Top Stories

Cruzeiro midfielder Luis Felipe recalled to U-20 USMNT

LuisFelipeCruzeiro1 (Cruzeiro)

By DAN KARELL

Luis Felipe did enough in his first training camp with the U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team to warrant a second call-up this spring.

The American-born Brazilian-raised midfielder, currently on the books at defending Brazilian league champions Cruzeiro, will rejoin the U.S. U-20s for an upcoming training camp and then play with the team in the Dallas Cup from April 14-21. Felipe spent the early part of January in a training camp under the watchful eyes of U.S. U-20 head coach Tab Ramos and his staff.

Though Cruzeiro announced the news on their website, U.S. Soccer has yet to make a formal announcement.

Felipe was first noticed by U.S. Under-17 head coach Richie Williams at the IMG Cup in Bradenton, Fla., last December, while playing with Cruzeiro’s U-17 team. Cruzeiro won the tournament with a 3-0 record.

The 18-year-old is still eligible to represent either Brazil or the U.S. in the future. Earlier this month, Felipe told American Soccer Now that it was a dream of his to play at the 2015 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in New Zealand.

———

What do you think of this news? Excited to see the U.S. pulling in even more dual-nationals at a young age? Or would you rather have U.S. Soccer focus their scouts within the 50 states?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. He speaks English, and he has family he visits in NY where he was born. He has stated that he has never even thought about playing for Brasil, and has stated that he wants to represent the US in New Zealand not just play at the U-20 WC in New Zealand.

    Reply
  2. Just for the record and to correct the mischaracterizations of my position on this issue. The US is a nation of immigrants and we should welcome everyone onto our national team. I’ve never said you need to have spent every second of your life in the US, or speak perfect English to play on the USMNT. But, in my opinion, if you have never lived here (and I don’t mean when you’re a baby), you aren’t American. How can you be other than in a technical sense?

    So guys like Gideon Zelalem? Sign him up. I think Andy Najar should have played for us. Same with Rossi and Subotic. These guys spent years here and developed as soccer players here. Guys like Aron, this Brazilian guy, most of the Germericans? Not so much.

    Reply
    • Agree. Scouting birth records around the world searching for players with an American connection that are not good enough for their national team is not better than those Arab countries nationalizing Brazilian players for their national team.
      A country our size and with so many resources should not stoop to that level.

      Reply
      • Spain will play diego costa in a heartbeat.

        The fundamental flaw in slowleftarm’s treatment of americans raised outside the homeland is that it ignores the in-between-ness of dual citizens.

        The julian greens of the world (especially the ones who aren’t elite athletes) are often shunned by both sets of their national counterparts.

        Attempts to determine whether they’re “more german” or “more american” are a fool’s errand. Ultimately the decision rests with exactly who it should: the individual.

      • Diego Costa has been in Spain since 2007 and that’s where he became the player he’s today. We’re bringing in players that’ve never kicked a ball in the US and are so far removed from being Americans they don’t even speak English.
        Let’s face it. None of this players are picking the US for the love of God and Country. They’re picking the US because it benefits them personally. Mercenary style.

      • Wildly speculative on the mercenary front.

        Again, you lack any empathy for the fact that some of these duals do not identify with the country they’ve been raised in.

        If germans isolate them due to their american heritage and americans refuse them because they grew up in germany, what are they left with?

      • Then why does it take all these guys so long to decide? Because they want to wait as long as possible to see if they can play for Germany, their actual home land, then when they can’t they play for the US because international exposure raises their profile and helps their career.

        Then US fans who are desperate for success, welcome them aboard and construct elaborate reasons for why these guys are as American as anyone else.

      • lol okay man.

        Green is 19. This brazilian is 18. They’re kids. And you want them to rush into deciding which nationality they’re going to represent for the rest of their lives?

        Even at their current ages that’s barely a decision they can fully grasp. It’s a deeply personal choice and I’m glad JK is willing to give them as long as it takes.

