Stefan Mitrovic

[InglewoodJack]

26 minutes ago, narduch said:

Still think he always wanted to play for Serbia.

Blaming the CSA (or Forge or TFC) is an easy trope being used to mask that and make people feel sympathy for his decision.

And of course as seen above a few posters have reflexively fallen for it

If that was the case, why bother even talking about Canada? We’ve had young guys go directly to playing with other nations, they didn’t have to pretend they wanted to play for Canada. I don’t think he needs to worry much about his reputation in Canada seeing as unless you’re at the level of Davies you have zero marketing value in this country, and he’s also committing to one of the most insane fan bases in the world

[narduch]

6 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

If that was the case, why bother even talking about Canada? We’ve had young guys go directly to playing with other nations, they didn’t have to pretend they wanted to play for Canada. I don’t think he needs to worry much about his reputation in Canada seeing as unless you’re at the level of Davies you have zero marketing value in this country, and he’s also committing to one of the most insane fan bases in the world

Because he doesn't want Canada fans to hate him?

Your marketing commemt isn't true.

Osorio has a commercial and Larin has some stuff too

Edited July 25, 2022 by narduch

[Obinna]

1 minute ago, narduch said:

Because he doesn't want Canada fans to hate him?

1) Why would he care if Canadian fans hate him?

2) Wouldn't they hate him anyways if he ultimately played for Serbia?

[narduch]

1 minute ago, Obinna said:

1) Why would he care if Canadian fans hate him?

2) Wouldn't they hate him anyways if he ultimately played for Serbia?

For future endeavors? Camps? Training? Etc.

Some Canadian fans defended Whoregreaves too.

 

[Obinna]

15 minutes ago, narduch said:

For future endeavors? Camps? Training? Etc.

Some Canadian fans defended Whoregreaves too.

 

Future Canadian endeavors? Why would he care if he always wanted to play for Serbia?

I think he was genuinely interested in both countries at one time (like he said), but now is focused on the country that's giving him the opportunity that makes sense for him (Serbia).

[InglewoodJack]

20 minutes ago, narduch said:

Because he doesn't want Canada fans to hate him?

Your marketing commemt isn't true.

Osorio has a commercial and Larin has some stuff too

As much as I don't like saying this, who cares about Canada fans? He's currently at the most historically important club in serbia. If he plays for Serbia, the entire country will be behind him. Youtube some Serbia crowds at international matches. Youtube some red star crowds at home. Compare that to the voyagers. It's not even in the same discussion. We're talking about "how can such and such hockey player from france with canadian citizenship commit to canada? doesn't he care about french hockey fans??" level things.

 

Also, yes Osorio and Larin have commercials or billboards or whatever, but consider this: Alphonso Davies was recently rated the 19th most marketable Canadian athlete in our country (ignoring abroad). Tristan Thompson, a vaguely useful NBA bench player is exponentially more popular than Phonzie and his biggest claim to fame is cheating on a Kardashian. If Davies and a generic 3rd line mediocre hockey player walked around any major city in canada counting the number of people who'd stop them for autographs, it's the 3rd liner who'd be stopped more often, I'm very confident in saying. Considering Mitrovic is probably the 45th best soccer player in Canada right now, like, yeah he's gonna miss out on getting a billboard in Vaughan to shill for the local sandwich shop, but that's about it. Not to mention that unless his career totally flames out (which if it does, then this is all pointless), he's going to play at clubs with far larger marketing budgets than CANMNT for the next decade+.

 

[narduch]

5 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

As much as I don't like saying this, who cares about Canada fans? He's currently at the most historically important club in serbia. If he plays for Serbia, the entire country will be behind him. Youtube some Serbia crowds at international matches. Youtube some red star crowds at home. Compare that to the voyagers. It's not even in the same discussion. We're talking about "how can such and such hockey player from france with canadian citizenship commit to canada? doesn't he care about french hockey fans??" level things.

