But would you be willing to make the trip to Gelsenkirchen, eat wuerst and some great local beer, and tell Jermaine Jones that the techno-Euro musik on his website is 'ganz cool' and he can be a star on US Men's Nat team and still keep his anonimity? Huh? Will ya'?
My grandparents are originally from Germany and I have an Uncle who lives in the Gelsenkirchen area. I took a visit there last summer. Unfortunately I wasn't able to see any Schalke matches.
It would be a little more time-consuming but I'm game. I mean, I was in Gelsenkirchen three years ago so I actually know my way around a little bit. That said, I think we need Castillo more and at least there's a quote from him discussing playing for the US so he's probably a better gamble right now.
Question about Jermaine Jones: I know on his website he says after his playing career he wants to spend time with his family quietly in the USA. Does he have any contact with his father and extended family in the US? Or does he just mean that he wants to move his family (wife and kids) to the US after his playing days are over? It could be both, but at least it does show that he does have some connection with the US and who knows maybe he'd want to play for his father's country.
Not really. Guys like Rossi we never had. Subotic happened before he was 21 anyway and Rongen (arguably) ********ed up bigtime. Castillo we ********ed up. ------------------------------------------------- We just need to not ******** up and not worry about the Rossi's who are never gonna play for us.
isn't this going to be interesting. a black guy with a heavy German accent finding his way in america. huge comedy potential.
I already asked this in another thread, but is Castillo a starter for Club América? They signed him in December but according to Wikipedia he has only played 5 games for them so far.
According to Soccernet.com, he started 12 games and came off the bench once. (There are 17 regular season games.) http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=77649&cc=5901
Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if he has visited the U.S. before, not like anyone here in the U.S. would recognize him. I'm not too sure on how much his father was involved in his life, but who knows maybe he keeps in contact with his father and his dad's extended family.
Yeah, I just found the same stats on Medio Tiempo: http://www.mediotiempo.com/jugador.php?id_jugador=10525&id_torneo=176&id_liga=1
I just read a bit about Jermaine Jones. He is a bit of spark pug isn't he. If he does come to the US I hope he meshes well. As for Castillo, I thought that he already capped with Mexico in a couple of friendlies. Does the rule change only apply to actual qualifying matches?
It was discussed earlier, but friendlies don't count for anything. Only senior matches in official competitions (WCQ, Gold Cup, Confederations Cup, Copa America) permanently cap tie you. Castillo hasn't played in an official match for Mexico's senior team yet. He has only played in youth NT games for Olympic Qualifiers.
http://www.welt.de/print-welt/article247929/Jermaine_Jones_aus_dem_Ghetto_in_die_Bundesliga.html "I had a difficult childhood." Difficult, because his father left the family 14 years ago and disappeared without a trace. and a few years later: Do you have contact to your father by now? Jones: We're in contact since last November. It was difficult at the beginning. We talked via computer-phone and met each other for the first time after almost 20 years. He is older now, I am older. Since then, our relationship is not bad again.
Thanks, smithfan for the info. My German is still somewhat good and I saw there was sentence in there where Jermaine said that during winter vacation they met in Miami and that his father came there from California. I'm glad for Jermaine that his father got back in touch with him. My father had a similar situation with his dad. So I guess I was correct in assuming in my earlier post that Jermaine has visited the U.S. before. This interview took place in May 2008, so I'm guessing he traveled to Miami during the Bundesliga winter break for the 2007/2008 season. Who knows, perhaps he has visited the U.S. since then as well. I also read another statement in that interview where Jermaine said: Just loosely translating this, Jermaine said "At the end of my career I would like to America, play there another two years and be based there with my family. I have not developed concrete images yet. (Which basically means, I have not made up my mind yet)." So he appears to have at least some interest in coming to America. Call this guy up Bob!!
He didn't make the prelim roster for the GC. http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/114/mexico/2009/06/10/1317945/mexico-release-preliminary-gold-cup-roster The lines are open Bob/Sunil. Time to give it a shot. It certainly won't make the LB situation worse.
Sunil better be that man, if they are trying to do anything..He is a business p[erson, so i assume he has a better handle on being a salesman/pitchman....
Sunil is aware of this. My buddy in Chicago asked him about Castillo and Sunil poliltely declined to comment. But Sunil did give the indication that he was well aware. My question to the board is what kind of pitch does Sunil make to Edgar to get him to switch? Sunil can probably promise Edgar he will get a callup to a USMNT camp where he'll have a chance to prove himself. It would not be wise, however, for Sunil to promise a roster spot on the WC or even playing time in a WCQ. It's important to keep those things earned. The USA is also not able to call him into camp for the Gold Cup because the rules don't go into effect until August. Does Sunil say that the USA will give him a shot in some camps? I am sure he can do that. It also doesn't hurt that the inclusion of Torres and Orozco show that we are very open and even like the idea of Mexican-Americans playing for the USMNT. We can certainly say that LB is real weakness of ours and that Mexico is strong at that spot. Also Mexico clearly is not interested in him in anyway at the moment. There are a lot of things Sunil can say but he needs to be careful of promising stuff.
We must remember that Castillo is not only a left back, but also a left-sided midfielder. With Beasley in decline, and Rogers apparently not ready..........we need help there too. I'm with you, though. We can't promise people a WC roster spot. They have to come into camps and prove that they belong. Arena wouldn't do it for Rossi, and that's a player we depserately wanted. Personally, I still see only a slim possibility of Castillo switching.
I agreed with you all last week that it was a long shot But when he wasn't announced to Mexico's preliminary GC roster (from which they will cut 7 players) the chances of Castillo switching to the USA increased a great deal. I still think it's less than 50% that he switches but the chances are considerably higher after Mexico's GC roster announcement. I really wouldn't say it's a long shot anymore
I'd agree with you on this. The non-call for the Gold Cup really does help the U.S. but we will see if it is enough for him to make the switch.