerald's and Finn's fathers and both Gilsenan's parents are all Irish born.
And to go again on the Rose point, his mother didn't emigrate out of economic necessity- she is a surgeon.
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