 

Also, yes Osorio and Larin have commercials or billboards or whatever, but consider this: Alphonso Davies was recently rated the 19th most marketable Canadian athlete in our country (ignoring abroad). Tristan Thompson, a vaguely useful NBA bench player is exponentially more popular than Phonzie and his biggest claim to fame is cheating on a Kardashian. If Davies and a generic 3rd line mediocre hockey player walked around any major city in canada counting the number of people who'd stop them for autographs, it's the 3rd liner who'd be stopped more often, I'm very confident in saying. Considering Mitrovic is probably the 45th best soccer player in Canada right now, like, yeah he's gonna miss out on getting a billboard in Vaughan to shill for the local sandwich shop, but that's about it. Not to mention that unless his career totally flames out (which if it does, then this is all pointless), he's going to play at clubs with far larger marketing budgets than CANMNT for the next decade+.

 

You are confusing your own feelings with that of the player (and his dad lol)

[InglewoodJack]

29 minutes ago, narduch said:

You are confusing your own feelings with that of the player (and his dad lol)

Which feelings exactly? You don't think his dad, who is famously protective, famously serbian, and famously thinks his kid is a generational talent really thinks that Canada has better opportunities for his kid than serbia? You don't think the player who now plays for the most popular club in the entire country isn't seeing that his reception there beats anything he's ever experienced in Canada?

Edited July 25, 2022 by InglewoodJack

[grigorio]

3 hours ago, The Real Marc said:

Used as leverage once again? Sounds like we're getting Yankoved here. Enjoy playing for Serbia. I can appreciate the appeal for him and his family.

Didn't we cancel one or two camps that he was committed to coming in to? Same with Flores? I guess it's likely that both these guys ended up with Serbia and Mexico, but we didn't help our chances to influence things much along the way. Also, if I'm Stef hearing Wheeler (who clown or not, is close to and representative of the CSA) spout off about how he's buried behind Jayden Nelson and god knows who else on the depth chart it's fair that Serbia is a more welcoming and appealing situation. 

 

Feels like for Canada to get these guys we had to give flawless performances but ended up conceding a bunch of own goals along the way. 

[The Real Marc]

3 hours ago, InglewoodJack said:

I wasn’t too plugged in to the Yankov situation, but if we lose Mitrovic which seems increasingly likely, Canada definitely has a lot of the blame to shoulder. The biggest issue so far is that to this point they don’t even rate him as high as some other players who haven’t even cracked the NT, so he sits way down our depth chart. Clearly if he’s scoring goals for Red Star he more than deserves a call up, but by that time, it might be too late. It’s like the hot girl in high school (Canada) finally notices you after you filled into your frame that one summer, but by that time, you already started dating the girl next door (Serbia) who has always had her eye on you. 
 

i don’t think Canada has “leverage” over Serbia because Serbia has a much better NT than us that is much more difficult to crack. They’ll call him up if he’s good enough, and if he burns them, they have more Mitrovics in their system than we do, so they’ll be ok.

This hot girl crapola makes zero sense as we were not hot stuff til recently, still not hot stuff for many dual nats, you later admit Serbia has the more hot girl legit NT, and Serbia didn't give a crap about Mitrovic til like six seconds ago too. We invited him to u20 camps before Serbia was interested. Genuine nonsense.

This isn't 2001. We have many players in Europe and MLS on the margins on the Nats. We're qualifying for the World Cup. We can't cap every guy with a pro contract somewhere.

And even when we want to, they don't always reciprocate.

The reality is Mitrovic is willing to play youth soccer for Serbia but was not willing to make a one-time switch to join our men's program this summer.

That's his prerogative. If I were related to Uncle Ivan, I'd likely do the same.

Cancelled camps or not - that willingness to settle for less from Serbia than from us is not something we can overcome. There's no legit blame on the CSA here.

Edited July 25, 2022 by The Real Marc

[InglewoodJack]

4 minutes ago, The Real Marc said:

This hot girl crapola makes zero sense as we were not hot stuff til recently, still not hot stuff for many dual nats, you later admit Serbia has the more hot girl legit NT, and Serbia didn't give a crap about Mitrovic til like six seconds ago too. We invited him to u20 camps before Serbia was interested. Genuine nonsense.

This isn't 2001. We have many players in Europe and MLS on the margins on the Nats. We're qualifying for the World Cup. We can't cap every guy with a pro contract somewhere.

And even when we want to, they don't always reciprocate.

