Serbian national team coach Radomir Antic has claimed victory in the chase to land Neven Subotic, stating that the defender has chosen to play for Serbia rather than the United States.
There has still been no public declaration from Subotic on the matter, and this isn't the first report out of Serbia to claim Subotic had made a decision, but this Associated Press report sounds more legitimate than the previous reports (though the absence of an actual quote from Antic makes me wonder if the AP's Belgrade bureau dropped the ball here). That said, sources have stated to me repeatedly that Subotic had no plans to make an announcement any time soon.
So why would Antic make such a declaration if it weren't true? Could he be trying to put pressure on Subotic? Was something lost in translation? Is Subotic just not in a hurry to address this publicly?
What do you think of this report? Do you believe Antic? Are you disappointed to see Subotic pass on the United States? Are you still holding out hope that Antic is incorrect and Subotic will pick the U.S. national team?
Share your thoughts below.
Omg soccer in USA is lame. Whoever think that Serbia cannot make it to World Cup or Euro Cups just go and google it in history of soccer. How many games..wins Serbia (Yugoslavia) has and how many USA. Can you remember when the USA won against Serbia? can’t because NONE.
Of course it is hard to make to World Cup from Euro qualifying groups because you always have one Germany or Italy or France or Spain in your group, then you have Croatia, or Portugal or Chech Republic or Holland , then 3rd seated would be Scotland or Russia or England or Sweden..so..one average qualifying group in Europe would look like this
Germany
England
Serbia
Sweden
Romania
Cypres
and only first go direct to World cup and second goes thru play off or few best second places go direct. so WHAT UNITED STATES WOULD DO IN THIS GROUP??? we dont have Cuba, Trinidad Tobago , Virgin Island..Guatemala..dang!! THINK!!
Subotic will play TOP games instead playing with central america teams.
I’ll believe it when I hear it from Subotic, especially as the Borussia Dortmund website (http://www.bvb.de/?%81%9D%5D%1B%E4%F4%9D%2Ao%E5%81%9B) says his nation is “Vereinigte Staaten,” the United States.
I am sure that he got the money to play for SERBIA.STUPID,RIDICULOUS AND MORE!!! The kid is a SERB who lived a couple of years in USA and you people think that he feels American. By the way, Serbian team is a team on the rise, we have a lot of young very talented players and a good coach so we will be a lot better then USA at South Africa. Look up for players like Vidic,Ivanovic,Krasic,Milan Jovanovic,Kuzmanovic,Stankovic,Tosic. All of them are great talents.
Serbian mafia?? hahaha
Guys you’re funny because you don’t know what’s going on in the European football (and not soccer). During the last 3 under21 European championships, Serbia was twice in final and once in semi final. They have one of the brightest future in Europe. Their players are playing in Manchester United, Chelsea, Inter, and other best European leagues unlike american players. 2 new young Serbians players will join Manchester (Tosic, Ljajic) and one will join Real Madrid (Krasic) in january. The last years Serbia was bad because there were not team spirit, but Antic have change that. Believe me, us national team shouldn’t play against Serbia in the next world cup if they don’t want to be trashed.
thanks doc!
yeah jags has a point its pretty clear you take what you can get especially whne its much better than what you already have.
Jags98 – ?? is there a point to your post???
between krasic ivanovic vidic, and a crapload of other serbian defenders that are considered better where is subotic gonna play?
If you are the coach, dont you take every person you can get your hands on? Of course, it makes your entire team stronger and no one gets away to come back to beat you. US has no depth, Def is not solid, and you always need more. Besides, what are going to do? Keep calling in 30+ yr olds that were good for their time but have nothing to carry us forward. Look at USC, their football practices are tougher than their games. Why, because they have all the best talent. The same people crying on here “we dont need him,” are same ones that stopped looking for jobs when they got one. There is always something better. Double down, take it all!
It’s been obvious since Germany was ruled out he was going to play for Serbia. What is he waiting for? A bag of cash from the Serbian FA? A BJ from Miss Serbia?
