It seems fitting that on the day that a certain Calgary-born midfielder announces his retirement from the international game, we once again wade into the intractable morass of a story that is the Jonathan de Guzman saga.
For any who may have missed it: The younger de Guzman found himself at BMO Field Tuesday night to support his brother, Julian, in Canada's game against Honduras. When approached by The Score's James Sharman and asked about the suggestions that he was hoping to return to play for Canada, JDG2 instead reaffirmed his commitment to his adopted homeland, the Netherlands.
At a Canadian national-team game. While wearing a commemorative Canada soccer jacket.
For years, I've asserted that whatever JDG2's transgressions, whatever slights the Canadian fans may have felt from his past duplicity, he should be welcomed back with open arms if he was willing, and if he was able to help Canada get closer to the World Cup.
But everyone has a breaking point, a moment at which you realize a long-held belief is simply no longer tenable. And I have finally reached that breaking point.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
In fairness, I took some comfort in that belief, knowing that the practical possibilities of JDG2 ever suiting up for Canada were minuscule at best. And this has nothing to do with his personal allegiances, his chances of making the Dutch team or anything like that. I'm talking the legal nitty-gritty.
For Jono to ever play for Canada, he'd need to reacquire his Canadian passport. Considering he would have had to relinquish it to get his Dutch citizenship in the first place, this would mean he'd have to go through the same immigration process as anyone else, which would include years of residency in Canada. For someone with European footballing ambitions, this simply wasn't going to happen.
So, all along, whatever messages he may have sent out through his brother last winter, Jono was never realistically going to play for Canada. Why he would have hung Julian out to dry like that, only he knows. And even now, Julian has suggested to reporters, including Kurtis Larson, that Jono's latest pledge of fealty to the Oranje is just a "bluff".
Either they know something about the immigration process that we don't, or they don't know too much about it at all. Or, as is most likely, Julian sincerely loves his misguided younger brother and is still looking to protect him by saying what people want to hear. For this, we could never fault him.
But there is fault to be laid at Jono's feet here. Some would say he isn't telling us anything we haven't heard before -- or that "it's just a jacket". But this is the world of sports. Symbolism is paramount. People fly off the handle when a crest, a uniform or team colours are amended. And that's just on the club side of things. When you heap the additional blind illogical nature of nationalism into the mix, there is very little room for error.
Perhaps it was said best in a wonderfully (and somewhat uncharacteristically) unequivocal response from Sharman's colleague Richard Whittall:
But the strident disconnect between professed “love of country” and the desire to play for Holland because “they regularly make World Cups” cannot be explained away, apologized for, reasoned with. It’s a disgrace. We’re not an outfit or a means to a starting XI, or a mere shirt, or flag. You can’t profess to be a proud Canadian and then use your national team colours as leverage.We’re Canada.
You may recall that, just over a week earlier, fellow Canadian-born player David "Junior" Hoilett found himself at BMO watching Les Rouges in action. Predictably, he was asked about when he may declare his international intentions. Equally predictably, he insisted that he needed to sort out his club situation before he could commit himself to a country in international play.
This is all that Junior has ever told us. He hasn't lied. He hasn't changed his mind. And he certainly hasn't professed his devotion to another nation while wearing our colours on national television.
Jonathan de Guzman did.
So let's be very careful not to conflate de Guzman and Hoilett, even though their names are often mentioned together. Hoilett's case is his own. His decision will be his own. We don't know how it's going to turn out. But let's reserve judgment on young Hoilett, a man who could still very well have a bright future representing the nation of his birth.
No, de Guzman's name should not be listed alongside Hoilett's. It should be listed alongside Owen Hargreaves, Teal Bunbury, Sydney Leroux and the Bosnian goalkeeper. People who will never again wear the colours of Canada in international competition.
Yes, it's time to finally and fully accept that Jonathan de Guzman will never play for Canada, and move on.
And y'know what, after all this time... I'm fine with that.
.