Geoff Cameron is currently in the middle of the most important day of the rest of his life. What day is that? Pretty-please-give-me-a-work-permit-so-I-can-play-in-the-EPL Day, of course.
(There’s something so Harry Potter about the whole work permit thing, isn’t there?)
The Houston Dynamo star hasn’t played in enough national team matches to qualify for one, so he must go through the appeals process. The growing respect for American soccer players and MLS, along with the success of Tim Ream and other recent transfers, bolsters Cameron’s case, but it’s not an open and shut affair.
Cameron is going armed with lots of pieces of paper written by lots important people. The Chronicle’s Jose de Jesus Ortiz — who has been all over this story from the beginning — has the details.
“To back his case, Cameron has received letters of recommendation from some of the top names in U.S. Soccer, including Clint Dempsey, U.S. national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann and former U.S. national team midfielder Dominic Kinnear, the renowned two-time MLS Cup-winning coach of the Dynamo.”
It’s very cool for Dempsey to vouch for Cameron. Not that he wouldn’t or that we should be surprised, but it’s still nice to see. This is the hope, right? American success begets American success in the EPL (and elsewhere). Raise the water level and all the boats float up, or something along those lines.
Additionally, Kinnear said he never wrote a letter on behalf of a player before. (Former Dynamo Stuart Holden didn’t need a permit because of his Scottish heritage.)
“I said (Cameron’s) overall technical ability is good, physical ability good, discipline on and off the field and game and tactical awareness on both sides of the ball, versatility (are good). I think he’s a good person off the field. And off the field he won’t be a distraction at any time.”
So like Luke Rodgers, but better, bigger, and less likely to punch someone.
UPDATE: Success?
