André Hainault has 24 caps for Canada. Additionally, he was a big part of the 2005 u20 World Cup side. He’s always answered the call for Canada.
Except for now. Facing a big MLS game this week against Portland (Hainault’s Houston Dynamo hold down the final MLS playoff spot, with the Timbers right there in the battle for that final playoff position), Hainault made the decision to stay in Houston to be fully prepared for that game.
That led at least one Canadian blogger – CSN’s and SBN’s Ben Massey – to call Hainault’s credibility into question. On Twitter, Massey wrote “If Andre thinks his country's biggest games are less important than a nap before playing for his stolen orange team, **** him.”
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When challenged, Massey followed up with this: “I was fine with his not going to St. Lucia because it's a longer trip and it looked like we'd have McKenna, but not now...And then this: So we should cut Hainault some slack because he'd probably show up if it was a glamourous game? Got it.”
Obviously, we cannot know whether Massey was being completely serious in his takedown of Hainault, but he gave no indication that the Tweet was utilizing hyperbole to make a point, or if he was exaggerating his opinion to engage debate. There is nothing to suggest that we shouldn’t take him at face value.
And, that’s unfortunate. Again, Hainault is a guy that has always answered the call. This isn’t a reluctant Canuck making another excuse. As well, a player asking to be excused from national team duty to be there for his club side isn’t exactly earth shattering news in world football – especially in MLS, where they rarely break for international play.
Club versus country debates often get bogged down in simplistic rhetoric. The truth is both club and country should be equally important to a player and we, as fans, need to keep things in full perspective. Hainault’s livelihood (and usefulness to Canada, for that matter) is dependent on performing well at Houston. It’s more than a bit naive and lacking in nuance to suggest that he should always drop everything and report to Canada every time the gets the call. In a situation like this where Canada has all but qualified (and getting worked up about the possibility of failure at this point is, well, stupid. The only question is whether they end up with all 18 points) is a perfect example of when it’s probably OK for a player to put his club needs over country.
Bluntly, his country doesn’t need him to beat Puerto Rico. His club does need him to beat Portland.
There are very few countries where this would need to be spelled out, but...
Give Hainault a break. He’s more than earned it.