I hope Neven elects to play for the USMNT.
funny, for all the ranting and raving about him, has Subotic actually said anything except “I will decide later”? I don’t think so. So let the kid decide what he wants to do with his life, on his timescale.
All of the drama involving Subotic’s decision-making is getting old. If he wants to play for Serbia, he can play for Serbia. He would be a great addition to the US national team, but it is not the end of the world if he chooses not to play for us. We will continue to develop stronger and stronger talent. It is an upward trajectory from here on out, Subotic or not.
Guys, none of you have any idea how poorly or well Gulati pursued this kid. Ranting and ravings about him “dropping the ball” is pure guess work.
That said, of course I would want him. I’d want everyone, even if he never starts for us. But maybe I’ll feel better about the whole think after Chad Marshall shakes Subotic’s mark for the winning goal of a set piece in the second round of WB 2014.
If this is true, then good riddiance to him. He will play in more World Cups for the USA than he ever will with Serbia…… I doubt he ever qualifies for the Euros as well.
Good luck dude and everytime you play remember who gave you the opportunity to become who you are. Typical of the world really… use the US for your gain and then dismiss the country.
Giuseppe Rossi 2: Electric Boogaloo. Hopefully we can spend less energy being angry or disappointed this time…
Chris and Everyone else out there:
HE IS NOT SERBIAN! He is Bosnian with parentage based in Serbia. But being born in Bosnia and living there for only the first 18 months of your life really seems to be a stretch.
He identifies with Germany because he lived there until he was 11 and then moved to the USA where he lived until he went to Mainz at the age of 17/18.
Saying he will be a hero in Serbia is silly. Unfortunately, he has led a very nomadic life which leaves him to believe that he is a man (boy) without a country.
The US has always embraced immigrants (aren’t we all immigrants in some form or fashion) and hopefully he will see that.
If you go purely on where he was born then he should play with Ibisevic and Husidic (Univ. of Ill.- Chicago) and let them all play for Bosnia. Its not like the US did anything for them or anything except take their families in and give them the security and freedom to live their lives free of being terrorized during the Balkan conflicts in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
A little thing like savings their lives should never come into play when you are trying to determine how much money you can extort for any number of soccer confederations.
anyone ripping into Serbia arent quite right in the head… they are a solid team and this WCQ performance is proving it….
now i can see what some people are saying… by picking the US, he would pretty much guarantee a spot in each WC, where if he picks Serbia, its a fight to make it each time…. the difference is fighting in europe or fighting in CONCACAF… its a safe bet on the US making it, but to drown out Serbia’s odds of making it is foolishness
The news has pretty much been made public in Serbia, with Radomir Antic holding talks with Neven on Thursday night and getting confirmation he will play for our national team.
“Radimo što brže da to ozvaniÄimo na legalan naÄin, da se dobije pasoš. Mislim da se radi o izuzetno talentovanom momku, koji će svakako uvećati naše mogućnosti u grupi. Tako da sam, sa te strane, izuzetno zadovoljan”,
^^
Thats the quote Antic made to the media and pretty much states ” were working as fast as possible to overcome the legal issues in obtaining him a passport. etc etc.”……..then he talks about how much talent the player has and how pleased he is to have gotten confirmation.
This is great for our national team, and we now probly have one of the best defences in the world :
Vidic (Man U)
Ivanovic (Chelsea)
Rajkovic (Chelsea)
Subotic (Dortmund)
Rukavina (Dortmund)
Lukovic (Udinese)
Kolarov(Lazio)
Dragutinovic (Seville)
D.Tosic (Werder)
Krstajic (Shalke)
PS. For the people here who dont rate Serbias talent, just wait for the forthcoming transfer window, and remember these names :
Milos Krasic
Milan Jovanovic
Zoran Tosic
Adem Ljajic
Good Day 🙂
seems to me like he could make a lot more money in endorsements playing for the US (see Freddy Adu and Nike).
CVS- again, 1 foul up does not warrant such hate….
