Good evening folks. I’m coming to you from my seat on a plane in Ft. Lauderdale bound for Newark, New Jersey. We’re a few minutes from takeoff and I wanted to add one more post. Apologies for not posting more today but it was just a hectic day getting ready for the return home. I will be back posting late tonight so stay tuned.
I will be posting my MLS Combine Day Three observations late tonight or in the morning, as well as a new MLS Mock Draft (Version 2.0).
For now, here is my column on Giuseppe Rossi’s decision to play for Italy rather than the United States. For those of you were unaware, Rossi will turn 21 on Feb. 1, at which point he will no longer have the option to play for the United States and will be cap-tied to Italy. Any hopes of Rossi changing his mind about playing for Italy look dead and the U.S. national team must move on without him.
Take a look at the column and let me know what you think of Rossi’s decision as well as my take on it. Share your thoughts below.
i have italian and american citizenship and if i was in rossi’s position i would make the same choice. i find it funny and rather pathetic that people complain that he isn’t representing the us. get over it. he isn’t a traitor, and i don’t see people complaining every time an african player plays for a european team. where are the “patrick vieira’s a traitor” comments?
btw, you could get italian citizenship through a spouse, or parent or grandparent and so on as long as it came after the unification of italy which was in 1860 or so.
I think this is a great post Ives. How can you fault a kid who took advantage of his father’s coaching and connections to Italian football to further his development in the game. Its not his fault he actually excelled as a young man at Parma at such a rapid rate. I wish him the best. And when he’s 32 and ready for a change, to help RBNY to 3 more league titles (hopefully)?
I think of all the people born OUTSIDE of the US who put ont he colors. The Earnie Stewart’s, Tom Dooley’s, and Tab Ramos’s who paved the way so an American born player could have those opportunities to excel at the highest level
I think dual citizenship rules vary by country.
i think it’s funny that people slam the kid who plays in a league with alot stiffer competition than the mls. sorry dudes (jerry) no american soccer player who isnt famous somewhere else will make tiger or lebron money in the states anytime soon. altidore has been playing against mls teams guys. thats alot different than la liga whether you want to hear or believe that or not. also..why the slamming his chances of getting into the italian squad? “i doubt he can make it” etc etc. what’s that say about yr beloved usmnt? “screw rossi but i hope we never play italy because they’ll whip the crap out of us”??
the obvious fix for all of this is to wait for some more gen adidas studs to crop up…end up in more competitive leagues…start smacking balls into nets like rossi does and then come back with that experience to start tuning up the mexican team like 8-0.
What are the rules for this?
how many generations can you go back to say your a duel citizen?
USMNT needs some better sales people working for them.
I for one will be glad when this date comes and goes so we don’t have to hear about this anymore.
The kid made his decision and he chose to play for one of the elite teams of the world, and realistically has a good shot with them. Coming from a family of immigrants, but grew up here, I can understand the pull of the country of your birth, and the country of your heritage.
I begrudge him no ill-will.
I wish Rossi would play for the Nats. I think he would have an opportunity to play in more games, more WCQs and ultimately more World Cups. However, there’s one thing we can’t offer and that is the opportunity to win a World Cup. Every young player dreams of this and you can’t really fault him for that. I don’t know, if you’d ask me tomorrow you’d probably get a different opinion. Can’t wait to bury it all on February 1st.
Honestly, I don’t see Rossi getting a game with the Italian National Team.
CaCuzcatlan, we’re talking about country, not club, here so players should be more focused on loyalty than personal “opportunities”.
The day I’m most looking forward to:
Josy Altidore’s goal sending Italy out of the World Cup…dejected shot of Rossi…blue in his blues…
Doc Iowa, just because he doesn’t play for the US doesn’t mean he’s not grateful. For example, a person may be grateful for all the opportunities that a Company A provided for them, but that doesn’t mean they are obligated to stay there if they think they have a better future at Company B.
I certainly don’t like his decision, but I see why he made it.
OK then, let’s forget Rossi.
What I’d like to know is what is up with Feilhaber and Bornstein, two guys who played in our biggest game of this year.
Maccabi Tel Aviv web site says they have been signed. Feilhaber move is also being reported in the UK press. But Antonio Cue of Chivas USA tells Jaime Cardenas he knows nothing about Bornstein moving and has no intent to sell him.
Someone should send Rossi and his parents a copy of “The Game of Their Lives” to remind them of a time when immigrants were grateful for the opportunities this country provided and were willing to embrace it in return.
Who gives a FF. I wish him well and wish he played for us but, since there’s nothing we can do, I ‘d rather focus on who wants to play for us.
