Niko Sigur

[jordan]

Official list 

[narduch]

24 minutes ago, Ottawafan said:

Thought so to until someone who works in the CSA told me. 

Ya that really doesn't corroborate it either.

Can't recall any FIFA rules like that.

[costarg]

6 minutes ago, Ottawafan said:

Thought so to until someone who works in the CSA told me. 

people at the CSA also said they were being transparent about finances.

[Ottawafan]

Just now, costarg said:

people at the CSA also said they were being transparent about finances.

Publicly yes they did. 

[Shway]

Just now, narduch said:

Ya that really doesn't corroborate it either.

Can't recall any FIFA rules like that.

Neither can I....but I guess I gotta believe him? He seems to know a lot more than the usual.
So I would suggest you should believe that a federation can block a player from representing another nation that they were always eligible for. 

I thought it was clear that some people who work for the CSA are incompetent, but I guess that was all sorted out.

[Shway]

Anyways another one bites the dust. 

I know its youth and he's not fully lost, but this is why I don't get excited or talk about these European Duals.

They'll use Canada only until another opportunity presents itself.

[Dominic94]

Did he have to file a one time switch ?

[Bison44]

24 minutes ago, Shway said:

Neither can I....but I guess I gotta believe him? He seems to know a lot more than the usual.

if thats true than it should be easy to prove eh? Unless its some unwritten rule, then its not true eh?  

23 minutes ago, Shway said:

Anyways another one bites the dust. 

At least this one was quick, never heard of him 2 months ago, he's a Croation now.  Not like some where you invest years of your fan energy and get disapointed in the end.  Kind of sucks to lose guys who were in MLS academies, L1O and Usports here in canada.  

[phresh]

11 minutes ago, Dominic94 said:

Did he have to file a one time switch ?

No, he’s never repped Canada before

[The Real Marc]

Give him credit, he knows what he wants. Best of luck and maybe he'll pull a Vitoria.

[PiedPilko]

1 hour ago, Ottawafan said:

Thought so to until someone who works in the CSA told me. 

Why didn't this come up for Mitrovic, Flores or Yankov?

[canuckgbp]

1 hour ago, Ottawafan said:

Thought so to until someone who works in the CSA told me. 

It wasn’t Earl Cochrane was it? 
 

[Ottawafan]

1 hour ago, PiedPilko said:

Why didn't this come up for Mitrovic, Flores or Yankov?

No clue. 

[Kadenge]

I know we all blame a lack of youth games for the reason we lose some of these players, but Sigur very likely would not have been selected. He wasn't called for the U20s. Which once again points to an issue with player identification. The other major factor is that there are loads of age levels for Euro youth tournaments and the opportunities to showcase your talent is much greater. In Concacaf it's usually just WC qualification at U17 and U20. Granted if the CSA had loads of money we could have friendlies like the USA....

[Bison44]

2 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

I know we all blame a lack of youth games for the reason we lose some of these players, but Sigur very likely would not have been selected. He wasn't called for the U20s. Which once again points to an issue with player identification. 

He was in an MLS academy (always scouted hard for youth camps), after that York Univ and L10 (Vaughn).  Plenty of guys had their eyes on him....this smacks me as a late bloomer.  Which I always think we have more of because plenty of our kids dont get the early head start you would in a soccer crazy nation, but end up on the national team at 23-24 after they spend 4 years in NCAA.  

[king1010]

16 minutes ago, Ottawafan said:

No clue. 

Probably because no such regulation exists. We’ve never seen it in the news that any country has enforced such a regulation. All we have is a poster saying some guy at the CSA said it exists. 

[Kadenge]

3 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

He was in an MLS academy (always scouted hard for youth camps), after that York Univ and L10 (Vaughn).  Plenty of guys had their eyes on him....this smacks me as a late bloomer.  Which I always think we have more of because plenty of our kids dont get the early head start you would in a soccer crazy nation, but end up on the national team at 23-24 after they spend 4 years in NCAA.  

there sure are loads of former NCAA players on our Men's team, but some like Laryea and Larin  came through Sigma who have an excellent reputation for player development. Larin was capped for the senior team before he played for our youth team (U20s). There was an article during the WC wherein Tajon said he didn't make the U20s.  I hear what you are saying  but Sigur is a 2003 and he is starting every game for one of the top sides in Croatia.  If he has the ability and skill  to play at that level it didn't happen over just 1 season.  Another example is Kone. You don't go from not cutting it for an MLS academy to  starting for Montreal the next year and getting capped for our Men's team after 2 or so pro games. I'm not disputing that he was scouted but there's something lacking in our scouting criteria or capability.

