One down, two to go.
When German reports last week revealed that Neven Subotic no longer had Germany as a national team option, it appeared that the Borussia Dortmund defender might be ready to select the U.S. national team to play for after having played for the USA on the youth national team level, but Germany’s removal from the process still leaves Bosnia and Serbia has possibilities for the highly-rated central defender.
Trying to forecast Subotic’s next step is difficult considering it seemed very clear that Germany was his first choice. Will he play for his birth country, Bosnia, or the country of his parents roots, Serbia? Is he ready to set aside any hard feelings about his treatment by the U.S. Under-20 national team and play for the country where his soccer skills were discovered?
You shouldn’t hold your breath for a decision. Subotic has stated repeatedly that he won’t entertain a decision until after this European season, which means he will likely choose a country next summer. He is in no rush since he won’t turn 21 until Dec. 10, 2009. FIFA rules mandate that a player with multiple options who has already appeared for the youth setup of one of their options must decide by their 21st birthday.
What do you think of the Subotic situation? Share your thoughts below.
Nike sponsership would go along way toward Neven choosing the USA!
I think he’s waiting on what Serbia’s position is like in their WC qualifying group by the end of the season before he makes a choice. As someone already mentioned before, Serbia are first in their group right now. Their next game is against Romania in March, and then play Austria and Faroe Islands in early June. If they win these three games, they would be in a very good position to qualify first in their group.
And Joey, thats a terrible lineup for your first World Cup game in 2010. Lets all hope that doesn’t come to fruition.
As good as Subotic is right now, having a 21 yr old starting at CB for the World Cup makes me a bit twitchy. He’s got two more seasons to gain more experience, so we will see.
No, UEFA qualifiers are huge. I just went to one of these allegedly nothing qualifiers, Georgia v Cyprus, and the atmosphere generated by the 50,000 was the most intense soccer atmosphere I’ve been in. It’s a big deal, even when the teams are nothing special.
Partially related to that, he’s also looking at the choice of being a rock star in Serbia or a nobody in the US.
Will, get a fricken clue, the last 45 posts have been discussing the very reason why he wont be playing for The Deutschland. HE WANTED TO PLAY FOR THEM!!! But…scroll up and find it…
Ives, Im on the same page with you here, get off his back guys, why would he write a statement that you could easily go back and dispell? C’mon now.
Joey, your not on the Torres to start bandwagon? I agree with that…for now.
Anyone know (or have a link to a story) why he didn’t pick Germany?
Honestly, if he decides to pick his country of birth, nobody here can say anything bad about that. I would think he’d be leaning toward the US, depending on who was in charge of the U-20s when he was there and where that coach is now.
2010 Game 1 Line-Up
GK: Howard
LB: Bocanegra
CB: Onyewu
CB: Subotic
RB: Wynne
DM: Edu
LM: Beasley
RM: Donovan
CM: Bradley
ST: Adu
ST: Altidore
I wouldn’t hesitate to say that UEFA minnows are far tougher competitors than many CONCACRAP teams. I wouldn’t discount the value of playing in UEFA and challenging for the European championship either… as others said, it is second in importance only to the World Cup. Serbia has gotten a very good start to their qualifying group and frankly, I think they will qualify for 2010. I can’t really see Subotic not picking Serbia. And to the person talking about CB depth… Gooch and Demerit are not exactly players to be proud of. Second-tier at best, the lot of them. Whereas Subotic is a guy actually worth chasing for.
I haven’t seen Subotic play so its hard to get excited one way or the other. If he is as good as everyone seems to think he is then I hope he chooses the US. I hope either he has researched the current USMNT setup to see if he would like it or that Bradley has actively recruited him.
Still, if he is letting his bad time with the Under-20’a affect his decision, then I say sayonara. That was a long time ago and we need mentally tough players who want to play for the USMNT. Get over it already.
I don’t know if this guy is the next Rio Ferdinand or Fabio Cannavaro but if he isn’t, well, at least center back is probably the deepest position on the USMNT depth chart.
