[aussie]

Originally Posted by roseboy64

As such FIFA has to give the go ahead for Arteta or Almunia or anyone with no British heritage or schooling to play for England or any Home Nation. To grant that it'd pretty much mean the disbandment of the national associations and to form a GB team as FIFA views the Home Nations as it does the Basques and the only reason the Home Nations continue as they are is through their history and the fact they don't pick foreign players.

No need to thank me for educating you. Do you still think I know nothing about football GF?

I see what you are saying rose, given just now i came across this about Arteta on wiki, which made my heart jump:

Originally Posted by quote

In 2010, several news reported that Arteta willing to received call-up from England,[7] however he is not eligible, as he is not a multi-nationality holder when he representing Spain U21.

Article 18

1. If a Player has more than one nationality, or if a Player acquires a new nationality, or if a Player is eligible to play for several representative teams due to nationality, he may, only once, request to change the Association for which he is eligible to play international matches to the Association of another country of which he holds nationality, subject to the following conditions:

(a) He has not played a match (either in full or in part) in an official competition at “A” international level [i.e. non-friendly] for his current Association [i.e. Spain for Arteta], and at the time of his first full or partial appearance in an international match in an official competition for his current Association [i.e. Spain for Arteta], he already had the nationality [i.e. British] of the representative team for which he wishes to play.

But at the same time i think you may be exaggerating slightly when you say..."To grant that it'd pretty much mean the disbandment of the national associations and to form a GB team as FIFA views the Home Nations as it does the Basques and the only reason the Home Nations continue as they are is through their history and the fact they don't pick foreign players".

Since if FIFA views the home nations as the they do the Basque's over in Spain. Then how did Marcos Senna get picked by Spain?. He didn't have spanish or basque home schooling or spanish heritage. Just gained Spanish residency & qualified to play for them.

But we shall see what happens, since there seems to be some confusion about this.

Originally Posted by roseboy64

One decent performance from Richards doesn't make up for the rubbish he's done the last year or so. Would be a shocker if he's called up.

Preferably yea, him having hame a string of solid performances would be better than just a one-off. But ENG have a crisis @ RB ATM with the incumbent (Johnson) being utter crap defensively. So its worth the risk i'd say, especially when you consider Richards did prove before last season he can defend well againts good players - something that Johnson never proved he can do before Capello picked him & he made a national embarassment of himself vs Germany, SMH.