[NotCanadian]

On 4/28/2023 at 4:50 PM, InglewoodJack said:

What's the quality in Croatia, outside of Dynamo Zagreb like? I've driven in front of the Hadjuk Split stadium before, not a small park at all. I actually got stuck in the worst traffic jam of my life coming back from a day trip in Bosnia on the night of (I think?) Split's home opener. Like 5KM of standstill bumper to bumper traffic, every other car with a Hadjuk Split flag or sticker.

 

Still, a 19 (20?) year old professional in Europe is someone we need to pay attention to. The fact he went from U Sports to first tier Croatia is a crazy move. Also an indictment of Canadian soccer opportunities- he played for VWC as a kid, but had to go half way across the world to turn pro. I'm sure he was not the same player then as he is now, and VWC had their reasons for not keeping him onboard, but just a funny outcome.

It's okay. It's a selling league where most teams  need to sell  their best young players every year so it's difficult finding consistency for UEFA competitions. It was a Top 10 league a couple of years ago but now it's barely Top 20 despite improving quite a bit. The way the points are attributed makes the rankings extremely volitile and not a decent way of measuring the strength of any leage.

Dinamo is the richest and most successful club and competes in the Champions League groups stages or Europa League knockouts. The main problem with the league in the last 15 years or so is the abysmal state of Hajduk Split which was once the dominant club in Croatia. With only one team competing in UEFA it's difficult to gain the points needed to move up the rankings. For example, ff Dinamo was in the Conference League every year and did as expected, the league would be ranked Top 10 again which shows how flawed the ranking system is.

Hajduk has improved immensely the last few seasons, mostly at the impulse Marko Livaja (he's the guy who scored the second goal against you guys). They won the cup this season and the last after abstaining for about a decade. They last won the league title when Modric was 19 and just returning to Dinamo from his loan to Zrinjski in Bosnia. Dinamo had a great generation of ballers then with Eduardo Da Silva, Vedran Ćorluka, Luka Modrić  and Mario Mandžukić. After that Dinamo has been dominant with the occassional challenge coming from Rijeka led by the current Slovenia's NT manager Matjaž Kek.

 

tl;dr: It's okay.

[costarg]

3 hours ago, Bison44 said:

He was in an MLS academy (always scouted hard for youth camps), after that York Univ and L10 (Vaughn).  Plenty of guys had their eyes on him....this smacks me as a late bloomer.  Which I always think we have more of because plenty of our kids dont get the early head start you would in a soccer crazy nation, but end up on the national team at 23-24 after they spend 4 years in NCAA.  

I feel we're a little too liberal with the late bloomer label.  Easy excuse.  I'd prefer we just call it what it is: we can identify talent, we just don't know what to do with it and we don't have the experienced coaches to develop these players specific skill sets properly.  It only comes out after they meet that special coach outside of Canada.

I realize it's a little harsh, but gotta call it what it is.  

[Shway]

Late bloomer or not. It’s just funny how quick these guys aren’t Canadian.

Regardless I will always prefer the guys like Davies, David, or Larin who talk about Canada as an honour and a privilege to play for. 

Bunch of users these guys are. 

[Dominic94]

Just because he’s good now doesn’t mean he’s going to be good later.

 

also is this guy really any better than Kobe Franklin ?

[Stoppage Time]

5 hours ago, Kadenge said:

there sure are loads of former NCAA players on our Men's team, but some like Laryea and Larin  came through Sigma who have an excellent reputation for player development. Larin was capped for the senior team before he played for our youth team (U20s). There was an article during the WC wherein Tajon said he didn't make the U20s.  I hear what you are saying  but Sigur is a 2003 and he is starting every game for one of the top sides in Croatia.  If he has the ability and skill  to play at that level it didn't happen over just 1 season.  Another example is Kone. You don't go from not cutting it for an MLS academy to  starting for Montreal the next year and getting capped for our Men's team after 2 or so pro games. I'm not disputing that he was scouted but there's something lacking in our scouting criteria or capability.

I am curious. Which players are Sigma's latest promising prospects? Which other private academies are producing players for Canada? Thanks!

[An Observer]

Vaughan had produced a few, notably Johnston, Miller, St Clair, Raposo

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaughan_Azzurri

 

[ballerz]

8 hours ago, Dominic94 said:

Just because he’s good now doesn’t mean he’s going to be good later.

 

also is this guy really any better than Kobe Franklin ?

One of the more reasonable posts here.

[johnyb]

This is a simple case of hoping he's not good enough for Croatia in the long run, but good enough for us (Hoilett/Cristante). If he gets the chance to Rep Croatia's Mens' Team, he's taking it. If we keep our trajectory going, pretty soon the list of Countries ahead of us will dwindle.