|MAIN PAGE|
|ENGLAND NATIONAL TEAM|
|BAYERN MUNICH|
|IMAGE|
How the boy became and Englishman
 | Owen Hargreaves has the world at his feet--but not everyone is happy about it...Canadian internet chatrooms are full of unprintable
jibes at Bayern Munich sensation Owen Hargreaves... Canadians are still seething over his decision last year to play for England, where his father Colin was born, rather than Canada, where he was born and raised. The choice seemed clear, on the one hand he could play for a nation with World Cup aspirations, on the other, a country with only one World Cup finals appearance. But the matter has exposed serious flaws in the Canadian Soccer Association's development system. At 16, Hargreaves had a trial with Canada's U17s but, according to his former coach, was told,"You play more like a boy than a man!" and sent home. Larry Poirier, who coached Hargreaves at the Calgary Foothills club, said it strengthened the boy's resolve to prove the selectors wrong. But that was before a scout recommended Hargreaves to Bayern Munich's youth team. So, off to Germany he went. "In April he's not good enough for the Canadian Under-17 team, but in October he is suddenly good enough for Bayern! Well there's a problem! A big one!" Canada's German-born national coach Holger Osieck visited Hargreaves in Munich and made his pitch but was following on the heels of representatives of the English and Welsh FAs (Mother, Margaret, is Welsh.) "We didn't fight strong enough to get him back," says Paul James, former coach of Canada's Under-20 team, who also appealed to the Hargreaves family, "if Owen had been born in the US I am sure he would have played for them because they wouldn't let this happen." No matter how many England caps he wins, Canadians will be watching Hargreaves. Even if he becomes an England hero, on the other side of the world, there are people willing him to fail.
|
Click here to E-mail me...