Good afternoon folks. As we all count down the days until the World Cup, there continues to be World Cup and club soccer news to discuss.
Before we touch on some of today's news items, check out my latest Fox Soccer piece, which discusses former U.S. youth national team player and Serbian national team defender Neven Subotic.
Now, onto some of today's news:
ARSENAL REJECTS BARCA BID FOR CESC
The battle for Cesc Fabregas is in full swing and isn't likely to end any time soon.
Arsenal rejected Barcelona's initial £29 million offer for Cesc Fabregas, but it's highly unlikely that it will be Barcelona's last attempt to land the Spanish playmaker.
Barcelona has already added Spanish striker David Villa, but with Real Madrid ready to re-load under new manager Jose Mourinho, the Spanish champions will be looking to sign Fabregas to keep pace.
CAPELLO STAYING WITH ENGLAND
Fabio Capello will be staying with England after the World Cup, removing an escape clause from his contract that would have allowed him to leave the England manager post after this summer's tournament. The news came amid heavy speculation that Inter Milan was trying to sign Capello. Inter Milan is now believed to be targeting Fulham manager Roy Hodgson.
QUICK KICKS
Chilean striker Humberto Suazo looks likely to miss Chile's World Cup opener vs. Honduras after suffering a hamstring injury.
West Ham United is expected to complete the hiring of Avram Grant as manager on Thursday.
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What do you think of the Subotic story? Have you moved on, or do you still hold some anger about his decision to play for Serbia? Think Arsenal can hold on to Fabregas? Hoping Grant keeps Spector at West Ham?
Share your thoughts below.
The Dude is split between USA and Argentina. But, this is where the USSF has to step its game up and roll the red carpet out to Hoyos. Tell him how For Argentina he has 99% of being depth in a big pool, but for USA he has a 99% of being a Star in the next 3 world cups if he continues to progress, And then call him up for our next US game after the World Cup.
question for team ives- how do you think dempsey would do in italy?
(not saying hodgson would try to take him to inter- but how would clint do with roma, juve, etc….?) the italian game is the game i understand the least out of some of the bigger leagues…..
I think we all forget that if it wasn’t for Subotic being discovered kicking a ball outside of Bradenton by the US coaching staff he’d be working in the drive through window at McDonald…
disloyal, greedy opportunist-correct…
Don’t think there’s much to drop regarding Hoyos. His first choice was always Argentina.
no need for Wikipedia history lessons, Juan. I am also from Eastern Europe and I also received refugee status upon my arrival here. In case you don’t know Republica Sprska was a ethnic Serbian entity and it wasn’t the Serbs that were under assault….
His family could move to native Serbia, right across the border that year, or even after Germany no longer allowed them to stay. But they came here…. why?
Unlike Subotic, I consider myself an American and I have no desire to represent a country in which I wasn’t even born in any form….
By the way, I hope that Subotic surrendered his passport/green card since he’s all Serbian now… you shouldn’t get to have your cake and eat it too…
Agreed. Hodgson has managed Inter twice already, it’s a veritable lovefest between him and club.
I don’t have any anger towards Subotic. I get the feeling that he’s a grimy opportunist and that’s about it.
Roy Hodgson potential move to the San Siro is an interesting one.
Obviously, this will have some effect on Dempsey’s future but perhaps also on some future on other American players, since he’s quite capable/willing to utilize our county’s talent.
Couldn’t be happier for the man, too, considering the job he’s done at Fulham and the class act he appears to be.
If the Italian press were rubbed the wrong way with Mourinho’s arrogant attitude, then Hodgson is exactly what they’ve been clamoring for (apparently).
Question: You know who’s more pissed Joseph plays for Grenada?
Answer: Joseph
Dude came here when he was 11 and specifically said he felt alienated the entire time. Why would he choose to play for us?
EXACTLY! When will we stop crying over the loss of Subotic and Rossi – they’re gone, get over it.
