Lucas Neill - Club or Country?
Lucas Neill says he will continue to play for Australia if picked. Australia's next game is on March 26th, sandwiched between West Ham's away fixtures to Everton and Sunderland.
People will say 'why would you want to go and play for Australia in the middle of two English Premier League games?' Because I'm playing for Australia and I want to go to the World Cup," the West Ham captain said.
"It's an honour, it's a privilege and I'm sure there are millions and millions of others who would want to be doing what we are doing. I'm not taking it for granted.
"If it was him (Curbishley) going to represent England he wouldn't have an argument and that's the only case we have to put forward to him."
posted by Keir Clarke @ 10:31 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
neill is entitled to play for his country if he wants,but he needs to accept the consequences of that decision ,especially as west ham captain. he will be in no condition to play properly against birmingham after long haul flights.
which means he should be prepared to lose his place in the side ,and again the next time he goes away. neill has been the weak link in an otherwise strong back 4. if his first loyalty is to his country ,fair enough. then so be it,if he does not necesarily reclaim his place in a west ham side when he returns. west ham is not a part time commitment,especially taking into account the size of his wages.
with all due respect, sorry portugal, his salary is a non sequitur in this discussion.
in this blog and many others, West Ham fans lamented that certain West Ham players were not called up to play for the ENGLAND squad.
now, can you imagine if those players were called up and they said no because they thought the club was more important than their country? i can actually tell you how that ends: Nicolas Anelka became persona non grata in France when he refused to play for the national squad.
this has nothing to do with wages. most athletes play want to he glorified. and the most important moment of glory is earned on the international stage.
what is good for the English athletes is fantastic for all athletes -if they accept it.
except that england players aren t making a 50 hour round trip flight and then expecting to start in a premiership match 3 days later. easy to play the england card ,when playing for the england side does not entail long haul travel. and by the sounds of it, what happened this week is not a one off.
the English teams know the deal when they buy foreign players.
i am quite sure that a team like West Ham must have factored this into their calculations when they bought two captains of two national teams...
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