Ran across this story just now, and it speaks to some of the discussion that came after an item, farther down on this blog, on Landon Donovan and the U.S. team and the Beijing Olympics.
A point of contention among those who commented was … do club teams have to allow their players to go to the Olympics, if a national federation calls for them?
The short answer is “yes” … as this story notes.
However, keep in mind a couple of points:
1. The “must let go” applies only to the under-23 crowd. If push comes to shove, the U.S. Soccer Federation can’t “force” the Galaxy to hand over Landon Donovan, who is 26.
2. And the reality is, club teams can apply all sorts of pressure on their signed (under-23) players without officially denying them permission. Which some of those who commented on the earlier post noted.
The two players mentioned in the story linked, above, may suddenly have a “change of mind” once their clubs get hold of them.
It is interesting, though, that Brazil apparently is serious about winning the soccer gold medal. Ronaldinho and Robinho are among their three overage players. As if Brazil isn’t scary enough.
1 response so far ↓
1 Luis Bueno // Jul 9, 2008 at 1:36 PM
Brazil and Argentina have Olympic rosters that could compete – and probably get out of the first round – at the World Cup. Some Euro feds might not think so but the rest of the world cares about the Olympics. Messi cares. Robinho cares. US Soccer cares. Mexico cares. Otherwise, the FMF wouldn’t have sacked Hugo Sanchez after he failed to get El Tri’s Sub-23 to China.
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