The reality is Mitrovic is willing to play youth soccer for Serbia but was not willing to make a one-time switch to join our men's program this summer.

That's his prerogative. If I were related to Uncle Ivan, I'd likely do the same.

Cancelled camps or not - that willingness to settle for less from Serbia than from us is not something we can overcome. There's no legit blame on the CSA here.

The "hot girl" comment was specifically in reference to the fact that he was at least at one time interested in playing for Canada, Canada didn't think he deserved the call up, he's taken a step forward, and all of a sudden, we're competing against the new team that wants him. I don't even know if CANMNT's opinion on him has changed to this point- maybe Herdman thinks that he still slots behind Jayden Nelson and he isn't good enough to crack our team, but I don't think we have enough players in Europe to completely disregard a 19 year old playing for Red Star.

The situation, as it has played out publicly is:

- Mitrovic wanted to play for canada, he said so in an interview

- Canada didn't feel like he was worth a call up. That's their prerogative.

- He's improved, got to a better club, and a second country has swooped in to bring him into the mix.

If he does commit to serbia, I think CSA deserves some of the blame insofar as they could've identified his talent earlier and prioritized him more, but they didn't. Ultimately, reasons why a player commits to a country run far deeper than getting snubbed at 18 or whatever so I don't think this would be cause to burn the CSA down and fire everyone or whatever, but I think it's worth examining what Canada missed in their evaluation of him. I consider no legit blame on the CSA with regards to the Flores situation or any other player who either never wanted to play with us or got an opportunity that is extremely difficult to turn down like Tomori, but this was a player who was gettable at some point, he's now less gettable, and that could be an indictment of Canada's talent evaluation. Or maybe I'm wrong, and he flames out.

 

[ddoouugg]

3 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

 

- Canada didn't feel like he was worth a call up. That's their prerogative.

 

I think he did not want to file his one time switch when called

 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Not being named on the 60 man provisional roster for last year's Gold Cup is not looking so clever now he has signed for Red Star. Ivan Mitrovic appeared to be extremely irked by that to an extent that seems unlikely if Serbia was the only national team on Stefan Mitrovic's radar.

[InglewoodJack]

4 minutes ago, ddoouugg said:

 

That was this summer, no? At that point, he knows he's not making our world cup roster, he knew he was gonna get a nice transfer to a bigger club, why commit to a team that rates you behind Jayden Nelson?

[costarg]

4 hours ago, SoCalTransport said:

I also believe the CSB dispute doesn’t really make us look like a great option.

The CSA really needs to change things from an optics point of view.

The CSA is soo deeply dysfunctional that this can't and won't happen organically. 

The CSA is kinda like a crack/heroin addict.  1- they need to acknowledge they have a problem and need help 2- They need help from the outside because they can't trust themselves from themselves 3- they lack the knowledge to dig themselves out of this alone.

At this point, they still haven't reached step 1.

[Kadenge]

Wheeler mouthing off that Mitrovic was below Jayden Nelson or insert any name here...... on the depth chart  was probably  Wheeler saying Wheeler things. I really can't imagine that Herdman who is an astute man, would have made a statement like that. Mitrovic was apparently asked to file his one time switch but didn't, presumably as he wasn't given any assurance about playing time. Stefan just got signed by the biggest team in Serbia. Ofcourse he's going to say he wants to play for Serbia. Right now his club career is in Serbia. It's self preservation. If Serbia do call him he will answer the call. Canada had a chance to cap him and didn't. The only way this could cahnge is if he gets sold to a team outside Serbia and he hasn't been capped yet!

[El Hombre]

On 7/19/2022 at 3:16 PM, El Hombre said:

But Herdman himself calls Mitrovic a winger (this is inferred by me from when Wheeler said he was behind guys like Corbeanu and Nelson in the depth chart).  Why does he do that?  Ignorance?  I just feel like there's something more to this.

So, I finally got the definitive answer to my own question: last night I dreamt about formations and, while waiting in line for the bathroom (in my dream), I ran into @Unnamed Trialist (again, in my dream) and he explained to me in great detail the roles of each player in the three-man midfield.  @Unnamed Trialist had this information because he had played a total of seven times for the national team under Herdman.  I don't remember the specifics of each role but it was clear that Mitrovic was not suited for a central position.

