While your post is very informative, it is also wrong. Jeff Cunningham was a Jamaican citizen, moved to the US at age 14, played for South Florida in college. Was drafted into MLS in 1998. Played for Jamaica, got his citizenship 2001, and played for the USA 14 times from 2001-2009.
I'm pretty sure that Sandon is referring to players who moved here specifically for college, and not before that. In regards to the citizenship process, Cunningham - who got here at age 14 - would have had quite a jump on the other guys who arrived here at at least 18 yrs old.
Indeed I was. That is, talking about players who came to the US for college. Because, Zakuani came her for college. So that's the apples-to-apples comparison: players who came to the United States FOR college and went on to play for the US. And since Wegerle and Harbor, none have done so. Ergo, I was, and am, not wrong. There have been plenty of players who have come to the US as kids and gone on to get naturalized and play for the US, some after playing college soccer. Jeff Cunningham is just one such example. Others include Freddy Adu, Pablo Mastroeni, Stuart Holden, Gale Agbossoumonde, Juan Agudelo, Benny Feilhaber, Ugo Ihemulu, John Thorrington, Mark Chung, Robin Fraser, Diego Gutierrez, Tab Ramos, Martin Vasquez. Again, all of them came to the as kids and as such had a leg up on getting the citizenship process started, ESPECIALLY if their parents started it while they were minors. The only players who have come to the US as ADULTS the last 20 years or so who have gotten naturalized and gone on to play for the US are Preki and Carlos Llamosa. Obviously neither of them played college soccer. Both came to the US before MLS started (no foreign player who came to the US to play in MLS has been naturalzed and played for the US, ever) and both took several years. Preki came to the US in 1985 to play indoor soccer and was naturalized (with an American wife) in 1996. Llamosa came to the US in 1991 for non-soccer reasons (he didn't play APSL ball till 95) and got a green card very quickly because he had family here sponsor him and he got naturalized late in 1998. That's it for players who came to the US as adults and have gotten naturalized and went on to play for the US and both players were past their 30th birthday when they were able to play for the US.
My mistake. Apologies to Sandon. I offer a complete and utter retraction. I misunderstood and was in the wrong, and Sandon was spot on. If I had the picture from A Fish Called Wanda, I would post it.
Even with a wife, it only goes by faster, but it still takes a few years. Our immigration system and our idea of "American" is all sorts of screwed up. So a guy born in the US, leaves with his parents at like 4 months old to their homeland would be considered a American and can run for President later on in life, but a guy that immigrated here at 4 months, grew up here for years on a green card would not be considered an American or allowed to run for President after gaining citizenship? Back to soccer, our immigration standards are definitely hurting our chances, but I bet if this were a more popular sport, we'd make some changes.