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1. Anyone familiar with or heard of Mauricio Isais? I thought more people and sites would’ve put the LB for Pachuca on their radar. @ least, because of his play the 1st half of Liga MX season. Major networks have priced American Spanish language networks out of the soccer market, so I’ve been catching up on Liga MX. I knew there were more Mex-Americans playing in the league than Saucedo, Zendejas & Arce Jr, which have some connection to US YNTs. I know there’s more players not being reported on or spoken about amongst US fans that have American citizenship. Once Balogun says I’m playing for America! I’ll be a huge supporter …until then players like Isais in Liga MX will keep my attention. He’s already been to a couple of Mexican camps and being scouted by clubs overseas. Mexico is our neighbor and has more in common with America than England. Spanish is used by Americans more than England’s English. There’s a distinction! I’ve been told by many English people that we speak American not English. Has Balogun lived in North Carolina or Texas like Isais? Balogun is doing well, his 1st season being a starter. Clearly, not debating his skill. It doesn’t mean he skips the line over US players who have played and proven themselves in previous tournaments & competitions. Fanatics really go overboard with this kinda of stuff.

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   • I think your stretching a bit on the language thing. Isais would probably find a difference between Reyna’s Argentine Spanish, Roldan’s El Salvadoran, and Musah’s Spanish Spanish.
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     I don’t think Balogun is coming, at least anytime soon. But he has at least played for US Youth. He’s also leading a top 5 league in scoring as opposed to be a slightly above average LB in Liga Mx. Is Isais Olympic eligible, El Tri can’t offer him that?

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     • “I’m pooted out!”, “I’m’ll holla atcha!”, “Bet dat!”, “I’m gonna fire ya head up!”, “You keep launchin’, we gon’ air it out!”, “I’m bout to slide!”, “Stop all that shoe shoein!,” “You headin’ out?”, “Aw right, folk!”, “I know dat doe!” 10 phrases/sentences my friends that live in a small town called Livingston in England don’t understand. They’ve been my friends longer than I’ve been on SBI. I got here 2016. I speak & read in English. Imagine scouse, cockney, Jordi (misspelled), and macum parts of England understanding those phrases. JR, if YOU don’t understand 10 out of 10 of the phrases, or use them in your everyday speech then it’s not a stretched to say that you don’t understand what I’m saying, or even know when these phrases are used, or even what they mean. We are BOTH born and raised in America. These are commonly used phrases from Texas 2 Tennessee 2 South Carolina 2 Florida that have no generational barriers. JR, if we were teammates, you would have a hard time relating to me, which is important when it comes to us actually playing on the field. Pefok had a language barrier problem, remember. Isais is a LB, (which we have no depth), at 21 years, he’s attainable because he’s Mex-American and not English. I’ve watched Pachuca play a few times last year and had no clue he was eligible to play for the US. You should check him out, instead of poo pooin’ him and skill set away. You did the exact same thing with Jedi in 2018, remember! Balogun scored for Englands U21s more recent than his 2 tournaments for the US. El Tri isn’t playing in the Olympics, remember? It’s the US & the Dominican Republic. It’s not complicated. Next time you have a chance to talk to a person from England, 1st question you can ask, have you been to America before? Next asked them if Americans speak English? A married person doesn’t have time on their hands like I do. Btw, Spaniards speak with a lisp, when pronouncing certain words. No other Spanish speaking country does that. I’m not latino; I do know mi chicanos, boricua’s, Tigre’s, picero’s, chimaccos, pinaleros and every other Latin culture make fun of the Spaniards for this. I relate more to Herc Gomez than I do Pete of 11 Yanks as another example.

     • Mr. Think,

       That’s quite interesting. Thanks.

       I’ve played on teams where the majority of the other players had a tenuous grasp of English, Spanish or Cantonese. However, with decent coaching and enough practices , everyone eventually got the gist of it.

       You mentioned Pefok and I’m sure he did have a language problem. But then again, how much time did he spend with the team? As far as I know Timo is the only French speaker among the regulars

       Not a lot, if I remember right.

       If Pefok had had Ferreira’s minutes for example, I’m confident they would have worked out something acceptable.

       Which tells you that maybe the less Gregg called Pefok in, the less likely he was to call him in. After a while that becomes a vicious circle and tells me that maybe Gregg was never all that hot for Jordan in the first place.

