Relating the birthplace with the quality of the player does not make sense. What is really relevant is his soccer school, so I am agreeing with you regarding the USA. You could have a case regarding Pepe being a mercenary, but not Nani and Danny. Both lived their entire life in Portugal and grew as footballers there. I had "Venezuelan" friends that were as much portuguese as I am. It's just that Portugal has so many immigrants around the world that naturally some come back. Nani was formed by the same school that produced Ronaldo (partially) and Figo: the Sporting Academy. So, I'm more inclined to believe that they are really doing a good job there than to say that Portugal is benefiting significantly with importation because it has these players. It did in 2006/2008 with Deco, but since then no players other than Pepe that did not play for most of their lives in Portugal gave a significant contribution.
And don't forget Liedson (along with Pepe and Deco). That gave Portugal 3 naturalized Brazilians on their roster at the last World Cup. Any more I'm forgetting?
It wasn't hard to predict this thread would go downhill fast, considering it started hanging over a cliff... Now it's another thread about how "American" dual nationals are? Mods close this thread and put it out of our misery. Please.
Uh... he's a German. What the heck did you guys expect? There's a reason why no team with a foreign coach has ever won a World Cup, too. I suspect it cannot be the same.
Seconded. For the love of all that is holy, America is an ideal, not a people, not a culture. ANYBODY, from across the planet can come here, and those who want to contribute to our great nation can call themselves American. Most people aren't Native Americans, and even those who are Native American usually have an ancestor who is European, African, or from elsewhere in the Americas. For what it's worth, guys like Jermaine Jones, Julian Green, etc. Are AMERICANS. End of discussion.
Though I agree with this, it's not really the point. We have "Americans" who, for whatever reason, live in another country. They presumably pay taxes in those countries, and those taxes go to in a small measure to pay for the national team of the country they reside in. Does this make them hypocrites? Not at all. The point is a single salient fact. All players mentioned are defined by FIFA as eligible to represent the US in FIFA competitions. If any USMNT manager were to deny them opportunities to represent the US, that manger would deserve our scorn. It is distasteful to question the motives who those who think in any other way about the issue, so I will refrain from doing so.
I'd argue that it is a culture (heck, every country has it's own unique culture!), but not an ethnicity, unless we're dealing with Native Americans. The definition of who is an "American" is tricky, because there are of course people who live in the States, have done so for a long time, and yet aren't citizens. On the other hand, some people have never set foot in the States and yet are citizens at birth. It's a gray area, but I think that many of us would dislike a coach that denied someone a chance the National team solely because they weren't considered "American enough". I don't know though, probably best examined in a separate thread. Not sure where we left off with the OP, but I think that it's pretty clear that JK is just endearing himself to whatever audience is in front of him. If he were on a US show, giving an interview, I'm guessing that he would've been much more diplomatic when talking about Germany. I'm not reading much into it.
Yea they are technically Americans bit when a guy like Rossi doesn't play for USA you guys act like he's the second coming of Adolf hitler. You are too inconsistent with your blurred thoughts on the usmnt to even take seriously.
That's not inconsistent. We want the best players eligible for the US to play for the US. If they don't play for us, not everyone is going to send them a parting gift of undying love. This is a soccer forum, not a political one. Rossi can be a proud American whom some USMNT fans view as a punk for spurning OUR TEAM. Negative talk about him is 99.9% hyperbole over that choice, not a value judgment regarding his character. Dammit. Why did I pick tonight to try to correct the internet? Oh yeah. Can't sleep because I'm pumped about the LFC match. For the record, I hated Gerrard during the US-England match in 2010. But I love him during the PL season. That's what fans do man. It's perfectly consistent with being a fan of a team. Johnny Damon was the devil for the Sox and became a fan favorite as a Yankee. The list could go on forever. To say that it's inconsistent to like guys on your team and/or also expressing dislike for players on an opposing team is either obtuse or expressing some notion of fandom that is foreign to Americans. Not sure how it applies to other countries. And don't care a whole lot, frankly.
We're ALL inconsistent. Kurt Gödel already has shown no logical system can be complete and consistent at the same time, so we're either ignorant or hypocritical, no two ways about that. And it's not even a limitation of our species' hardware.
Could very well be true, though some of us at least think about our inconsistencies and try to understand them. Others just find quotes to justify their biases and make no greater effort to understand the issue.
Actually, most US fans hate Rossi not because he plays for Italy. They hate him because of the way he dumped all over the US men's soccer program. Although I do not have an exact article link on me right now, I definitely remember when Rossi was interviewed, he took all kinds of swipes at soccer in the USA and how it was run at the time. Just to really piss people off some more, he also said in that same interview, "I'm American in everything, except soccer." The unbridled arrogance in that statement really infuriated a lot of American soccer fans.
Exactly. It wasn't just that Rossi picked another country over the USA, is that he very publicly said "NO WAY" to US Soccer, and yes, that was a quote from him in ESPN. Of course, I didn't really want to reply to a brainless shill like elmaestro2, and give him and the rest of BSMX a chance to masturbate and cry while reading my posts, so thanks for explaining it for him Master O. After all, I actually support Americans wherever they play. Rossi is a notable exception due to his apparent hatred of US Soccer. Heh. Back when Rossi spurned Arena in 2006, I very publicly stated that Rossi would never ever suit up for Italy in a World Cup. He does get scant minutes, but Rossi has never really been a sure starter for Italy at any time in his career. And yes, he won't be at 2014 either, this time because of injury, but my curse stands. Choosing Italy over the US has been an absolutely terrible career move for him, and honestly, that makes me smile inside.
Mind if we send you a list of some players on GHA, POR and GER (and maybe some possible round of 16 opponents) for your cursing in the next month or two?
The last two big tournaments that both the US and Italy were in, were the Confederation and World Cup. Rossi was on the confed cup roster, not the world cup. At both tournaments, the US has advanced further than Italy. Both times Italy failed to make it out of the group, while we won our world cup group, and edged out Italy in 2009. Just pointing that out
end of the day none of that matters when quite recently they won the World Cup Statistics are like mini skirts they reveal alot but show you nothing
Lol soccer history isn't your strong suit. Netherlands went to the 1974 and 1978 WC finals. Unfournately they lost both.