      • The “mercenary” tag is just so far off. I mean how many usmnt players have actually had their club careers boosted by international performances?

        Europe wasn’t exactly scrambling to sign all our yanks after south africa. Benny, demerit, edu, boca were all adrift. Monchengladbach was so impressed with bradley’s world cup run they benched him for four months then shipped him to villa on loan where he was benched the rest of the year.

        Ridiculous to think these duals are looking for a usmnt cash in. There’s obviously no money in it.

      • But our country does not have the resources. There are huge areas of the US without an MLS team. Non MLS affiliated US developmental academy teams are pay to play. I’m glad my son trains four days a week but it is costly. Plus his team is starting to travel out of state on a monthly basis for tournaments in order to play against teams of the same abilities. I don’t like pulling him from school for travel days at age ten. Players who grow up elsewhere have free or cheap training with professional coaches and don’t have to travel as much to play.

  3. Another “American abroad” that doesn’t speak english and can’t find Ohio on a map Iif his life depended on it. We sure know how to crank them
    out don’t we

    Reply
    • Not sure where to start…

      Many Americans are illiterate. 25% of Americans aren’t aware the Earth orbits the Sun, and nearly half believe in creationism.

      Also, we have no official language and require none. Strong chance that a recent member of your family emigrated from a European nation without knowing a word of English.

      Reply
      • So because a person doesn’t believe in Darwinism, he or she is then illiterate? Why is a person believe in creationism or not, even brought up on a soccer forum? Also the actual percentage of literacy in this country is 23%. The 23% is base on the 3 forms of literacy, Pose, Document & quantitative. A person who is calculated into the 23%, isn’t necessarily stupid, he or she might just lack a certain skill set. Also just because some American might have family who emigrated from a European, does not mean we don’t have an official language. Any one who say’s such a thing, might be part of the 23%.

      • I believe you mean that 23% of the country is illiterate.

        And the US does not have an official language, though English is certainly everything but official.

        And how does one “emigrate from a European”?

      • the 23% stat is complete nonsense. What Oculus is saying is that Americans are stupid and not at all educated and enlightened like our European betters. What a joke.

      • Yeah, I don’t think it’s snobbish to say there are plenty of dumb people. I live in the Pac NW, believe me, hipsters and general morons who think because they read whatever independent publication out there have conditioned me to think that they are superior. That said, I make general blanket statements about the $EC all the time and the amount of jackassery down in that part of the country is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from what I deal with every day.

        TL:DR, I’ll take someone who says literacy is important over anything the Southeastern part of the country has to offer. Except Cajun food:-)

    • I’m in California and I’d have to look twice before committing to where Ohio is… And most of the neighbors have no clue. Same thing for folks living along most of the Eastern seaboard. So I’m not sure id use that as a test.

      Reply
      • LOL also a Californian and have no clue where Ohio is nor do I care, G.O.A.T.California> Rest of WOAT USA.

        Anyways, considering how terrible we are at developing players, we should continue seeing this for the next 20-30 years. Would not surprise me that by the time we host the WC in 2026 none of our players first language is English nor do they know anything about American history.

      • What? Hispanic(I’m assuming this as Spanish is the 2nd major language of the US.) don’t live in bubbles their know success is best met by speaking both languages.

        You can learn two languages concurrently as a child…

        And no one knows anything about US history.

        Ex: Why did we go to war with Japan in WW2 and its not Pearl Harbour?

        Or

        That the reason the puritans had to leave the UK had more to do with Oliver Cromwell killing Charles I than their religion itself.

      • Wow…what a sad commentary on my fellow Americans. Can’t find the state of Ohio on the map??? Lamentable the state of our educational system. Wow…i’m flabbergasted.

      • No of course not…I’m not implying that. You can however, correlate lack of general knowledge with ignorance. And certainly the celebration of willful ignorance IS stupidity.

      • I’m with you. That is absurd. And no, map reading may not be a measure of intelligence, but sweet Christ if you can’t find a state, when there is only FIFTY to memorize means you probably lack motivation or are lazy.

