You can only play for one country. That is not Rossi's fault. If you parents divorce and you have to choose, does the parent you don't go to live with get to be a dick? Maybe, but I find it incomprehensible. Rossi caught tons of Bruce-level stupid crap from grown men when he was a 12 - 13 year old (whatever year he went to Parma.) So, feeling a bit of pay back is understandable to me. Rossi never "played" the US. Never led the US on. Was always, far as I know, clear and honest about his desire, which was to play on the highest level team he could. No honest US soccer fan would suggest that at the time that Rossi had to make that choice the US was better than Italy. In fact, he took a big risk that I admire. He could have been the "next" Landon or whomever for the US. Been assured a spot for the most part, or certainly had much less competition. Instead, he risked never making the Italian national team as the competition was much stiffer. For that I have great admiration for the "kid." I get some people can't get past the petty "spurned" fan crap, but I think it's incomprehensible for grown-ass adults to remain that petty. But that's just me.
Isn't it part of the fun of sports? There are players we love, and there are players we hate. For good reason, many of us put him in the "hate" category.
I had a lot of ill will back when, then a little schadenfreude for a while I must admit, and now sadness and empathy. If he could in get 3 healthy years with LAFC I would be stoked for him.
I guess. If hating a kid who just wanted to test himself at the best level he could pops your nut, have at it. Doesn't do much for me.
That rationale works for any athlete in any context. Why hate Lebron James? He's just a kid trying to test himself at the best level and win championships. Eliminating the sport's hero/villain duality only makes it more boring.
To be fair, didn't Rongen blow him off or something? Or no one rated him until he was rated by Italy or something?
That's a pretty bad analogy though - sports by definition is very tribal and if you join the enemy when you grew up here, it's not that incomprehensible that fans will villify him. The dude is a Yank. Let's face it, part of being a professional athlete in a team sport that is popular, you will have haters and detractors so I assume you aren't concerned about his feelings or damage from all the voodoo dolls we've been stabbing. I'm not a hater and I've always fought for his right to stay in this forum, but would I celebrate if he won the World Cup with Italy? Meh.
Maybe my take on this is influenced by having dual-nat kids and having watched them make some difficult (but by no means as important) decisions that made them choose between countries. And maybe it was added to by being a bit older when Rossi first made his decision and seeing it as much as a dad as a fan. But I still think anyone who "hates" Rossi because he chose the more challenging path (and for him, probably ultimately wrong path, though injuries might have tanked his US World Cup options as well.) is petty in my book. But, at the end of the day, I'm pretty much the only one reading my book, so there you go...
I guess I like to hate folks that are more pro-actively "anti." El Blondo or any of many Mexico or other concacaf players/fans are totally worthy of sports hate because they encourage, engage in and participate in the "hate" in a different way. The difference for me with someone like Rossi is they were a young man faced with a difficult choice that I don't think they made out of malice, but out of a good sort of ambition. Do you hate Rachubka or Myhill? Or do you just hate players that would have helped us who chose elsewhere? Anyway, just my POV. I never understood the Rossi hate, though it would have been great to see what he would have done with the US.
Awesome - though it's weird, I keep eating all this butter, but it won't melt in my mouth! (surprised I'm in such a minority, to be honest. But there you go...)
I certainly don't hate him personally - if I saw him in the street or at a bar I'd much rather talk to him than yell obscenities. I also don't think one path is more challenging than the other personally, nor do I think it mattered since his genetics were probably against him. Let's just make sure your kids make the "right" choice when they play for our national team!
The only thing that ground my gears was the comment about him considering himself American in everything but soccer. He knows he made a mistake in choosing Italy at this point, so I can't harbor any hate for him anymore.
Maybe a little bit of pity for what could have been, but I get it. He made his choice it was for better or worse, probably worse but who knows.
This comes to mind: Giuseppe Rossi's agent says forward made mistake in choosing Italy over USMNT http://sbisoccer.com/2016/05/giusep...ard-made-mistake-in-choosing-italy-over-usmnt The interesting thing is that Rossi has never responded to this quote or corrected the implication. It's odd for an agent to say such a thing without his client's okay.
Can you imagine all the pages upon pages of posts that would have been dedicated to the "Woe is me" reaction of me and all the other fans that yet another player like JOB, Stu Holden not being able to fulfill his potential due to unfortunate injuries if he had chosen to rep the US?
Don't blame the guy for his choice. I do question that celebration after scoring against us. There maybe something untold in the media about why he didn't play for us, maybe Rongen did not rate him or something that led to his celebration. Whatevs, I agree with the above poster, if he can play for a few more years with my hometown club in ATL, I'd be stoked.
Interesting - I hadn't seen that although not sure that's what Rossi thinks. Agree it's an odd thing for an agent to say although maybe paving way for a return to the US and MLS? Although it could just be hindsight since I think he was healthy in 2010 and could have had playing in a World Cup on his career bucketlist.
It's somewhere in this thread, but I think the consensus was that Rossi didn't disagree with this thought or he would have made a statement to refute it. Yes, it might have been a way to see if he could soften his landing coming to MLS or at least work in the US soccer industry.
Are you thinking of Subotic? Rongen's criticism after a youth tournament was cited by Subotic who then picked Serbia. Could've been cause-and-effect, but who can say? SFS used to claim it was because no one would've wanted to play for Bradley, for example. And if memory serves, Arena winked at Rossi who then said "thanks, but no thanks." When Arena was asked about a 2006 roster inclusion, he defensively said something along the lines of "I don't beg kids to be on a World Cup team." I, for one, never took it hard that he celebrated for his goal against the US: it was his first and it was a sweet finish. I can say, however, that it was the hubris of youth that caused him to chase a dream and flush millions down the toilet - you don't want the US, then don't expect an MLS pillow and big Gatorade or Nike contracts. To the Italians, he's just a blip. Plus, the US needed a finisher and central defender (Subotic) badly in those years.