Why not takeover this thread to discuss strategy/line-up for this weekend’s game?
Giorgio is lucky to have 13 caps with Italy. While a decent and respected player in Italy (Lazio) he was limited overall, his fame was made here. With a dominant team beating up on most everyone else for a few years.
He is still milking his Cosmos days. There is a reason no one wants to go into business with him (except Charlie of course) or wants him anywhere near a soccer club. Arrogant, unscrupulous, greedy and lacks common business sense. Yet, he still gets time becausse few of that age, and this now, knew any betetr. The ones that do stay far, far away.
Ives, thanks yet again for the quality article. You made some good points but as a fellow offspring of immigrants it still bothers me that he would make such a decision. I’m still in the “screw Rossi” camp.
Like Britton said. Screw Rossi.
I’ll be surprised if he ends his career with more than a few dozen caps for Italy, which I guess would mean more than 100+ for the US. We can make all the excuses we want, but deep down, every one of us knows that we would be a much better team with Giuseppe.
What if his goal is not just to play in a world cup but to be on the winning team? Which country should he play for then?
I understand blood ties to one’s ancestral homeland and all that but this is a really idiotic business decision by Rossi and his old man. At best he will get a handfull of appearances for the Azurri (hey, even Giorgio Chinaglia only had 13 caps) while with the USA he could be the potential star of three world cups and maybe even the all-team leader as far as national team goals. He could be the latest poster boy for American soccer. He’s throwing it all away.
I think I would have to agree with Michael. Any player given playing time and confidence from their coaches has a shot a developing like Rossi has. It’s just chance that it happened to a kid who loves Italy and his Italian heritage, that’s all. When it happens to a real American who loves America… We will win a world cup or something, I don’t know, but I’ve made my point.
i normally am very interested in what you write about ives, but this is not a news story it is an on-going pity party. the guy made up his mind a long time ago and i’d rather not think about him or about what might have been. the guys that are still pouting about rossi are also still thinking about the hot chick that dumped them after the one date they had their freshman year of high school. if only rossi wasn’t from new jersey ives wouldn’t feel obligated to write about him.
I should clarify; I meant to say 10 people vying for spots as forwards and 6 forwards who are ahead of him (at least) at the moment.
I don’t wish him well at all (I don’t wish debilitating injury on him or anything; just to be clear). Not because he spurned the USMNT, but because he’s on another team. C’mon folks. I don’t wish Gatusso well either. Pretty simple really.
@Jim: you are correct. He takes PK’s and has fattened up on those and Deuce has 6 goals and is NOT the PK taker on a side with considerably less talent than Rossi is surrounded by; and I’m not the biggest Deuce fan either.
Sure Rossi would start for the USMNT right now; but he’s not such a class above as to make heads spin. He’s not Messi, FFS.
He has a tough road to hoe. As I posted here or somewhere else, there are at least 10 other people vying for spots on the Azzuri and at least 6 are ahead of him right now. He isn’t a lock by any stretch of the imagination. If he does break through and becomes an automatic 1st choice then his choice will look like genius; if not, then I guess he and we will only wonder ‘what if?’
Frankly, I have no interest in bother with the subject of Rossi again until he actually does something worth talking about on the pitch.
Like many others, I don’t really care that Rossi won’t play for the US. People are absolutely right that we have enough talent without him. There is no loss. I think a big misconception is that Americans can’t play soccer. More Americans need the opportunity(playing time and belief) that was given to Rossi. It’ll just show how much talent we have. The US will not be hurt Feb. 1.
As far as Im concerned , Rossi can kiss my ass . We still have Clint Dempsey, Jozy, Gabe Ferrari, Vicenzo bernardo, and now Jose Angulo .
I wonder if Ghanaians say the same thing about Freddy Adu… who spent his first 8 years in Ghana.
Of course, Freddy might be a lot poorer (no Nike contract) if he was playing for Ghana. Yeah, I know, Freddy hasn’t put in the buckets of goals that Rossi has… but he’s shown a real knack for clutch goals off the bench with Benfica, and he’s STILL only 18.
Rossi will be call for the Italy team a couple of time that it. He will never play in a world cup
And this decision will hunt him all his life. I know it.
As far as I’m concerned, Rossi should turn in his US passport and stay in Italy. He is not American. Screw him. We don’t need him.
Yeah, I’m with pretty much everybody who wishes Rossi well but also wishes discussion about him in various yanks abroad forums to come to an end. I don’t blame Ives for writing his column–I think he’s burying this dead horse more than beating it. Really, the column is topical given Rossi’s birthday, and it gives Ives a chance to speculate (let’s hope correctly) on how the mindset of the current crop of 10-year-old potential American stars may differ from even the mindset in 1998, which is worth thinking about in a lazy-Sunday (or -Tuesday) kinda way.
