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[SoupInNYC]

MLS guys think McNamara is on the cusp of getting a USA look.

Brian Doyle? Is that his name?

MLS guys thought Grella, Dax, and RJ Allen deserved USMNT call ups.

I don't see any of those guys cracking the USMNT lineup anytime soon.

 

[Ulrich]

MLS guys think McNamara is on the cusp of getting a USA look.

Brian Doyle? Is that his name?

Anybody that is American with more than 5 assists and/or 5 goals gets a look at the January MNT camp..... it's meaningless beyond being fill-in players so the entire 1st team doesn't have to take part.

TMac has some great intangibles to his game, but nobody that slow will ever make the MNT and be a longtime fixture - at best, scrub duty with the MLS call-up camps.

 

[Kjbert]

Anybody that is American with more than 5 assists and/or 5 goals gets a look at the January MNT camp..... it's meaningless beyond being fill-in players so the entire 1st team doesn't have to take part.

TMac has some great intangibles to his game, but nobody that slow will ever make the MNT and be a longtime fixture - at best, scrub duty with the MLS call-up camps.

I think the absolutes here are a little crazy. Do you become cap tied by playing in the January games? Those are just friendlies right?

 

[Ulrich]

I think the absolutes here are a little crazy. Do you become cap tied by playing in the January games? Those are just friendlies right?

Typically January Games are only friendlies - I'm not sure how this year stacks up with the WC qualification schedule.

 

[Kjbert]

Typically January Games are only friendlies - I'm not sure how this year stacks up with the WC qualification schedule.

Thank you

 

[EganSoccerWords]

I think the absolutes here are a little crazy. Do you become cap tied by playing in the January games? Those are just friendlies right?

Friendlies only cap tie if you are only eligible at the time of a friendly to play for one NT. If you are eligible to play for more than one nation at the time of the friendly, it does not cap tie you. For example, last year when Poku got cap tied when he got called up for Ghana last season, because Ghana was the only NT he was eligible for. So even if he gets his US Citizenship later on, he would not be eligible for USMNT. If he had US citizenship at the time of the friendly, he would not have been cap tied.

My guess is if T-Mac has an Irish passport right now, playing in a friendly would not cap tie him to US or Ireland until he plays in an actual competition.

 

[SoupInNYC]

Friendlies only cap tie if you are only eligible at the time of a friendly to play for one NT. If you are eligible to play for more than one nation at the time of the friendly, it does not cap tie you. For example, last year when Poku got cap tied when he got called up for Ghana last season, because Ghana was the only NT he was eligible for. So even if he gets his US Citizenship later on, he would not be eligible for USMNT. If he had US citizenship at the time of the friendly, he would not have been cap tied.

My guess is if T-Mac has an Irish passport right now, playing in a friendly would not cap tie him to US or Ireland until he plays in an actual competition.

I thought Poku was a US citizen already?

I'm pretty sure he's not cap-tied to Ghana.

Edit: found this article
http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2015/...lder-kwadwo-poku-called-ghana-canada-friendly

"This is the 23-year-old's first international call-up. Participation in the game will not cap-tie him to Ghana."

 

[EganSoccerWords]

He's not. I don't know if that mlssoccer article is accurate. I still believe that he needed to be eligible to play for the USMNT at the time of the friendly for him not to be cap tied.

 

[Gotham Gator]

I think it is hard for a guy like McNamara to get a call up when you have guys like Pulisic in the Bundesliga and Gooch in the EPL emerging and playing well.

I love TMac, but I think Ireland is a much better bet.

 

[SoupInNYC]

Birnbaum was called up for the USMNT, Hamid was not.