Weird and wonderful international call ups.

[FootballHQ]

Just seen Ben Brereton who plays for Blackburn and was born in Stoke on Trent has of course been called up by..........Chile!


https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2021/may/brereton-receives-chile-call/

His Mum is Chilean but likes of Alexis and Vidal will find it weird as feck when he turns up for the training camp later this week. Wonder if he's ever been there before.

Chile really are stuffed once their golden generation all retires at same time, very few young prospects in their squad so think they'll be out of the world cup for a while.

Anyway all national teams call up some random players from time to time...can remember Jay Bothroyd getting an England cap and he wasn't even playing in premier league at the time, got on v France in 2010 friendly so he's another that sticks out in my mind as a "how the feck did he get an international cap" way.

Interested what the Italians think of them calling up Grifo regularly now, not a bad player but he's lived and played in Germany pretty much his whole life so must be a bit of a mystery to them given reluctance in the past to call up foreign based players.

Brazil actually called up Wesley last season when he had 1 goal in about 12 game scoring run for us.

Could make about 10 pages just debating some of Argentina's weird picks in last decade.

 

[BrilliantOrange]

Brereton at Chile haha.. That must be a sight...

Another Example I have is Dutch striker Lars Veldwijk getting regular call ups for South Africa, being 2 meters high, lillywhite and full of tattoos.

Mike Havenaar was the son of a Dutch goalkeeper in Japan (Dido) who stayed in Japan. Mike went on to be a 2 meter plus tall striker and Japan international in recent years..

 

[paraguayo]

Kevin Kuranyi - Brazilian born, son of a Hungarian and Panamanian couple, played for Germany.

most random footballer ever

 

[Lay]

Christopher Birchall. Born in Stafford England but became the first white player to play for
Trinidad & Tobago. Played at the World Cup too.

 

[Wonder Pigeon]

Irish fans might remember Joe Lapira, the long-haired striker from New York who played for about 5 minutes for Ireland in a friendly during a tour to the US under Steve Staunton.

He was playing for his college team at the time and qualified for Ireland via an Irish mother and, apparently, an uncle who worked for the FAI.

 

[horsechoker]

Not so much weird but Owen Hargreaves had quite unique circumstances for an England player at the time.

He earned his place on merit though even if he is a bit of a twat.

 

[Riz]

Not so much weird but Owen Hargreaves had quite unique circumstances for an England player at the time.

He earned his place on merit though even if he is a bit of a twat.

Not sure if you’re already alluding to the fact that he played for Wales at U19 level but I also found that funny, there’s an old interview of him at the time stating he always intended to represent Wales at national level.

 

[horsechoker]

Not sure if you’re already alluding to the fact that he played for Wales at U19 level but I also found that funny, there’s an old interview of him at the time stating he always intended to represent Wales at national level.

Well he was raised in Canada, albeit to English parents and played in the Bundesliga.

I suppose you could compare it to Kevin Peterson playing for England in cricket.

 

[Red Stone]

Not sure if you’re already alluding to the fact that he played for Wales at U19 level but I also found that funny, there’s an old interview of him at the time stating he always intended to represent Wales at national level.

He was born and raised in Canada and then moved to Germany at 16 to play for Bayern. He never lived in England until he signed for United.

 

[Riz]

Well he was raised in Canada, albeit to English parents and played in the Bundesliga.

I suppose you could compare it to Kevin Peterson playing for England in cricket.

He was born and raised in Canada and then moved to Germany at 16 to play for Bayern. He never lived in England until he signed for United.

Yeh I’m aware of the Canadian roots, was also adding that further to that is his Welsh representation at junior level.

 

[Cloud7]

Christopher Birchall. Born in Stafford England but became the first white player to play for
Trinidad & Tobago. Played at the World Cup too.

Birchall was one of our better players at the time too

 

[Vidyoyo]

China recently called up Tyias Browning for a friendly against Guam. From Liverpool and was on the books at Everton. No caps yet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyias_Browning

This one too, a Brazilian born chap called Elkeson de Oliveira Cardoso, who's taken to being called Ai Keson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elkeson

 

[Bullhitter]

China recently called up Tyias Browning for a friendly against Guam. From Liverpool and was on the books at Everton. No caps yet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyias_Browning

He actually looked decent on a couple of appearances for Everton a few years ago.