He was 20 at the time. Most 20 year olds are quite naive. I'm betting that at the time he said it, he definitely felt it was true. I'd hate to be judged for the rest of my life on something I said when I was 20.
IMO, Bees Knees views are anti-american. You won't want an American citizen pursuing an opportunity for prosperity in a legal enterprise and mutually benefiting agreement for both parties and society because he doesn't fit a social ideal of yours. As an American, I fully support Castillo's want to pursue prosperity and seeking out the means to do so. If Howard was ignored by the USA, he'd just be another Rossi that we'd never know about because we'd never see the starting goaltender in Hungry play... and I'm pretty sure he'd be there starter.
Not to worry, he plays left back (and mf). What is wrong with USSF? 5'8" too small? That was Berti Vogt's size when he played right back for (West) Germany in the 70s --and won a World Cup in '74. Also, Paul Breitner of the same teams and era was not much taller, and played left back. US Soccer will never think out of the box till it gets its head out of the box -- which is just another way to say a$$. I would love to steal this guy from Mexico and have him romp for us at Azteca.
My problem with this is that you're holding the guys with multiple options to a standard that you are not holding the Donovans and Dempseys of the world to. It's easy to assume that the latter are out there doing it all for the red, white, blue, and apple pie. But perhaps they just view the national team as an opportunity to further their careers and participate in international soccer (regardless of the club) -- just as you fear is the case with Castillo and Jones. That Donovan hasn't played for some other national team is hardly an indication of his level of patriotic commitment. It's more an indiciation of his circumstances and options. No one can get inside any of the players' heads and hearts and isolate -- out of the mishmash of motivations for donning the shirt -- the precise quantum of patriotic fervor that is at play. Trying to decipher who is sufficiently driven by something as vague as raw nationalism is a hopeless task. Let's just settle on the tautology that if they're playing for the US, it's because they want to play for the US, and the US wants them to play. Welcome aboard; end of story.
To follow up on the above post, who would Earnie Stewart played for had the Netherlands wanted him? Who would Thomas Dooley have chosen had Germany wanted him? Who would Clavijo have chosen had Uruguay wanted him? (We could do this all day). No way those guys would have chosen to play for the U.S. instead. Their "first loyalties" no doubt were not to the U.S., and they would most likely have rather played for the better team. They were barely "Americans," after all. But they didn't have options. So what makes it okay that we let them play for us? Why did they even choose to play for the U.S.? Because they loved it so much? Players just want to play - because they get paid, because it's a chance to play in a World Cup, because it's the pinnacle of the profession, because it's a chance to compete against the best in the world, because it's a chance to show off for clubs, etc. etc. And oh yeah, you get to represent "your" country, which is cool too. I say if he's a U.S. citizen and he demonstrates an appreciation for the opportunity to play for the national team, let him play.
On a side note: Y'know, the nice thing about this list is that it suggests the Melting Pot is alive and well in America. The part that scares me about it is that it suggests we're not making our own.
22 players on that list were born in this country. Does a player have to trace his roots back to Plymouth Rock for you to consider that we are producing our own?
Wow........do you u (and some here) even read what u post sometimes....? Anyway, please enlighten us on your non-scary plan...... .
We're still talking about soccer, right? To read some of these posts, you'd think we were preparing for a covert Cold War operation. What on earth does "loyalty" or "allegiance" or "patriotism" have to do with any of this? Do we need to revive the House Un-American Activities Committee to root out athletes of dubious morality? Sheesh. It's grown men kicking a soccer ball around. Are we seriously worried that Castillo is going to slam it into our own net at Azteca, undermine our core Enlightenment ideals, and then disappear off into the Mexican night? It goes without saying that the reason many of us are even here to begin with is because somewhere along the line somebody decided that it was a good career move for them to affiliate themselves with the United States, whether that be geographically, economically, politically, etc. America is built upon the right to self-determination, and I have no problem whatsoever with Rossi, Subotic, Jones, or Castillo exercising that right, even if it carries them from one affiliation to another.
I agree 100% This is about soccer and what players can help us be a better team. Castillo is young,has talent, and speed. He fits right into our style of play. We need depth and he will give us that.
I'm excited as anyone about Castillo, and Club America is a solid team, but I think it would be a gross exaggeration to call them one of the hemisphere's biggest, considering the obvious quality and popularity of the EPL and La Liga giants. So unless someone moved the Prime Meridian or Equator without telling us (Carmen Sandiego?), let's not get carried away.
Serious, guys? Some people will argue with anything. I think what the list obviously demonstrates is that many of the players on our national team are either foreign born or first-generation American. First, I stated that fact reflected the melting pot nature of our national demographic, which I applaud. I support and admire its diversity. However, it clearly suggests that a good number of the players playing for our national team were likely influenced by a passion for the sport which derived from their parents' culture and interests, which derive from a native culture not American. Therefore, it seems soccer has a way to grow within mainstream American culture before enough Americans are pursuing soccer of their own volition to influence this demographic. I understand that soccer is a popular pastime among American youth, but the demographic makeup of the American squad is clear evidence that its influence is not deep or pervasive enough that many of them are turning into legitimate prospects. Rather, many "mainstream" American youth play for a year or two, never really learn to understand the game, and abandon interest in the sport entirely by the time they're out of their teens. I think this is a valid and reasonable observation, so please don't talk to me like I'm stupid. If you'd like to discuss the issue, try asking a question and allow me to clarify my point.
1884 and antiquity, for the Western and Northern hemispheres respectively. (Apologies to others if this sidetracks the Castillo discussion.)
Dooley answered that question quite clearly: By 1986, at age 25, Dooley had led unfashionable FC Homburg to the Bundesliga, made a move to established top flight side Kaiserslautern and was pushing hard for a call-up to the German national team. The call never came. "I was gutted," Dooley remembers. "Three times I was on the verge of being called in, but each time I suffered serious injuries and the chance went begging. I despaired that I would never play international football, but my wife assured me, 'there must be a reason for it.' "http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/news/newsid=991997.html#dooley+usas+german+giant
But I wonder can Spector *cross* as well from the left? All I know is, I wanna see more of those sublime crosses from just over the middle line; damn those were sweet.
Why? How? Some of the best nicknames are those that started as insults and became ironic as the nicknamee put the lie to the criticism. Hell, in general, I think ironic nicknames are the coolest; like calling a huge guy 'Tiny Tim'. Or a guy I used to know whose Rottweiler was named 'Daisy'
While there are *some* examples of such hypocrisy you chose the worst ones. It has been stated multiple times the issue is not "country of their birth", it's where they were born and raised. Rossi was born and raised in the U.S. and moved to Italy for soccer reasons. Adu and Feilhaber both moved to the U.S. for non-Soccer reasons, and when they were very young. All spent the majority of their formative years in the U.S. While there are some arguments that people are being hypocritical, the above are not those arguments.
Ugh. The Western hemisphere "alone" includes Portugal, Ireland, Scotland, and almost all of Spain and England. Is this really that hard?
Really didn't know that, thought it was just pretty much west of europe. learn something new everyday i guess. my baaaaaaad