Oh and I’d also like to add that the headline is deceiving when you first see it, as it seems like the Serbian coach is saying he is going to play for the “US”…it should be changed to say Serbia instead of us…
BOTTOM LINE:
Whoever said he will walk into the Serbian starting XI is way, WAY off the mark.
The Serbain NT already have Branislav Ivanović (Chelsea), and this one guy, I can’t remember his name….oh wait, I think he is one of the top 5 CB in the world…Nemanja Vidić. Subotic will be the 3rd or 4th choice, regardless of what he has done this season at Dortmund.
Refuse to give up on this until the boy speaks. Serbia is currently in 1st place in their World Cup qualifying group. They are 5 points clear of France, Austria, and Romania. Hopefully they slip up in the second half of the season. The boy will want to play in the 2010 World Cup.
“And if he does choose to play for us, he better believe he’s gonna have to earn his place, and wont walk in and start. I have a feeling he’s got a prima donna mentality and that’s something we don’t need either; the USMNT has great chemistry right now.” – Alex
I was thinking the same thing. IMO the Rongen situation speaks more to Subotic’ attitude than anything Rongen did. My question is: would he immediately be starting for Serbia. If that’s the case…yeah, go to Serbia.
From reading everything about him and this decision, it’s been obvious to me that the US is his 3rd or even 4th choice after Germany (access denied), Serbia and another former Yugo country (I don’t remember which one). I made peace with this a long time ago. I definitely am not going to let this situation raise my blood pressure.
hope he goes U.S. Its not finalized until we hear it from the horses (subotic) mouth.
I’m really not suprised nor disappointed. He’s a great player but we must realize he’s serbian not american. he only lived here a few years. it only makes sense to pick serbia.
BOTTOM LINE:
SERBIA = National Hero
USA = Make a few soccer geeks happy.
People who think playing for seriba is bad should look at their team, they have one of tehbest defender sin the world with VIdic, then they have ivanobic who would start for most europeans teams, Krstajic, Dragutinoivic, rukavina who is his friend an dfellow starter for dortmund, then Lukovic and kularov who both start in serie a. they are top of their group in wcq and made the last world cup and have a chance to qualify for several tournamnets in a row. now we will play in confed cups, copa america, and he would probably be much more assured of a world cup qualification for us. he also has much less competition for us as he would battle with ivanovic for years and dragutinoivc is pretty much solidified the cb position for now. plkus you got the guys in serie a who are young and very talneted, he may be better than all tehm but he would be in for a fight. Their midfielders start for three good serie a teams and the strikers arent the best in europe but all very solid and lazovic and zigic are talented. id say he probably relates more with seribian people because of his family but if he wants to be guranteed a starting spot on an up and coming national team for 15 years and may 4 world cups he should consider us.
I’m sorry Jonathon, I have to disagree that the US needs an experienced foreign manager to coach the national team. Didn’t Mexico think the same thing when they hired Sven? I mean, look at his pedigree, certainly impressive and now look at the Mexican national team. They just don’t have quite the same dangerous they had only a year or two ago. Would an experienced foreign coach be nice? Sure, if he’s a good fit for the job. The US job is complex because of how MLS works and American soccer players aren’t necessarily of the same make up of European players. The US did the right thing by hiring who they felt was best for the job rather than just going out and hiring a foreign manager for name credibility, and especially not just so they can attract players like Subotic.
Speaking as a Serbian American, I’d love to see him play for the US. Unlike Rossi, he is a product of the US National Team Youth system, so letting him get away should have some folks in the USSF re examining the existing process.
Still Serbian American’s have contributed to the Nats, such as Preki and Sacha Kljestan.
Frankly, I’m tired of this. Right now, I don’t think we need him, and while he is a great player, I don’t think any player is worth all of this trouble. A player should wear his nation’s colors out of pride, not because that particular national team program offered him more money or whatever. I don’t care about this one way or the other. And if he does choose to play for us, he better believe he’s gonna have to earn his place, and wont walk in and start. I have a feeling he’s got a prima donna mentality and that’s something we don’t need either; the USMNT has great chemistry right now.