On Thursday evening CSN's Duane Rollins picked up a report out of Costa Rica saying that Canadian U17 star and former TFC academy player Keven Aleman has expressed interest in representing Costa Rica internationally.
The original Spanish report Rollins refers to is dated September 1. In it are links to three audio interviews, one of which is with Keven Aleman himself (last one), who appears to say that he would like to play for Costa Rica instead of for Canada: “A mí me gustaría jugar allá en Costa Rica en lugar de Canadá.” In another audio interview, Aleman's father says his son remains "100 percent" Costa Rican and would be delighted to represent Costa Rica at any level. But he is ambiguous regarding his son's international future, saying Canada remains interested in Aleman and that he may still end up playing for the Vancouver Whitecaps.
In a report dated October 5 on the same website, the current manager of the Costa Rican U17 squad says he has spoken with that country's U20 coaching staff and they intend to call Aleman to a three-team tournament in December.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Important: I am not fluent in Spanish. However I do feel confident that I understood the gist of these interviews. By all means Spanish speakers, please have a listen to these interviews and if necessary clarify in the comments section below what has been said.
The interview with Aleman's father runs 12 and a half minutes, during which time he expresses gratitude to the Canadian program before admitting football in Canada is not at the same level it is in Costa Rica.
What does this all mean? There have been similar concerns brought about by reports in foreign media that came to nothing. TCF defender Ashtone Morgan reportedly told a Jamaican newspaper he was considering representing Jamaica, which turned out to be rubbish and he's in the squad for Canada's World Cup qualifier against St. Lucia tonight.
Seventeen year old kids say a lot of things. Perhaps Aleman is just telling the interviewer what he thinks a Costa Rican football writer would want to hear? Still actually hearing the words come out of his mouth is disheartening.
And of course, Aleman may never be good enough to get anywhere near the national squads of Canada or Costa Rica. But I feel it's legitimate to say that many Canada supporters were (and remain) cautiously optimistic that this kid would one day star for the national team. What's more, he represented a talent largely developed and nurtured within the Canadian system.
I may be out on a limb, but it seems clear to me from some of Aleman's father's comments that the family still feels a strong cultural connection to Costa Rica. They have only been in Canada for seven years, less than half of Aleman's life.
If it is possible to have a bottom line to all of this, here it is: If Aleman gets better and receives increasing recognition for his talents we will see that - similar to Andy Najar - the calls in Costa Rica for him to represent the country of his birth will gain momentum rapidly. And sadly for Canada supporters, it sounds like Aleman would be very open indeed to listening.