I know that it has been discussed before (and actually tried in the case of Puerto Rico), but as the quality of U.S. soccer improves I wonder if we will see American Samoa, Guam, and Puerto Rico recruit mainland Yank players to represent them. Conceivably, the U.S. could have not one but FOUR national teams! Those who may not be able to crack the nats could actually play for any of those countries. And all the FAs of those countries would need is some initiative. Granted, they would need some money too - but it is worth looking into. For the players, it would be a chance to play international soccer where they otherwise may not have been able to and see places they might not otherwise be able to see. What's more, I think the level of our play is such that we might be able to qualify in the Asian and/or Oceania regions. Americans playing for other countries in international sports is not unheard of. I remember the Italian Olympic ice hockey team in 1988 having several Yanks on it. The Greek national baseball team that will compete in the Olympics next year is comprised of Greek-Americans and Greek-Canadians. Like I said, a Puerto Rican soccer team has been tried with players from the New York area. But could someone possibly take this up again? The thought interests me. What do YOU think? Let me hear from ya! Write away!
I'm cap-tied to America Samoa, but since I blew both of my knees out my international career is over.
I'm pretty sure that team was made of Nueyorricans( New yorker of PR descent). Puerto Rico is in many ways another country and there is no way that a national team will be full of Americans and no Puerto Ricans. If you have no PR descent then you are a foreigner and so there is no way its going to be filled with foreigners. Puerto Rico has its own FA and would regulate that. Besides soccer here is dead.
They didn't regulate it when you had the New York-based players on the team - why would they regulate it now? Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and any U.S. citizen can play for Puerto Rico. It's true that Puerto Rico has its own culture (one of the reasons the people there have voted down statehood, I would think). But you are wrong when you say that players without Puerto Rican descent cannot play for PR. Many, if not most of the New Yorkers who played for PR had NO Puerto Rican blood. Soccer need not be dead on your island. As was said in the film "Stand and Deliver", all you need is "ganas". I know baseball, basketball, and boxing are the island's three most popular sports. But there can be room for soccer. I have never heard of a national league in Puerto Rico. If there's not, that would explain in large part why things are dead in the water. What competitive soccer, if any, exists on the island?
They used to have a better league and I don't know if it still on. Soccer is followed more than its played here. Soccer it still played for it to have a national team and decent players but not decent for international scale. I know for a fact that in the basketball leagues, Americans count as foreigners and you need PR blood to count. The National team of Basketball is as closely followed as a national team of soccer. If you ever try to stick nonPR descent players here, you would hear riots all around. If Neuyorricans weren't used in the team and people didn't say anything is because it wasn't noticed. If it becomes popular that will end.
PR once had an English-born dude playing for them, Anthony Vaughn. He played in our Cape Cod amateur league. Maybe I can become one of the lead singers for El Gran Combo. "Pa' fuera...pa' la calle..."
Hey, I'm all for that! Unfortunately, I think Martino is already cap-tied with the States. Those damn yanks! Give us your Kreises, your Carrieris and your Twellmans. Last FIFA ranking I saw had Guam ranked 203, ahead of Western Samoa and a couple of other countries. Whooo hoooo. Guam rocks!!!! Go Chamorros!!!
Let's hope this doesn't ever become a reality. Imagine those tiny places siphoning off all of our 5th and 6th stringers? They would skyrocket up the rankings!
I read this: They didn't regulate it when you had the New York-based players on the team - why would they regulate it now? Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and any U.S. citizen can play for Puerto Rico. It's true that Puerto Rico has its own culture (one of the reasons the people there have voted down statehood, I would think). But you are wrong when you say that players without Puerto Rican descent cannot play for PR. Many, if not most of the New Yorkers who played for PR had NO Puerto Rican blood. I am very confused. Puerto Rico is in fact "united states", as any passport may confirm... Puerto Rico only participates in the olimpics thru a special consideration...(this is well documented) besides, Puertoricans are not a race but a group of people who share the same background... there are whites, brown, oriental and even some blacks living there...so there is no such thing as Puerto Rican blood, if you check their phone books you will see an incredible variety of last names from italian to english to french and spanish... They are a mixture of people and they are very proud of this fact! So I agree to the fact that any american citizen can play for Puerto Rico just as many Puerto Rican's have represented the mainland in many sports. (ex. GIGI FERNANDEZ, ROBERTO CLEMENTE etc..) In Fact if you were to go to the island during basketball season you'd see what I mean. For the most part sports in the island are regional, in some places they love baseball... other places they love basketball.. in the north part of PR, we love soccer... we call it "balonpié"...and I'd love to see a good Puerto Rican team no matter how. And I don't think it would be any diferent from any of the other territories like Guam or Samoa as well.
As for Guam, it is possible but not probable. First, the Guam FA doesn't have much interest in bringing in players, and they don't have any money. The Guam FA has actually adopted a policy that it won't call-up players away for college! I know because it happened to my sister. If they don't call up players from Guam who happen to be in college in the States, why would they bother trying to bring in any other players? Then there's the five? year residency requirement problem too... Back in the day, when Guam was applying for FIFA membership, these kinds of things were foremost on FIFA's mind and concerns. They were especially worried about voting rights, etc. IF A. Samoa or Guam start messing around, FIFA will pull them out faster than you can say "territory."
If a US soccer player who wasn't cap-tied moved to one of the US territories, got a job to support himself (since those territories don't have pro leagues) and lived there the requisite number of years to establish residency, then he could play for their Nat Team. But I don't see any of those territories recruiting off-island players. When you don't even have enough income to pay your local players, I don't think you can afford to recruit...
Would you actually have to be a citizen or occupant of one of these territories or is the fact that you're American trump that and make you eligible anyways? What would FIFA have to say about it? The Kelly Grays, Bobby Rhines, and Mark Lisi's of the world would be good for this...
You can't just pick up and arrive there and be on their Nat team. You have to have resided in the territory for a certain number of years - I don't know how many although 5 years does sound right. Plus, of course, you can't be cap-tied already. Once you play for the territory and get cap-tied, it doesn't matter where you live - you can only play for that territory, although like Dammit said I think most of those territories want their players to be residents.
Well right, that's my point. Say the USVI wanted to start picking US players that had no shot with the national team and they didn't care about citizenship status. Would it be possible for them to do so? I remember when Qatar wanted to start giving citizenship to Brazilians not being considered for Brazil but FIFA stepped in. I wonder if it would even fly on FIFA's radar if it ever came up? It is all just hypothetical but if the FA wanted to make an effort to impove by bringing in fringe MLS players, and the government waived those residency requirements, would it still fly with FIFA?
I'm pretty sure the residency requirement is mandated by FIFA, so you can't get around that. I also know that in Guam's case, they are more interested in developing local players than shipping in "ringers".
Remember, Guam had some guy who set up residency there just to compete in the Olympics in some winter sport... I can't remember exactly how, but he did it.
Yeah, it was the biathalon (skiing and shooting). He just moved to Guam however many years before the Olympics and established residency. Then he'd "vacation" every year someplace where he could train. There's no question it could be done, I just don't see the Guam Soccer Federation going for it. If they don't want players who grew up on Guam but moved to the States, there's no way they'll field a team of haole ringers with no ties to Guam.