Gab Marcotti on TalkSport

[soggy biscuit]

Can we count Lita? I thought he was born in Congo.

But he's played for England U21s.

doesn't make him English though. Owen Hargreaves has played for England and he is not English.

[Hoop Blah]

lots of other things have had him as English though. can we not just assume he has dual nationality and is both?

Murty has always referred to himself as Scottish when I've heard him asked on the radio. His old man is Scottish and bought him up as a Scot even though born and raised in England.

[ScottishRoyal]

Personally I've always considered the Welsh, Scottish and to a certain degree the Irish to count as home players as well as the English. They are all part of either Great Britain, or the British Isles.

That makes the majority of our players from the home nations, and the majority of those are English. Murty to my mind counts as English as much as he counts as Scottish, and just because Lita was born outside this country doesn't stop him being English. He may have a claim to Congo citizenship, but in the majority he is English.

Yeah, most of the players are British, which is generally what matters to me too. I am pedantic about the differences between English and British for political reasons, though, so I responded as such.

Fair enough. I'm aware it offends the principalities and co-kingdom when the term English is used when British should be. Bless

Yeah get it right! You're not American so you should know the difference!

[rabidbee]

Can we count Lita? I thought he was born in Congo.

But he's played for England U21s.

doesn't make him English though. Owen Hargreaves has played for England and he is not English.

True, but he's also never lived in England; I was under the impression Lita came over here young (although I can't find any full bio on the web).

I have no problem thinking of him as English. To be honest, I don't really have a problem thinking of Hargreaves as English, either.

[readingbedding]

Owen Hargreaves holds the distinction of being the only England player in history who was not born in England and has neither lived nor played club football in England.

[rabidbee]

Owen Hargreaves holds the distinction of being the only England player in history who was not born in England and has neither lived nor played club football in England.

Yep, I looked at Wikipedia too

[ScottishRoyal]

But he's played for England U21s.

doesn't make him English though. Owen Hargreaves has played for England and he is not English.

True, but he's also never lived in England; I was under the impression Lita came over here young (although I can't find any full bio on the web).

I have no problem thinking of him as English. To be honest, I don't really have a problem thinking of Hargreaves as English, either.

One English Parent and one Welsh I think so he could've chosen either country, or Canada or even Germany I guess. But it's what's in your blood that really determines a nationality. That's FIFA's main criteria.