That’s where I see it differently. Rossi was a kid born in american basically trying to find his roots that took him back to italy where he fell in love with the game and decided to stay plus he still respects the usa a lot but subotic on the other had new his root, he new those same roots mad him a refugee and basically tried to kill him and his family but the escaped to the usa were he was basically reborn and put through a 5 star soccer academy in it infant stages and after the us did all that for him he turns away and bad monuth the very country that saved his life and made him wat he is. If he walked away with respect that’s one thing but to walk away with such disrespect is as ignorant as the leaders of his country basically he’s like a woman who keeps going back to an abusive husband because of the wonderful times they hand in there teens and neglects the one with all the love
I’m still pissed that Joseph plays for Grenada.
Not that it matters that much, but Kentucky didn’t win it all.
Its more than that…yugoslavia broke up in to serbia, montenegro, croatia, macedonia, bosnia & herzegonvina, and kosovo (serbia disputed).. so there talent pool would be outta this world if they never divided
It’s not about the lack of coddling, it’s about the lack of talent scouting. The injury claim referenced here is the first I’ve heard of that. Previous to now it had always been that Rongren said publicly the kid wasnt good enough.. yet he was starting on a bundesliga2 team just a few months later.
But that doesn’t make sense, as the country you’re born in is not _your_ (only) country. My 3 kids were born in Mexico. Even the restrictive US approach has always allowed them to be American citizens by right of birth, as I as their father am an American citizen. So my son even if he became a tremendous soccer player could never play for the US, only for El Tri?
And you think nobody would complain about that system?!?
And Sebastian Lletget. I can just see the USSF dropping the ball on those two. They should be our top priority after the Cup.
right, but if FIFA just said you had to play for the country you were born in, not your parents, it’d solve this mess. Then the best Americans would play for USA and the best Mexicans would play for Mexico and nobody would complain.
Chris, agreed with the basic point about mercenaries….However, Eduardo is not a carpet-bagger like Regis. He left BRA at 16 to join the youth set up at Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia….He matured into a pro in Croatia and became a citizen.
What is interesting is that only Brazil,no one else, can afford to lose guys who are good players at 16….
But what about Messi .. he joined Barca youth at 14 (or thereabouts)…lucky for ARG he wants to play for ARG.
Comes down to getting players in the pipeline and keeping them there. That is why Subotic situation irritates me…not his choice but that the US Nat set up did not know what it had.
So you want us to be racist? I’m confused. Also why is wanting every good American player to play for USA a bad thing?
How Wrong-gen still has a job is simply beyond my mental capacity.
Now our attention turns to Michael Hoyos. Was just called up by the Argeninta National team to go with them to South Africa as a Training spare, Which means Argentina and his club Estudiantes( who never release him for US U-20 camps when Hoyos said he wants to come after speaking with Ronegen) are making sure he dosent play for the USA.
I think we need to step our game up and call him in for the next US game after the World Cup.
Good point but to nitpick, he did play in a US under 14 camp in 2001.
You can be angry that Subotic didn’t end up playing for the USMNT, but calling them refugees in quotation marks is an insult to those who suffered through violence, chaos, and ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia.
From Wikipedia on Banja Luka, Subotic’s place of birth:
During the 1990s, the city underwent considerable changes when the Bosnian war broke out. Upon the declaration of Bosnian-Herzegovinian independence and establishment of Republika Srpska, Banja Luka became the de facto center of the entity’s politics and became the scene of much of the most severe and systematic “ethnic cleansing” underway in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
it is really funny that so many seem so offended about Rossi and Subotic. Get a life. If kids can play for the team they want so be it… I didn’t hear anyone complaining when David Regis was lining up for the US at the World cup a few years’ back… And our government EXPEDITED citizenship for the guy to make him elligible… these kids, Rossi and Subotic, played by the rules, and are good enough to get into bigger international sides than the US (although Rossi missed the cut for Italy, didn’t he), or ones which they have a greater patriotism for… so be it. just look at the Boateng brothers when they face off when Germany plays Ghana…
People should complain more about true carpet-baggers – i.e., Regis, Eduardo suiting up for Croatia (and all the other Brazilians you will find in minor teams around the world), etc.
it is weird to me because I think Americans have the opposite reactions of other fans around the world – we want every good player possible to suit up for us, no matter where they are from (America as melting pot?)… whereas in many other countries, traditionally, there have been backlashes against black players (see FRANCE) because of racism…
interesting.
