Just as he was on the cusp of potentially returning to action for Villarreal, Giuseppe Rossi faces yet another long spell on the sidelines.
The New Jersey-born Italian international tore his right ACL for the second time in the last six months during a training session and will be out for at least another six months, according to the club's official website. Aside from completely ruling him out from Italy's squad for this summer's European championship, Rossi will miss the opening months of Villarreal's 2012-2013 season as well, and any transfer value that he had for this summer — he had been rumored to be seeking a move to a bigger club — has also suffered a substantial blow.
Rossi first tore his ACL during an Oct. 26 match against Real Madrid and had been working his way back to fitness with an eye on returning for Italy this summer. Without Rossi in the lineup, Villarreal have struggled mightily, scoring just 33 goals in 32 games. The Yellow Submarine sit in 17th place and just above the drop zone in La Liga, seven points clear of relegation with six games to go.
trolololol
Nowhere did I make the argument that they shouldn’t be allowed to make the choices those players made. They are allowed under the rules. Doesn’t mean I have to like it and wish well the ones that decided they wanted nothing to do with the team I love.
It’s just one of those things that adds a little spice to being a fan for me.
My argument is simple. I don’t blame other country’s fans for reviling either Corona, Johnson, etc should they so choose. I don’t like _____ for that same reason and people saying “Grow up” aren’t going to change my mind.
i don’t get it. do people not think the germans, canadians (bunbury, leroux especially) are happy about us “poaching” their players? It goes both ways when there are dual nationality situations. All of these people defending Rossi are either Unamerican or just stupid. (and probably not in AO)
Yes. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. If somebody blatantly didn’t give an F about playing for the US, had the most tenuous of relationships to it(like their Dad became a citizen after living here for 3 years, left, never came back, etc.)then I would not want a player who is merely taking advantage of the team. That is not a good representation of the US and not fair. I’m tentatively ok with most of the German-Americans though, their dad’s risked their lives for the US, not to sound too trite, but that’s a big deal and presumably builds a relatively strong bond. Boyd, Williams, and Jones all have said/had moments that make me think they definitely care.
Even if the US does draw disproportionately from immigrant populations relative to our population at-large, that’s true of every country. Every country draws disproportionately from minority populations that are more conducive to turning out great players-low income individuals per capita are represented higher in the EPL than their statistics would back up, children/relatives of former players hugely outweigh their percentage of the total population, etc.
This is basically how I see things too. Also, As much as there are people on here whom are making light of his injury, there’s also a lot of people on here who apparently feel they need to protect Rossi’s feelings. Fans are fans because they get to praise and they also get to tease. No reason to get butt-hurt either way.
Your false distinction of ‘We need Rossi but they don’t need Corona/Johnson’ proves you use the same logic you criticize Rossi of using. You either a) think Rossi truly considers himself more Italian than American and I have no idea what your beef is or b) think the opposite and dislike Rossi for not choosing the country he feels closer to in favor of a team that will further his competitive goals. Presumably it’s b).
Your argument that there is a difference because Rossi is better shows you allow competitive, not patriotic, motives to determine where somebody should play. If you have an issue with a player playing for a team he has less of an allegiance to than another, then that should be universal. Chandler is taking advantage of the relatively lax rules of international soccer just as much as Rossi is. It’s not a question of who needs who more, that’s totally arbitrary, its a question of how players decide what country they should play for. The fairest and least arbitrary way to decide that(which also is the best indicator of which country is actually better) is for players to play for the country they feel aligned to most. If the US were to win the World Cup with a bunch of guys who consider themselves American only tenuously(and I’m not saying these guys do necessarily, but for argument’s sake), that is a poor indicator of how good the US is.
ACL tears are inevitable because the knees are the most fragile, flawed part of the human body. I’ve torn both also, and it sucks, but neither of my injuries were a result of reckless tackles. Not that I’m justifying them, because they are still poor form, but I think they result more in serious fractured/broken leg/foot/ankle injuries moreso than ACL. ACL is the lateral stabilizer in your knee and tears often come from planting at the wrong angle.
Is an ACL weakened after the first one? Meaning are you more likely to tear again for the rest of your life? Or could it be a thing of returning too quickly?