So there, case closed.

 

I don't know what's worse: the fact that I am dreaming about formations or that people from this forum are making guest appearances.

[dyslexic nam]

9 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

So, I finally got the definitive answer to my own question: last night I dreamt about formations and, while waiting in line for the bathroom (in my dream), I ran into @Unnamed Trialist (again, in my dream) and he explained to me in great detail the roles of each player in the three-man midfield.  @Unnamed Trialist had this information because he had played a total of seven times for the national team under Herdman.  I don't remember the specifics of each role but it was clear that Mitrovic was not suited for a central position.

So there, case closed.

 

I don't know what's worse: the fact that I am dreaming about formations or that people from this forum are making guest appearances.

To be honest, the whole thing is deeply disturbing.   

[El Hombre]

10 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

To be honest, the whole thing is deeply disturbing.   

I'm not happy about it, I can tell you that.

[Unnamed Trialist]

5 hours ago, El Hombre said:

So, I finally got the definitive answer to my own question: last night I dreamt about formations and, while waiting in line for the bathroom (in my dream), I ran into @Unnamed Trialist (again, in my dream) and he explained to me in great detail the roles of each player in the three-man midfield.  @Unnamed Trialist had this information because he had played a total of seven times for the national team under Herdman.  I don't remember the specifics of each role but it was clear that Mitrovic was not suited for a central position.

So there, case closed.

 

I don't know what's worse: the fact that I am dreaming about formations or that people from this forum are making guest appearances.

You have a lot of information there about the unnamed. 

[Bison44]

I would have thought that you would be dreaming of you and Wheels frolicking in a flowered meadow.  

[kacbru]

7 hours ago, El Hombre said:

I'm not happy about it, I can tell you that.

You need to drink more, or drink less.  You can't go on doing what you are doing if you are having these dreams of UT.

[frmr]

8 hours ago, El Hombre said:

So, I finally got the definitive answer to my own question: last night I dreamt about formations and, while waiting in line for the bathroom (in my dream), I ran into @Unnamed Trialist (again, in my dream) and he explained to me in great detail the roles of each player in the three-man midfield.  @Unnamed Trialist had this information because he had played a total of seven times for the national team under Herdman.  I don't remember the specifics of each role but it was clear that Mitrovic was not suited for a central position.

So there, case closed.

 

I don't know what's worse: the fact that I am dreaming about formations or that people from this forum are making guest appearances.

Weird.

[El Hombre]

48 minutes ago, kacbru said:

You need to drink more, or drink less.  You can't go on doing what you are doing if you are having these dreams of UT.

You're telling me.  I get enough people condescending to me while I'm awake, I don't need more while I'm asleep.

I blame it on having tequila for the first time in five years.

[Kent]

On 7/25/2022 at 12:54 PM, InglewoodJack said:

If he does commit to serbia, I think CSA deserves some of the blame insofar as they could've identified his talent earlier and prioritized him more, but they didn't. Ultimately, reasons why a player commits to a country run far deeper than getting snubbed at 18 or whatever so I don't think this would be cause to burn the CSA down and fire everyone or whatever, but I think it's worth examining what Canada missed in their evaluation of him. I consider no legit blame on the CSA with regards to the Flores situation or any other player who either never wanted to play with us or got an opportunity that is extremely difficult to turn down like Tomori, but this was a player who was gettable at some point, he's now less gettable, and that could be an indictment of Canada's talent evaluation. Or maybe I'm wrong, and he flames out.

At the root of everything you are saying is an implication of what Narduch said. Mitrovic always wanted to play for Serbia. You are blaming Canada, but not Serbia, for not capping Mitrovic when he wasn't yet good enough. And now that he is (possibly some day soon) good enough to choose either team, he will choose Serbia. You are saying that the CSA essentially failed to trick him into playing for us, which goes against what he actually wants.

So the criticism against Canada is that we didn't call a player to play with us, that doesn't really want to play with us, before they were good enough to play with us.

And besides, as others have mentioned, he refused to file his one-time switch to play for Canada anyways. So how did Canada miss an opportunity to cap him if he wasn't willing to make himself eligible for a cap?