     • OK – I once had a singer in my band that was from Wales. I asked him if he spoke any foreign languages and he told me he did, “American”. I played for years with a bunch of guys from Trinidad whose first language was English but the dialect was so different I couldn’t understand them when they spoke at normal speed while talking to each other. They would speak at a slower speed when they spoke to me but I don’t recall it ever impacting our ability to communicate on the field or to be friends but maybe they thought differently.

     • I got most of those southern idioms (I think), lived in Texas for three years. As I said I don’t see Balogun jumping ship anytime before 2025. As for the language culture barrier Adams, Aaronson, Pulisic, Turner, Horvath, Sargent, De La Torre, Weah (Scotland), Steffen, Dike, and now McKennie all play or have played in the UK not to mention Musah, Jedi, and CCV who grew up there. You must have misunderstood my last comment if he’s Olympic eligible invite him in.

     • Tele57

       I worked with a Jamaican chief engineer. We got on great but I can promise you that I understood about 40%, at best, of what he actually said to me.

       But when it really mattered we got it done.

     • I know Claudio speaks fluent spanish, but I don’t think Gio does!

2. They are really trying to winch Bolagun. This is NPFLU BS:

   “Update: Nigeria-English Goal-Scoring Machine, Folarin Balogun Usurps Mbappe; Becomes Highest Goal Scorer 🇳🇬🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿💪🏿

   21-year-old Nigerian-English-American forward, Folarin Balogun has a hat trick for Reims against Lorient FC.

   He is now officially the top goalscorer in the French Ligue 1 with 14 goals, ahead of Mbappe, Neymar and Messi 🚶🏿‍♂️

   Kid, keep the fire burning 🇳🇬”

   Stop trying to pouch him……THE KID IS AMERICAN!!!!!!!!! Lol

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   • “Stop trying to pouch him……THE KID IS AMERICAN!!!!!!!!! Lol”

     No one is trying to pouch him.

     If you read his latest comments Balogun seems perfectly happy to do well in France and use that to help him challenge for a place with Arsenal.

     The better he does at Reims the better his options are this summer. They are already tossing figures like 52 million but Arteta doesn’t seem interested in selling.

     If he wins a job at Arsenal he’ll be partnering Saka. That’s a pretty good recommendation for job with England in the 2024 Euros. This is one very confident kid and I doubt he’s listening to people who tell him he has no chance of playing for England.

     If I were him I wouldn’t be thinking about any international teams until I settle my club situation. If it plays out the way it is looking now, then he could well have his choice of countries.

     We’re not out of it but the better he does the more it looks like he’ll be the new Trent Alexander-Arnold.

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     • Don’t think he is winning the job I’ve Neketiah. Neketiah is scoring regularly for Arsenal. Everyone in English circles rate Neketiah higher than Balogun.

   • Balogun has: Abraham, Neketiah, Calvert-Lewin, Toney, Wilson, Rashford, and Harry Kane to contend with for England.

     He has Oshimen at Nigeria to contend with. He could be the #2

     He would immediately be the #1 striker for the US.

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     • Those guys could all be washed up in a year or two.

       So we want guys who are good as long as they have no opposition to beat out? Great player.

       But I wouldn’t argue with you.

       Because I’m not the guy you need to convince.

       That would be Mr. Balogun.

       And right now, his #1 thing is win a job at Arsenal. Win a shot at that and everything else will fall into place.

       Basically, all this switching to the USMNT or Nigeria is way premature.

       The soonest you can really crush his dreams of being a regular for England would be in the run up for the 2024 Euros. And if that doesn’t go well for him, he’ll think there will be turnover after the Euros and he’ll have a shot at 2026 World Cup.

       Basically we need to hope that he does so poorly that England won’t even consider him.

       “You suck too much to play for England but you’re not so bad that we won’t take you! ”

       That’s a great recruiting pitch. I’m sure the USMNT is a solid safety school. But Balogun has specifically stated that he likes to takes risks. That’s why he’s on loan in France not somewhere in England.

       If he does become part of the USMNT 2026 squad it probably won’t be until the last minute .

       Like JR said, 2025.

       Hoping for mediocrity in your target is a delicate position to be in as a recruiter.