I leave the same comment every time it comes up but if he chose Italy fine, good for him but can we stop talking about him on American soccer sites. He chose to be Italian not American, therefore we should stop caring about him and stop covering him like an American. We have plenty of other prospects to talk about we don’t need to give attention to this joke of an Italian.
Sad to see him go, but good luck. I’ll always think what could have been. I used to be mad about it, but then I saw this piece on him on FIFA Futbol Mundial last week and it convinced me that his choice is worthy. Y’all should check it out. Good for him. And at least we still have Sal Zizzo.
Off Topic….
Just received below email from RBNY about stadium
“RED BULL PARK UPDATE: The first set of test piles were driven into the ground at Red Bull Park in Harrison, New Jersey. These timber piles are the first of over 3,000 that the three pile driving rigs will drive over the course of the next two months to support the stadium foundation. Over the past two weeks the site has been graded in preparation for the start of Monday’s pile driving operation. As the pile driving operation progresses around the stadium, crews will begin to install the next level of the foundations. The next step of the process includes the concrete pile caps and grade beams.”
-Mike
What happened to Gabriel Ferrari, I don’t think he’s been playing a lot lately. I may have been way off, but I was under the impression he was another Rossi, except that he actually wants to play for the U.S.
Giuseppe Rossi to American soccer fans is what Hope Solo is to anyone who can’t stand women’s soccer: time to change the subject and move on.
I don’t have a personal issue here either. I think it would be better for his international soccer career if he played for the U.S. Look at all the amazing players for Italy that don’t even get a CAP until they are 28! They are stacked from the top to the bottom of their national teams. It is going to be infinitely harder to earn that first cap, and indeed every single cap he might get, for Italy than it would be for the U.S.
Having said that, it’s a lifelong dream for him and his family. I have no problem with his choice, provided he realizes there is a chance he will never even play for Italy’s senior squad. It’s happened to hundreds of players before him, so if he can deal with that uncertainty while playing at a top level and that’s what he really wants, who am I to call him a traitor?
We dont need Rossi. We have THE ALTIDORE! The REAL Face of the Future of US SOCCER!
If he doesn’t want to play here then he doesn’t want to play here. Can we stop caring now?
Ilya & Emilo,
Dempsey has 6 goals for Fulham in the EPL this year. Donovan still gets my vote as best American player right now. Altidore has as much potential as well.
No matter, my point is that he has not shown enough to deserve such accolades.
I don’t doubt he potential but he has a lot to prove at club level and national team.
Again I think US fans have moved on, we’ve known he does not want to play for us so the interest level is just not there.
Congrats to Rossi, he’s the American Owen Hargraeves. The irony is that traditionally the Italy team is made up of Serie A players…
Truth be told, he wouldn’t make much of a difference in this era for the USA. We are the best in CONCACAF, and (at best) a second round World Cup Finals team.
so is he really going to get a chance?
more rossi? calling this a dead horse would be an understatement.
He is deffinetly the best us player out there,he scored 9 goals in 19 goals for Parma and so far has 8 goals for one of the better teams in one of the best leagues in the world in Villareal, what other American can compare?
Jim, he is one of the leading scorers in La Liga (albeit he takes the penalties). Who is/was better?
I wonder if he or his dad have considered all the money they could be making if he played with the USMNT. I’m pretty sure he could be making Tiger or Lebron money as the face of US soccer.
Ives,
I don’t think US fans were dreading this. We’ve known for some time and don’t care.
I think you went over the top in the article, potential best player for the US? He has not shown anywhere near that type of talent yet.
Jim
At least Feilhaber didn’t choose to play for Brazil! (I am kidding, obviously.) Great article, Ives, thanks.
All well and good, fair play to him, etc. It does seem more than a small risk on his part though. He isn’t exactly an automatic selection for the Azzurri.
Rossi bashing in 3…..2….
I can’t wait til this is a dead issue. He isn’t a traitor or evil. I just wish he would play for for the Nats. He has a bright future but there are no guarantees that he be on Italy’s 2010 WC squad. If he played for the states, baring injury, he could gaurantee himself time in 2 to 3 World Cups. It’s time for all of us USMNT fans to move on. We don’t need Rossi, we have Johnson, Twellman, Davies, as well as many other world class fowards! So let this be a post of healing for all!
I was wondering why there was so little written today since it’s the opening of the MLS TW…Oh yeah Rossi, hope to see how your diving lessons go