Yes, bub, twice. Plus MCL both times. Yes he’s a pro and obviously I’m not, but he should be able to man up and move on with life just fine. I think you are forgetting the point: it’s all in good fun to make fun of opposing teams, who cares!! These guys are freaking millionaires, THEY’RE GONNA BE FINE.
cosntantly overlookign him?
he played for the u-16, u-17, u-18, u-21..went to the olympics with italy…how is that overlooking him?
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t give a little chuckle when I read it. I’ve wished poor form on him for a while. He could have been a star for the US, become the face of soccer in America…now he’s gonna be passed over by Italy without ever featuring in a prominent role for them.
But the more it set in the more clear it became that this might spell the end of his career as a game-changing player. Two ACL injuries will limit his change of direction significantly, and might reduce all his explosive movement and lower body agility to that of an average 30 year old man. He still might have enough technique and discipline to be a decent league player, but he won’t be playing in any more major tournaments. In that light, I actually start to feel a measure of sympathy for the guy.
Well said, fischy. I think we are seeing the professional leagues getting more serious about. A studs-up tackle, regardless of whether contact is made, has been grounds for caution, if not a dismissal, in the BPL this season. Even MLS has been handing out an unusually high amount of suspensions for dangerous tackling this season. Outlawing slide tackles all together is not the solution, imo. But players need to learn to either tackle better or not at all.
Rossi illicits strong emotions because he’s quality and an elite forward and would have had a very big impact on the US’s successes. Imagine Rossi along side Jozy in the World Cup instead of Finley.
Yes, we are taking advantage of the German Americans that came up through the German system. But Germany owes us as we protected West Germany from Communism and helped take down the Soviets econmically so they can reunite and be an even stronger soccer nation.
Besides, the guys we take from Germany are not their 1st or 2nd choices … so it is no big loss for them. However, imagine if Ballack or Schweinsteiger were eligible for the USA … and they chose the USA. Germans would be very upset at them like us with Rossi.
Reaching out to eligible players = milking the system?
I’m going to add you to my personal list of people who don’t know what “karma” means.
Ok, this needs to be addressed. Just because we give _____ a hard time about choosing Italy over the US doesn’t mean we can’t bring in players that are eligible for other nations. It means we were jilted by a player that we could really really use, but who didn’t want anything to do with us. That bothers me and it puts him in a group of players I will not root for.
However, just because we use and like Fabian Johnson, Joe Corona, etc doesn’t mean that we are somehow giant hypocrites. I wouldn’t blame German fans or Mexico fans from holding those players in contempt for turning their backs on the other nations they were eligible for. However, the likely fact is that those fans won’t care much because there are PLENTY of talented players.
We badly, BADLY need a striker of _____’s pre-injury talent. Wishing injury on someone or delighting in his hardships is further than I’m willing to go, though. There’s no reason for that.
*Was* a tremendous player
Yes, but we really, really just don’t care.
Yeah man, all of 1 year ago
blow me
Rather than all this juvenile joy at his injury, and the back-and-forth about it, I’d rather see a debate about ACL injuries. Unfortunately, they incredibly common in soccer and I don’t know how to limit them, except to rule out most sliding tackles. Of course, some happen with little or minimal impact — I’ve torn both ACLs and neither was really a contact injury — but we could limit the number if bad tackles were more rigidly penalized.
I would like to raise another point. When I had my surgery, the recovery time was 9-12 months, not 6-9. I think soccer players are being rushed back into a contact sport when they’re still at greater risk. Even if the ligament is at full strength — and I have my doubts — the muscles that protect it are not. Players may be ready to run straight ahead but the planting and turning in games leaves them at greater risk, especially if contact is added in. They need more time than they are being given by teams.
+1
Ahh, I remember when I was 15…
look, I wish he chose the US also, but bad karma? Maybe he would have had worse karma had he chose Italy, and turned his back on the country where he developled into a pro
seems good american players are jinxed regardless who they decide to play for. Hope he recovers and can continue his career. Seems like a decent kid.
I support my local teams which doesnt include an MLS team
+1
Jurgen Klinsmann is milking the German system to hide his inability to coach. And there are people complaining about it
yep, poor guy.
seems like a decent guy too
Our players from born in other countries all of them are players that were constantly over looked by their home country and chose the USA, because we would give them a chance. Nothing wrong with that.
