The Dutch FA would have started approaching him when he was 16 or 17, and upon discovering that he was Canadian, probably guessed he would just go on and play for Canada. But when they noticed that he wasn’t called up by Canada’s youth levels, even for the 2005 U-20 WC in Holland (the far less talented De Jong, who also played in Holland was however part of that team, despite playing a division below De Guzman), they probably pointed it out to De Guzman. He might have talked with the FA, he might not have. But the point remains that the Canadian FA chose Kassaye instead of De Guzman for a Youth World Cup that was in De Guzman’s back yard. De Guzman could have even watched the games, and felt that he should have been called up. Watching Canada finish last in their group, and Holland go to the quarter-finals probably made him think that it was strange that the “smaller” of the two sides didn’t want him, but the bigger did. Because I have no doubt that the Dutch FA talked to him a few times, and that they got their coach, or another high-ranking member of the FA to say to De Guzman how they would have liked him to be Dutch to be able to call him up to his squad… And why not get a better result than a quarter-final loss on penalties against the eventual finalists…

Sure, they couldn’t know when he was 12 how good he would be (even now, nobody really knows how good he’ll be). But between when he was 12 back in 1999 and when he turned 20 in 2007, stuff has happened. His brother must have mentioned him to the Canadian FA, who should have noticed that he got a regular place in Feyenoord’s set-up in 2005… When he was just 18.

Canada called up Julian de Guzman to the U-20s when he was just 18. That was back in 1999. If they weren’t aware of his brother’s talent, then there’s nothing that can be done to help them, I fear… Didn’t they even bother to call him up to the U-20s when he turned 18?

Take Slovakia, who are just one small place in front of Canada in Fifa’s useless ranking. They have a boatload of players who leave for foreign leagues (mainly Germany, Russia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic), and loads of players who are eligible for several countries, since the eastern bloc dissolved after their birth, so they can technically ask to play for the country of either of their grandparent’s countries… And it’s rare to have all four grandparents who are of the same nationality as the player. So what does Slovakia do? They use the U-17, U-19 and U-21s as “filters”. They call up massive amounts of players, and often change 12-13 players from one call-up to the next. The aim isn’t to force these players to play for Slovakia (youth selections aren’t binding), but to get the players to “choose” at a very young age, hopefully before they get a second nationality (often German), that they want to play for Slovakia. And pretty much any player that leaves for a “big” club (Zenit St-Petersburg, for instance) gets an instant call-up for the relevant category. Why doesn’t Canada do this? Because the FA is a mess. Youth sides should focus on detecting Canadian talent. So how can the Canadian FA get their knickers in a twist over a player they never picked? Not picking him (and picking other players instead) shows that the Canadian FA didn’t think he was a big talent. The Dutch FA has probably been talking to him since he’s 17-18, because they’re very well organised. By showing him that they want him, they’ve doubtlessly cast a positive light on playing for the Netherlands in the future.

U-17, U-19, U-20, U-21 and U-23 selections are there for a reason : to “test” the NT of tomorrow. If you never choose a player for any of them, how do you expect him to even believe he has a possible future for the NT? It’s not a question of de Guzman being unknown and then suddenly becoming great and dropping his country in one go. He was known to the FA because his brother was a regular feature of the NT, and should have been at least watched because he was playing in a relatively important team at a young age. Also, there can be signs that show a player is “forgotten” : at the U-20 World Cup in the Netherlands in 2005 (Jonathan was 18, and since he lived in the Netherlands and had just become a first team player for Feyenoord, he probably paid attention to this), Canada preferred to call Simon Kassaye, a player who was without a club rather than him. A player without a club. That pretty much says it all. I don’t know anything about Mr Kassaye, but taking a player without a club to a “World Cup” over a player who’s a first team player in an important European side means that either he’s a great player (but then why doesn’t he have a club??) or that the FA doesn’t care in the least about the other player. De Guzman must have noticed that, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Dutch FA didn’t point it out to him, and even have their U-20 coach call de Guzman and say that he would have chosen him… Had he been Dutch.

It’s not a question of “scouting”. It’s a pure question of logic. The Canadian FA knows when youth players leave canada to train with European sides. They should have a shortlist of all Canadians playing in top clubs, even if the players are only 14. When Hargreaves left Calgary for Bayern Munich, I doubt nobody in the Canadian FA knew about this kid, and how the big Bayern Munich had just moved to swoop him up. He was 16. Logical consequence? Next game of the U-17, U-19 U-20 or U-21s give him a call-up, and play him for 10 minutes at the end of the game. Like that, you show him you’re counting on him.

I’m an English national and a French national. I consider I’m English rather than French. But if I had been any good at football when I was 17 (when I got French citizenship), and England hadn’t called me up for any youth games, I would assume that the England managers weren’t interested in me. So if the French FA called me up for a U-19 game, then I’d accept it, and probably pledge my future to France. Even if I would have had better chances to play regularly for England (say, if I was a goalkeeper). You can’t expect players to wait until they’re 19 and they’ve got another nation’s FA telling them they’re very interested in them to start wondering if they’re any good.

Canada can’t wait for players to be 18-19, and then start asking them to turn up for their country. Quality players know that if they’re not called up when they’re 15-16 for the U-17s or 17 for the U-19s, then they’re not that wanted, especially when the country in question isn’t exactly a powerhouse.

Canada are a regular feature in U-20 tournaments on a global scale. How come when Canada made up their squad for the 2005 U-20 World Cup in the Netherlands, nobody called up on de Guzman? He wouldn’t have been the youngest in the squad, nor the only player from the Dutch Eredivie (Ramalho and De Jong also played in the Netherlands)… Why wasn’t he in the squad? Not good enough? Undecided? Why wasn’t he part of the 2003 squad either?

See, when you make a good player feel like he’s unwanted (a good way of doing this is by not giving him a call-up before he obtains a second nationality), then how can this player believe he has a “future” with the country? You can feel like Canada would benefit from the presence of a high-profile player, but Canada should give itself the means to do that. And when a country doesn’t bother to call up a player in its youth sides, then it must accept that the player can be dissapointed by the country, and accept the proposition to play for another country. Just like Hargreaves did.