At the post-Denmark mixed zone, I was giving Jonny Bornstein a bit of a hard time, saying, "Well, I guess this is it for playing with Mexico's team." A USSF employee who was escorting Bornstein from the press conference interjected.
"No - he's not cap-tied until he plays in an official competition or qualifying."
Bornstein himself nodded in agreement. "Friendlies don't captie you."
He quickly added that he wanted to play for the U.S., though.
I have no idea whether this pertains to Freddy Adu, at all, as he only played a few minutes in a friendly against Canada, but apparently Bornstein could play against and even score against Mexico on Feb. 7th, but still be eligible to play for them.
Or Israel.
Anyway, I guess Gold Cup is the soonest he could be captied to the US.
I believe Adu's youth caps from official youth competitions would tie him to the US but not until his 21st birthday. However, I believe his appearance in the Canada friendly WOULD tie him if that match was classified as an "A" friendly per FIFA regulations (which I'm not sure about).
ReplyDeleteI tend to think it wasn't an "A" friendly since Freddy still seems certain that he could play for Ghana, if he wanted to.
Yes, I think that's interesting, as Freddy, when I interviewed him, seemed pretty sure the Ghana possibility was still an option. He may be operating under bad information, but it seems strange that wouldn't be a priority for his agents and the like to make clear to him.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if Bornstein does play in the Mexico friendly on Feb. 7, I think that is a FIFA-sanctioned date, and he will be cap-tied, instead of having to wait until the Gold Cup.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about all the FIFA regulations, partly because Adu and others (even within US soccer) do not believe he is captied.
What I was told concerning Bornstein was that it wasn't a captie because it wasn't competition. It could have been in all the bustle of the mixed zone, no one wanted to explain details.