Rossi was a traitor, because his home country constantly was calling him to come play. he went with the county the was constantly over looking him. Now karma keeps hitting him in the knee and he might not ever play in a World Cup. If he played for the USA he would have been to 2 world cups already.
If Villarreal are “second rate” then Jozy being the best striker for the US makes the decline in talent even more laughable.
Jeez.
How is he a traitor? His whole development was in Italy-Europe. And he chose to to play for them.
The US is milking the German development system and no one whines about that – in fact you (fans) keep looking for the next best thing playing in some 4th division german team.
Get over it. You sound bitter and jealous.
Yep. I’ve torn my right acl twice and it’s downhill after number two. Early osteo arthritis sets in and it’s just a pain.
What exactly did he lie about? There’s a difference between being a uncertain of your future and not wanting to piss-off anyone as a teenager and flat-out lying.
Ever torn your ACL bub? Not something I would wish upon any player, regardless of my personal feelings for them. That’s the issue here.
take that rightous smiting, o rossi you traitorous traitor!
(silly, innit?)
Come on man, it’s fun. We’re fans. We’re allowed to do this. We know the stats, we also just love our team.
I’m sorry you are so concerned about an Italian guy you never met, who the only personality/moral/ethical evidence you have about him is that he’s a liar.
Good point about Subotic. I think Rossi compares quite favorably with another U.S.-born international in Brede Hangeland, who was born in Houston to Norwegian parents but grew-up in Norway. American citizen through-and-through, but not really an American at heart.
Exactly. Just look at Germany’s World Cup squad: Ozil, Khedira, Klose, Podolski, Boateng, Gomez, Cacau. All were eligible for other national teams.
People forget Jermaine Jones actually did choose Germany three times before making his one-time switch to the USA. He and Castillo (Mexico) had to wait in 2010 for the nationality change paperwork to clear, and Castillo underwhelmed and Jones never quite got his shin break healed. So though the process has taken off in earnest under Klinsi there was a trickle starting under Bob.
Point well taken that we are both profiting and losing on the multiple-nationality front, we are fielding quite a few players now with tangential affiliations with the US at most.
But it’s worth saying that even though most sports fans rationally get you won’t run the table on every acquisition and game, some animal instinct wants us to get every player we pursue and win every game we play, and Rossi makes for a nagging reminder of our imperfection.
However, Subotic should really be the more infuriating loss because Rossi went to Italy at like 12 and worked his way up the Italian age group NTs. It was always a stretch he’d switch back. In contrast Subotic was living here after a certain point and worked up our youth NT pipeline.
What country doesn’t have dual nationals nowadays.
That’s why one of our duel-nationals took out the ACL of another duel-national….
+1. And if we’re being totally honest, Rossi has much larger ties to Italy than any of our German-Americans do to the US. I also love how people are so quick to say things like ‘he does xyz that is American’, well yes, that’s because he is. You reduce duel-nationality to something its not when you must choose one over another(in any situation other than FIFA because obviously its a forced choice there).
^sicko.
Anyone else see the karmic irony in celebrating the karma of another’s injuries/setbacks?
Can’t believe so many people are still butthurt over this. He chose Italy, so what. Timmy Chandler chose USA, so what. Nevin Subotic chose Serbia, so what. Thomas Dooley chose USA, so what. David Regis…well, whatever. The list goes on and on from the beginning of time for every team. I’m more concerned about the players that we do have than 1 player that we don’t, especially when those players fail to qualify for the Olympics. Fix the program and we won’t have to worry about the Rossis and the Subotics of the world. It only matters when your team has no depth. I don’t think Brazil was crying too much when Deco chose Portugal.
If only 12-year old’s taints could speak.
To anyone who *still* criticizes Rossi or calls him a traitor for not choosing the U.S., keep this in mind: Corona, Torres, and Gonzalez could have chosen Mexico; Johnson, Jones, Williams, Chandler, Morales, and Boyd could have chosen Germany, and Agudelo and Bedoya could have chosen Colombia.
The majority of USMNT players are either foreign-born or 1st generation Americans. I’d rather have the option of choosing all those players for USMNT selection than just one Giuseppe Rossi.
Stop getting your panties in a bunch. Wishing ill on any player makes you all sound like little 12-year olds taints.
And we could have been counting on this guy. We dodged a bullet. Or rather, his ambition jumped in front of one.