  4. The work begun years ago of digging deeper for US eligible players continues. While I may wish the MLS Academies were developing a high volume of talented players, the fact of the matter is that the US is years behind in development of players. It will be another 10 years before the level of youth coaching in the US is where it needs to be for a steady stream of high level talent.
    Even then, with the globalization of the sport, we’ll still have plenty of duel national players.
    Each cycle the US is getting better, deeper, and closer to becoming a true soccer nation.
    I for one am looking forward to the continued advancement of soccer in the US.

    Reply
      • I love the way you completely ignore everything else he said and took what he said out of context to boot. You must be a real joy to live with.

        “Each cycle the US is getting better, deeper, and closer to becoming a true soccer nation.
        I for one am looking forward to the continued advancement of soccer in the US.”

        Is exactly what he said, but don’t let things like context get in the way of a narrative.

      • Oh, the true soccer nation would never stoop down to chasing after a dual national to strengthen their squad, right? LOL. Have you ever heard of Diego Costa? And the reaction from the Brazilian Football Association’s judicial director was quite comparable to the Icelandic Federation ‘s statment in the aftermath of JA’s switch to the US.

      • Yeah I don’t agree with the either. Although that’s a total joke, at least Diego Costa actually has lived in Spain though.

    • I think the issue is less the quality of the coaching than that the academies do not develop their own players from U10 to first team a la Ajax. Dynamo are just now getting into the junior high age groups and there is a U18-U23 gap that only Galaxy II seems prepared to fulfill at the pro level. Thus traditional club is as viable a youth option, college is as viable a young adult option, and the academies are cherry picking from people others started developing.

      If you want to compete with the top soccer development nations you need to get them young and we also need to have the “college age” bridge built better where players like Villareal have someplace domestic to play until they are deemed first team. Right now we have improved at getting U20s professionalized but don’t have much of anything set up to bridge them over to senior adult play. So USL loans, etc.

      Reply
  5. “The American-born Brazilian-raised…”

    Oh boy, here we go. Slow where are buddy? 🙂

    Of course I kid my buddy slowleftarm. Much respect.

    Reply
    • Same problem as all the US born/ dual players we chase. If they’re as good as we hope, they aren’t going to play for us. (Aron of course is an exception since Iceland doesn’t exactly make frequent world cup appearances) .

      We’d be better off focusing on the 300 million people who actually live here and developing some good players from that group instead of trying to find foreign players who can qualify to play for us. This stuff is a lazy shortcut and ultimately an ineffective one.

      Reply
      • I hope the USL affiliations are helpful with that and we can get kids in academies younger. I know Portland has a pretty thorough academy system throughout the state and in northern Washington. Caleb and Merritt are not exactly happy with SJ screwing them on Sac affiliation and said last night in an open forum that this is probably SJ’s last year at the Rose City Invitational.

        That said, I have zero problem with this. If the kid wants to play, he can play. It isn’t like there are only 30 good players in Brazil. This country has never had a problem with diversity so why should the soccer suffer?

  6. Okay before some start making comments based on Tim Chandler and Jermaine Jones, read the article. This kid was BORN in the USA! Then raised in Brazil. So he is a citizen, thus he has a right to play for the US.

    Reply
    • Instead it will be people along the lines of A
      ron’s “betrayal” lol

      But, because it’s Brazil they probably won’t care as much.

      Reply
    • Hmmm..

      Wouldn’t really have much of a USA team without dual nationals. Let’s look at some past team captians:
      Landon Donovan, Bocanegra, Tim Howard, Claudio Reyna, John Harkes, Tab Ramos, etc.

      How about other tops USA folks: Altidore, Holden, Onyewu, Vermes, Armas, Gonzalez, Clavijo, Mastreoni, Dooley, Kinnear, Agoos, Balboa, Stewart, Lalas, Perez, Kljestan, Feilhaber,

      on and on and on and on…..

      Reply

Leave a Comment