Happy birthday Giuseppe! May tomorrow bring you closure that Big Soccer will never afford you the luxury of. Good luck to you and your Italian endeavors.
Thank god!!!!!!! On the other hand, this may put the burden of Rossi squarely on the shoulders of the YA board. He will no longer be discussed on the USMNT board, but we'll still talk about him here. That means every yokel in their basement with mama will come here to complain about him. I look forward to many more years of Rossi shenanigans.
So why don't we take him out for shots, you know, to celebrate, and then when he's good and tipsy we'll see if we can change his mind.
I hope the kid becomes a star. And I hope, some day, the US plays Italy in the World Cup again. And Rossi's buddy Danny Szetela scores the winner right in Giuseppi's face.
Dear Yoda, Clear let me make this: Banned for life from YA Rossi is not, because YA status dependent upon FIFA status is not. And, while on this point we are: fun this is but into bin it goes as soon as "Rossi is or is not YA" becomes the focus. The Force with this issue is not.
Happy B'day Rossi! Can we please discredit Rossi's goal vs. Madrid as the 100th oc the season? And give it to someone who wears the US shirt with pride.
Okay, after a few emails (thanks for the helpful discussion Beech and Reignking), I've decided I overreacted and am opening the thread again.
Yes. You can only switch allegiences once, before your 21st Birthday. That time clock started when Rossie appeared for Italy during the U21 Qualifiers a few years ago.
Help me please. This is partially out of ignorance, but I need clarification. I don't believe Rossi has played a senior international for Italy or the USA, so isn't this still an open book? I thought you had to be capped in senior 'A' level international game for your switch options to be closed.
Once you play a senior match, you're cap-tied. On the other hand, if you play a youth match, you're provisionally cap-tied unless you petition FIFA to switch allegiances. If you do not do this by age 21, then your youth caps cap-tie you. At least, this is how I understand it.
Hopefully we can keep this from turning ugly. I start a lot of Rossi gameday threads, because I love having an American in La Liga. Over the last few months, people have been quite respectful. I think the furor or insult that people felt has subsided. Hopefully he'll put Villarreal through today (although I'm torn, being a fan of Barca).
You basically nailed it. One player who's taken advantage of the rule is Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, who dazzled for Dutch during the 2005 U20 tournament, and is now playing for Ghana in the African's Nation Cup.
I for one am happy he is out of the picture and the Rossi jersey chasers can go cry in a bucket. As for here, i think the anti-rossi campaign was largely successful. God knows i took enough repremands and cards for it, but thankfully the Rossi threads here on matchdays have about as much action as a Jemel Johnson thread. The fans have spoken. And with that, lets move on.
I'm going to keep watching him, because he is the only American in La Liga. But I've been pleasantly surprised that any BS regarding him had completely died down in the last few months, anyway.