I hope Hodgson stays too, but I think he’d be a moron to turn down Inter to stay at Fulham
If you read Subotic’s comments/explanation in the last paragraph of Ives’ piece on him, there isn’t much to argue with there, I don’t think.
Some people have more clearly multi-cultural, multi-national backgrounds than others. Some of them become very good at soccer, a field of endeavor that, as it happens, ultimately forces them to choose just one side of their background. Tough call, especially since it’s irreversible and especially because it has to be made so young, too. But they have to make the call, so they do, one way or the other, and they live with the consequences.
People can get mad at Rossi for his Confederations Cup celebration, if they like, or not get mad at Subotic because he hasn’t (yet!) done the equivalent, or talk about Holden or Torres or Gomez or in other countries, about Jonathan Dos Santos or whoever. But it’s going to keep happening because not everybody fits into neat little mono-cultural, mono-nationality boxes. Y que bueno!
here’s what I posted last note on the Rossi article
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The comment about Rongen and Subotic is what is at the heart of Giuseppe Rossi/Jersey Joe Red’s decision – that good players are not embraced, positively developed, and integrated into the youth Nat teams all the way to Senior Cap/Appearance.
Player development here is a crapshoot, still too much “pay to play” for the youth teams that have connections to the US youth Nats and Oly teams.
Rossi made a decision very early to go for a hi-quality professional development program, period. And once he was in the system and could get citizenship legitimately via Pops. the ITA Nat teams embraced him…it was only natural for them to do so. Result – US lost him but we never had him.
Losing Subotic is the criminal act that the US Nats need to have NEVER happen again (yeah dramatic..so what).
How do we lose a guy who’s been in the US youth setup at U17 and U20 and played college ball (1 year) Hell, he was even considering Germany/asked by them over us …only because that is where is went at 19 (??) to sign as pro with BoDo (??).
Yes, he’s complicated (refugee of the YUGO civil war) when it comes to where he’s lived…but he’s NOT UNUSUAL…we will always have plenty of immigrant kids (or born here of immigrant parents) …. there will ALWAYS be the pull….it is up to US Nat player development setup (now overseen by Claudio Reyna) to not lose the obvious good ones….he’s been a good defender in Bundesliga since 19, he’s 21 now – that’s damn near prodigal…who missed the talent to get him into 07 Gold Cup and/or Copa America. It ain’t just Bob…it is the system…..because plenty of other youngsters got blooded that summer (Benny F, Jr Bradley, etc)..yet the younger Backs for 2 tourneys included Simek, Spector, Bornstein, Parkhurst, Wynne, Boswell, Califf, Moor…
That is the question…How can a system have a quality guy in the ranks at age 17 and lose him by 18???? with a spot for a Senior tournament to entice him….
and FYI, some of our forwards, wingers, Off Mids that we used were Twellman, Mapp, Ralston, nguyen…though Rossi was gone, is the pool good enuff if this is who we cap?
Seriously, player development and integration needs to change if we’re gonna be a perennial 1/4 finalist – the mark of power.
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Ives, your article clarifies to the best of your inquiry the story between Rongen and Subotic.
But the point about player development & integration still stands,IMHO….
So in 2007, in the eyes of the US Nat setup, Subotic was considered less of a prospect than the guys who went to Gold Cup and Copa America, seriously?
It comes down to talent and its assessment….we will not get to be a power when the eyes of the US Fed can’t find & see & evaluate talent AND
if they do (which was true in Subotic case, they saw him) they likely have (what I guess to be) are dumb rules or procedures like “you can’t progress too fast”…Jr bradey did Gold Cup and U20 World Cup…
Dumb, dumb, dumb…..Jr Bradley is the exception that may prove the rule….US Nat setup in toto is not yet good enuff.
As an aside, Kentucky won it all with 5 freshmen and 4, if not 5, will make NBA next year…That is a transition into a “senior professonal” setting that needs to occur with US Nat setup.
Any chance Dempsey rides Hodgson’s coattails to a better club? Most of Fulham’s players are either older or prime for the transfer. Plus, without Roy, they won’t be nearly as dangerous.
Do you actually have such a file? I would be very impressed.
Sorry Ives I don’t care about this clown anymore and won’t be reading any stories about him.
