At the press conference of coach Luis de la Fuenteeight of the first ten questions were about Brahim. As Filippo Ricci, Madrid correspondent for ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport’, indicated in surprise on his social networks, “a player who is not a starter for Real Madrid. And this is the team that has just won the Nations League and one of the favorites for the next Euro Cup.” It mattered little that a 17-year-old center back was included for the first time on the same list or a 16-year-old forward for the fifth time, The appearance revolved around the absence of the Malaga native, who did not wait for De la Fuente’s list to be made public this Friday and on Thursday he already confirmed that he will play with Morocco.
Santi Denia and his three ‘Brahimes’
Minutes before De la Fuente’s appearance, Santi Denia, Under-21 coach, made the following reflection when asked about Brahim’s case. “There are more and more cases of players with two passports and they are the ones who choose where they want to be. You have to give naturalness to these types of situations. What we celebrate is that 85% of the footballers who are in this situation choose to play for Spain,” concluded the ‘La Rojita’ coach.
Analysis that he also exemplified with three cases that appeared on his list for the matches against Slovakia and Belgium. The ‘Dutch’ Dean Huijsen, the ‘English’ Mateo Joseph and the ‘Colombian’ Christian Mosquera made their debut in the call despite being players ‘callable’ with other teams, or even having already played with another shirt. Joseph, Cantabrian formed in the Racing and Espanyol quarries and currently Leeds strikerhad already debuted with the English U-20.
Huijsen, Juventus central defender on loan to Roma, debuts in the youth ranks with Spain after having played in the final of the U-17 European Championship with the Netherlands. This 1.95m defender received Spanish nationality on February 21 and made himself available to Denia and De la Fuente immediately. And the last, the case of the Valencian player Christian Mosquera, He is better known, although it is the first time he has been called up with the U-21. He has already worn the Spain shirt on more than twenty occasions in lower categories and Not long ago he was tempted by Colombia, but he opted to play for Spain.
There are only three cases that come to light on the same day that Brahim’s decision to play for Morocco puts the focus on De la Fuente, perhaps more because of his status as a Real Madrid fan, because when he was the undisputed starter at Milan no journalist asked about your absence. There are other cases such as those of Lamine Yamalwho was also surveyed by Morocco and decided on Spain, or the U-21 forward, Samu Omorodion. The striker was born in 2004 in Melilla, where his mother, a Nigerian by origin, arrived, crossing the Strait to give her son a better life. Nigeria was interested in his situation, but the 9 of Alavés, where he is on loan from Atlético, appreciated the call and opted for Spain, with whom he made his debut in May 2023 with the U-19 and in September with the U-19. -twenty-one. There are also those who have opted for other selections discarding Spain as Achraf, Iñaki Williams (his brother Nico has chosen Spain instead of Ghana)Alejandro Garnacho, Keita Baldé, the Senegalese Pedro Obiang, Nico Paz or the Serbian Sergej Milinković-Savic, who was born in Lleida.
‘Signed’ and convinced
And to those who opt for Spain, the ‘signing’ of other players is added who have not debuted with their national teams and after spending years here request their nationalization and declare themselves ‘callable’, such as the cases of Aymeric Laporte or Robin Le Normand. Forming with all of them a multicultural and more heterodox team with footballers who were not only born here or have roots in Spanish soil. Diversity that was precisely reminiscent of the video with which the Federation made public the list of the absolute team, in which people of different races and nationalities announced the names of those chosen by De la Fuente for these matches against Colombia and Brazil.
In an increasingly global and mestizo population, football cannot remain outside this multiculturalism. There are more and more cases like Brahim’s in which the player has the possibility of choosing where to play. And it is logical that he decides on the place that best suits him and offers him the most opportunities. Beyond the journalistic noise, a tangible reality emerges: Brahim will never have the status in Spain that Morocco promises him. Because here he is no more than a substitute in the Real Madrid. That is why De la Fuente did not dare to skip the protocol and that pushed Brahim not to wait for the call from Spain. There will be more ‘brahims’. Some will choose Spain and others will not. But everyone will look out for their interests. And, as Santi Denia says, “you have to make these types of situations natural.”
2024-03-16 06:02:30
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