I hope Neven is not making this decision on where he would have a better chance of playing time, which team is better right now, which coach he likes best or how much travel is involved. This is not selecting a club to play for 2-3 years. This is selecting your nation of allegiance and it lasts for his whole career. Coaches come and go. Teams go thru up and down cycles. Other players retire or lose form. New young players come into the picture. This should be about his personal feelings towards the countries involved. His personal history is very different than my own and probably quite different than most posters on BigSoccer. He likely feels ties to several countries. If he wishes to spend his life as a Serbian citizen, then he should play for Serbia. If he wishes to be a US citizen, he should play for the USA. I don't feel like there is a right or wrong decision here. It's about his personal feelings. Certainly I hope he chooses the US. But I hope he makes his choice for the right reasons. Until I am shown otherwise, I will give him the benefit of the doubt and wish him luck with whatever national side he feels he belongs to.
Have we learned nothing? USA-Mex at SLC? Suboitc picks Serbia? I believe it when an official announcement is made and not before.
Guliati says all reports of picking Serbia are untrue Subotic may still choose Serbia but the USSF seem to be on top of the matter and are most likely doing what they can behind the scenes.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/19/serbia-coach-subotic-ditching-us-for-serbia/ Like I said, good. Keep trying to force the issue, Serbia.
I would be a little annoyed if I were Subotic right now. The Serbian press (and possibly the national team manager) have been practically bullying him into playing for their country by building up national expectations that this is a foregone conclusion enough to upset a ton of people if he chooses otherwise. Of course, maybe he's already made the decision privately and word has leaked out somewhere. Even then I'd be a little annoyed at someone not respecting my wishes to keep this knowledge private until a formal announcement.
Kinda funny to see all the back and forth happening on his Wikipedia page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Neven_Subotić The do mention that he chose Serbia. Of course that will remain in dispute until an official announcement is made.
Kicker has also picked it up http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/bundesliga/startseite/artikel/502013/ and are saying that Antic said that they have to get him a Serbian passport now. Dies bestätigte der serbische Auswahltrainer, Radomir Antic, in einem Interview mit der serbischen Website B92. Man arbeite nun intensiv daran, die Formalitäten zu erledigen und ihm die serbische Staatsbürgerschaft zu geben. This was confirmed by the Serbian coach, Radomir Antic, in an interview with the Serbian website B92. Now (the federation) is working intensively on taking care of formalities and getting him Serbian citizenship.
Exactly my point. I have no issue with Serbia trying to court him. But the way they're going about it, just as you said, is almost tantamount to bullying by building up public expectation. That's frankly dirty pool, IMO. Of course, maybe he's already made some sort of hand-shake agreement with them, but why does the Subotic camp continually claim that no decision has been made or will be made until the end of next year and then Serbia seems to want to publicly declare every time the wind changes direction that Subotic is dressing for them in February? If I were in Subotic's shoes, I'd be peeved. As a US Nats fan, they're really working their way toward my "most hated team" list. I'd LOVE for our team to face them in the WC. I'd anticipate that at least as much as a Mexico match. To humiliate them in front of the world over this would be truly sweet, no matter which way Subotic goes.
No matter what happens I'll not care a whit more or less about Serbia's football association than I ever have. They just want a talented young player with loads of potential. I don't get the venom. It's the same thing the US wants. Actually that's probably giving USSF too much credit. I'll say I hope it's what they want.
Let's see them qualify first. Things are going well for Serbia so far, but they're in a tough group (France, Romania, Austria) and things could quickly change. That's why I think Subotic will stick to his original plan and wait until summer to announce his decision; by then he will have a much clearer idea of which of his potential suitors will make it to South Africa 2010.
come on guys Subotic is soooo yesturdays news, i already started the next big thing in USMNT Men on Nazzani foo! way ahead of the curb. Im at least a year ahead on this one
serbia is pressuring the kid.. that's not the usa style.. don't ahve to go back mroe than 10 years to see what serbian pressure can actually mean...can get quite nasty...i mean genocide is ugly.. usa has to go back a bit longer to the native americans for genocide, although early part of the 20th century, lynching was quite popular in some portions of america..
I don't know much about Serbia's quality in defense, but is it a guarantee that Subotic will step right in to be paired with Vidic, or is there some kind of pecking order? Let's be honest: Subotic is quality, but unless Bob decides to push Bocanegra to the outside, he will be a depth guy for the U.S. until the next World Cup cycle. I am guessing he knows this, and I wonder how much it will play into his ultimate decision. If he goes with Serbia, getting Marshall in the mix will be one of the more vital projects of 2009. Like I said before, the starters are essentially set, but you never know, and we need depth other than Califf.
I'm sorry but I was under the impression that he was a Serbian citizen. I don't see how you can say they had as much a "right" as the US when the kid only lived here for a couple years before moving on to Germany. I don't see what the fuss is about regarding a player that doesn't seem to want to play for the US and only lived here a for a short period of time.
https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=16540036#post16540036 cheers Neven... good luck with Serbia... they have a real quality side developing
I never had the feeling that Subotic would play for us. Having viewed several interviews and reading quotes, I came away with the impression that he never really felt like an American, and although I'm sure he's grateful for the opportunties that he's had here, it just isn't in his heart to play for us. That's really no different than others who come here for business or education, love the time they've spent here, but always yearn to return elsewhere. Germany was clearly Subotic's first choice, and as soon as that was nixed as an option Serbia was the next logical choice, given his family's roots and the quality of the Serbian team.