Rossi profiled (combined)

[Rocket]

Giuseppe Rossi, the up-and-coming Man Utd player who is a dual US/Italian citizen, is profiled by Andrea Canales of espn.com:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=350666&root=us&cc=5901

[Motterman]

Excellent article.

[swedust]

A well-written and thoughtful piece; I particularly enjoyed the citing of US fans "wailing and gnashing of teeth."

She obviously knows Big Soccer.

In a recent interview with the Italian sports magazine Guerin Sportivo, Rossi mentioned that if the U.S. team offered him a spot on their 2006 World Cup squad in Germany, he would have to seriously think about it. It might have been a statement designed to put pressure on Italy to invite him in. It might have also upped the ante for any who wonder what it might take for Rossi to play for his birth country.

This paragraph is going to keep some USMNT fans awake at night for a week. Can any Italian speakers find this article?

[Sachin]

I think she's replaced Ives as the best soccer columnist out there.

Sachin

[Hed7181]

I'm not sure if this thread belongs here or not, but I wanted to point out the great article about Rossi on Soccernet

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=350666&root=us&cc=5901

I think this will answer all the questions and debate about Rossi's status on these boards

[PALE568]

It's a very good article and, though most of the article goes over well-traveled territory, it offers this tantalizing bit of information: the USSF put in a release request before the Scotland match for Rossi.

"There were thirty-eight players that had release requests sent to their clubs," confirmed national team press officer Michael Kammarman. "Rossi was one of them. Twenty players were called (to play against Scotland), which means eighteen were not."

[PALE568]

This paragraph is going to keep some USMNT fans awake at night for a week. Can any Italian speakers find this article?

Scotty started a thread on this in the YA section & then someone - Tallavana? - brought that quote over to the N&A thread.

[FC Tallavana]

That answers a few questions but not all.

ie did Rossi or Fergie turn down the call-up or did Bruce decide not to call him up in the end? Very important detail. It's a shame the writer couldn't get that bit of info in the article.

[Sandon Mibut]

Interesting. The fact that Bruce considered him giving him a call-up definitely shows, as Canales said, that he's on Bruce's radar.

Of course, why he did't get called in will make for great debate and hand-wringing here on BS and give the conspiracy theorists plenty of fodder.

I do think it's pretty obvious he's closer to a senior team cap with the US then Italy and ultimately that will be what he has to choose between: Get it now with the one who is asking, or wait and hope Italy comes around.

I also am in the Canales camp when it comes to not being bothered if Rossi's first choice wasn't to play for the US. But I've spilled out my reasons in other threads on Giuseppe and won't repeat them here.

[fidlerre]

That answers a few questions but not all.

ie did Rossi or Fergie turn down the call-up or did Bruce decide not to call him up in the end? Very important detail. It's a shame the writer couldn't get that bit of info in the article.
I doubt Kammerman is going to explain why he wasn't eventually called up.

Whether it was his choice, the clubs or Arena's nobody will know until Rossi or Arena speak.

[TheYank]

U.S. fans who might wail and gnash their teeth in frustration about Rossi would do well to channel that energy to supporting the players that have already committed heart, body and soul to the national team. The recent performances of the team have led to a steady climb in the world rankings, a few spots above Italy. :D

Good find on "America". I didn't know that Arena had sent a request to United for the Scotland match to release Rossi. However, I'm not going to speculate. There has certainly been enough of that lately, I'll just wait until January.

[FirstStar]

A well-written and thoughtful piece; I particularly enjoyed the citing of US fans "wailing and gnashing of teeth."

She obviously knows Big Soccer.



This paragraph is going to keep some USMNT fans awake at night for a week. Can any Italian speakers find this article?

There's a link to it over in the YA forum, with a translation.

Andrea can forget about the January camp, though, as there's no way he's leaving United for that long in the middle of the season (as much as I wish it were otherwise).

[Scoobs]

A nice summary of what's already been hashed out on BS.

[schmuckatelli]

I don't think we've heard the last of Rossi, and I don't just mean on these boards.

[tab5g]

very solid article by Andrea Canales.

[Scoobs]

Most importantly she did confirmed that Arena contacted Rossi--if I reading
correctly here--something that no one in BS could do.

She wasn't able to confirm if Rossi told Arena to get lost or if Arena got lost
before.

But realistically if Rossi wanted to come to camp for the Scotland friendly
you'd think he would have done so.

[Scoobs]

But yeah Ms. Canales is the woman fo' sure.

[dark knight]

I think this will answer all the questions and debate about Rossi's status on these boards

Unlikely. Since his status in this forum is not up in the air, I'll move this to our National team board.

[Bill Schmidt]

If he wants to play for Italy in a world cup, but can't play club in Italy, he should become a star in Argentina. :)

[Wahoo]

I liked that article.
Gave a little more information than I had previously and confirmed a few things to me.

1) Rossi has not said negative things about US Soccer - he just talked about the history and passion of the game in Italy
2) Rossi has not shut the door on playing for the USA
3) Rossi has not given up on playing for Italy
4) Italy does NOT think he is someone they "have" to have
5) Bruce of course knows about the guy and is contact with him

Rossi has to be a little careful with himself.
Italy doesn't like to call up players who play outside the country in the first place - so he knew when he went to ManU that would put a serious ding in his chances at a callup early in his career.
I think that as long as Rossi thinks he "could realistically" don the blue shirt of the Italian national team - we won't see him in the USA jersey.

My personal opinion is that if Rossi ever plays for the USA - even in a friendly - that would be the end of his chances for Italy.

I do wish this guy the best of luck, and from what I've heard about him, I am still hopeful he sees the light and plays for the USA.