Play for who ever will make you happy and content kid. We like to have you but only if you want to really be a USA national.
If Serbia come close to guaranteeing him a spot in their squad Subotic will have at least decent chance at 3 WC and EC’s before he is 30. They will qualify for some of those tournaments. The guy will play for Serbia.
Come on down Neven!
This is America! We’ll take anybody who wants to come. That’s what where about! We should definitely welcome him with open arms because he’ll only make the USMNT better!
Brett – My curiosity wasn’t because of his citizenship. I did know Germany was pursuing him because there was the possibility of him becoming a German citizen. And then seemingly out of nowhere, his top choice was dropped. Just wanted to know why. I did not know that FIFA put a block on the move.
Time for Bradley to jump on a plane and court this kid like he did for Torres.
Chros, point taken, Euro qualifying is more appealing, but not by much. And I guess the qualifying process is devalued now with 24 teams in Euro. However, the overall UEFA international fixture list offers many more meaningful matches than CONCACAF.
Coach, Euro qualifying has usually two but at most four teams of any quality per group. During Serbia’s last qualifying campaign, eight of its twelve games were against Finland, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Azerbaijan. It might be slightly more appealing then playing in the Gold Cup, but Euro qualifying ITSELF is not that impressive.
And yes, Serbia can COMPETE for a 16 team Euro. They just won’t always get in, such as in 2008. Now, with 24 teams, Serbia will most likely ALWAYS get in, which is the only good argument.
The point was that Germany was trying to give Subotic citizenship retroactively for the 9 years Subotic lived there. This was nixed by FIFA as a breach of the rules. Germany says they have no plans to pursue the matter further. Clear enough?
Steve Goff’s blog has the link, the spam filter won’t let me publish it here.
Yes Ives, you referred to reports existing, but didn’t help with links or analysis. We hunger for more, and you’ve set the bar high as a go-to source of info.
Nonsense, Euro qualifying is definitely more sexy than anything CONCACAF can offer other than meaningful games vs. Mexico.
And Serbia could most certainly compete for a 16 team Euro. They have a tradition of producing good players.
Euro qualifying isn’t as prestigious as some people are going on about. For every France, Italy and Spain there are two or three Azerbaijan, Faroe Islands, Malta, San Marino, Cyprus, Andorra, etc. etc. per group.
The only relevant argument that should be made in terms of Euros is that Serbia will have a good chance of actually qualifying every time now that it has gone up to 24 teams in the finals.
Nevermind – found it. Ives wrote: “Borussia Dortmund at Werder Bremen. With Germany reportedly out as an option for Neven Subotic (still waiting for firm confirmation on this), this could be your chance to watch a potential U.S. national team player.”
I guess we have firm confirmation now?
“There were multiple reports out of Germany late last week stating that Germany’s quest to land Subotic had ended, reports I referred to late last week.”
Does anybody know which posts Ives is referring to? I looked at the posts from last week and didn’t see any about Subotic.
Angel – He is NOT going to choose Bosmia even if they make the World Cup.
Look people if Bosnia or Serbia don’t make it to the World Cup of 2010, is no brainer that Mr. Subotic will choose to play for the USA. That is why he is waiting until the 2009 when he become 21 and thats that time we all know which country are going to the World Cup and the qualifying at Europe will be over.. So please it doesn’t matter who he choose. If I was a betting person I will bet him choosing USA in the 2010.
fieldsy – Serbia has a far better chance of qualifying for the Euros than the US, no? And qualifying itself consists of big time soccer that, alas, you miss out on playing for the US.
Papa, I wasn’t referring to Canales’ article with regard to Subotic. That story was not close to being the first to touch on the story. There were multiple reports out of Germany late last week stating that Germany’s quest to land Subotic had ended, reports I referred to late last week.
Could someone pls remind me what the problem was with the u20?
Ives,
Could you explain futher his negative experience with the US-20s?
Thanks