20 year old Yahya El Hindi was called up for Lebanon’s senior team and made his debut recently. He was cut from Sydney Olympic, dropped into NPL 2 and then signed for Nejmeh in Lebanon.

Brisbane Strikers under 20 defender Zach Binrong was called up for the Thai under 18 side.

Good luck to them both.

Interesting to see players from our lower leagues get called up for other nations. Maybe sides likes Lebanon and Thailand aren’t as good as we think they are.

As someone who lives in Thailand, it's probably just their national team scoping out whether it's worth a Thai league club signing him. There's a big movement within the Thai leagues at the moment to get any "half cast" players back here, because generally speaking: a lot of them tend to be bigger physically and that's an attractive thing for a "local" player to have. Whether or not they're better players is a whole other argument, and football is all about opinions, which change from club to club, etc. It's something that's happening right across South-East Asia at the moment, and probably in other areas of the world too.

There are teams within the Thai League [Buriram and Bangkok United for starters] who would do exceptionally well if they were playing in the A-League, with both clubs budgets probably as big [in Burirams case - bigger] as the likes of Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory. Buriram is rumored to have spent over US$30k/month to have Chris Herd play in cup competitions only, so that their regular first-team players could have a rest. That would never happen in Australia!

Interesting insight PIFA. 

I just looked at Burinam’s squad and they have some impressive Visa players. 

Jacob Maniti from Victory U20's also called up to a training camp (01's) for the Philippines.

This could almost become a permanent thread. Good insights here! 

Personally, I am very disappointed of Zach Binrong's injury which limits him from playing for a couple months. Zach's unbelievable performance has allowed him to become a rising star which keeps on growing. I think he's the next puyol but I think he's a bit homosexual. 0.0

Its kinda what we want i.e. to have a lot of Asian players of high quality...

IMO excellent news ... 

Majak Mawith has apparently been called up for South Sudan. Good luck to him. 

https://twitter.com/joeylynchy/status/1163690916323790853

Jesse Curran is going to play for the Azkals??? 

Curran, who plays for Scottish side Dundee United, is also in the process of securing his Filipino passport.
Read more: https://sports.inquirer.net/358806/azkals-beefing-up-for-two-big-tourneys-breaking#ixzz5xCpHqNsA 
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Yeah and the madlitas (female squad called up perths keeper as well) the azkals have a lot of half cast players like most se Asian teams 

The Philippine association do a great job finding eligible players.

Well they did find out about the young husband brothers by a person who played fm.  I also remember seeing a player in the npl or state leagues having a filo flag back in 09 as well

Kenny Athiu has been called up for South Sudan.

Good for him. People hate on him but good luck to the lad. 

He’s on the bench.

Mawith and Peter Deng (brother of Thomas) are starting.

I don't think anyone thinks Lebanon is very good. Thailand sure, they're pretty good, but if they're scoping out some mixed race local players then good luck to them. 

Martin Lo - former WSW youth, not sure if he got any senior appearance. Left WSW to a V-League 2 side.  He has been called up by Vietnam U23.
(I believe he was in the Aussie youth squad,  U13's I think)

Kenny coming on in the 51st minute.

I think being a good guy to be around is a main reason he hasn't been cut from the squad. I've met his brother a few times and he's a very pleasant hardworking lad.

Malaysia have nationalised a number of players. Seeing their skill and pace made me wonder. Gambian, Canadian, British and Australian.

 We know Brendon Gan but also Matthew Davies formerly of Perth Glory. Both started today. 

Changed thread name :)

I'm stoked for the lad even if he hasn't kicked onto A-League level.

Always like seeing players not quite at the level required for their main country still having a go at international football for their heritage countries. 

Wish we could see it more for countries in South Asia or the Caribbean that have heaps of eligible players running around the lower leagues in the UK. 

Stoked for both Kenny and Elvis - if the A-League plays their cards right, we could open up a pipeline for players from the non-mainstream African nations to come and ply their trade in the A-League. This is great publicity for the league to have these players called up for these fledgling national sides.

Can't wait for the flood of Athiu Victory shirts on the streets of Juba!

Should they still be called Aussies if they've declared/played for another countries? 

It's not like their passports get taken off them.

Kenny Athiu, Peter Deng and Majok Mawith all starting the away leg against Equatorial Guinea.

Is Elvis injured or not in Burundi squad?

He's been banging them in for the Vuck in preseason, not sure what's going on there. Probably just wasn't in season long enough by the time the squad was selected.

Unfortunately Burundi's World Cup campaign is already over having lost their first round qualifier on penalties to Tanzania today, without ever losing a 90 minute game. The African qualifiers are brutal.

Ends 1-0 for Equatorial Guinea, all over for South Sudan.