It’s harder to be angry with Subotic, because he wasn’t born and raised in the US like Rossi. Also, he didn’t defect to Serbia out of a mercenary desire for World Cup gold, again like Rossi, because everyone knows that Serbia has no chance of actually winning the trophy. I guess Subotic just felt he should play for Serbia because he’s Serbian.
Re: Subotic.
Horse = dead.
And if anybody is “haunted” by this situation then, well, they may want to get out a little more.
My $.02
Think how good Yugoslavia would be today with all that quality now separated…
Serbians hate losing, even more so at home, and worse to a perceived weaker team – this would be twice in a row!
Still have them as my dark horse come June.
Couldn’t of said it better.
No use in being bitter, he did what he wanted which is what any of us would of done. Having him this summer would of been awesome but there’s always the next one…
I agree with you as harsh as it may sound. I’d like to see the National teams program compensated when this happens. Would he have gotten the opportunities he has now had he not played in the US system? Who knows but the odds aren’t good. He’s trying to get back at the very system that developed him and when he wasn’t good enough for the U-20 team. I wish him a long and successful career full but I just get the impression that he’s trying to get back at the US which is so whack. Why didn’t they stay in Germany? Why didn’t he go straight to Germany after he left H.S. instead of University here?
this is coming from a naturlaized US citizen:
Subotic and his family are opportunists, plain and simple-whether that makes them better or worse then anyone else, is up for debate, but if his “roots” and “family” are in Serbia, why not head straight there when Yugoslavia split, instead of running to a better life in the Western world- this would have saved Germany and US governments some coin, spent on sheltering these purported “refugees”
to me Rossi never wanted to play for the US, he followed his dream. No hard feeling. Subotic, did play for our youth national team, plus he wanted to play for germany before serbia. So yeah it hurts more than Rossi
But seems to me like we had a better shot of getting Subotic if he was called up to the U-20 rather than Rossi who never played for a US youth team…
This sums it up.
Vidic didn’t start, so maybe that’s why.
Glad we are getting Rossi and Subotic out of the way this week. I don’t get why people can get upset about a player who has to choose between two countries. If they don’t want to play for the U.S. then good luck don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
We are developing more and more depth each year…eventually losing players like rossi and Subotic will not be THAT big a deal
File it under “who gives a rat’s a** about him or Rossi”
GOD BLESS THE USMNST!
I hope Hodgson doesn’t leave Fulham…but if he did, I can definitely see Dempsey moving to a bigger team.
As for Subotic, I can’t fault him for choosing Serbia. However, I can’t pin any blame on Rongen, either. Not getting picked for a youth team is not a reason to spurn a country and Neven even says himself that wasn’t the reason. We can’t coddle and baby every dual citizenship kid in the hopes that they’ll play for us if we are nice enough to them.
Read article a while back that also stated that he was upset about some players on U17 speaking Spanish during the 2005 U17 World Cup in Peru. No problem with him not playing for USA, but Rossi is where the hate really needs to be directed. Subotic gets a pass.
If he got invited to the senior team after the U-20 rejection — accepting that would have thrown the pie in Rongen’s face enough.
Not taking that invitation in and of itself means Subotic never really wanted to wear the U.S. crest.
I read that like 6 or 7 players on the Serbian side were eligible to also play for Bosnia, as they were born in what is present day Bosnia, but are of Serb ethnicity. The breaking up of Yugoslavia, mainly focusing on the 3 central countries – Serbia, Bosnia & Herzogovina, and Croatia created a lot of these “problems” w/ current players.
Was watching Serbia/Poland on right now… either Poland is looking really good, or Serbia’s defense is really shaky. The game is in Serbia as well.
apples and oranges compared to rossi. no anger, and i hope he does well, as long as he’s not playing against us.
anger toward wRongen, now that’s another story..
RE: Subotic
I have a son who is one. If our family moved to, say, Italy, for work or whatever, and he turned into a great player there in some team’s youth system, I would still remind him that he is, first and foremost, an American, and would hope that he embraced his heritage and played for the USA. No disrespect to the country where he would grow up, but only in respect to his family and heritage.
Would have been nice to have him, but you have to respect the choice.