Could Ronnie O'Brien be our answer at Right Mid? According to MLSnet.com he now holds an American green card, and has only played for Ireland youth teams. Are those caps binding? Would he accept a callup from the Bruce? Whatever happens he is awesome and I hope he stays in MLS for a while. Maybe FC Superclub can figure out a way to pry him from Dallas.
Unless he's married to an American (three years), planning to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan (probably awarded posthumously which wouldn't really help us) or is an important CIA spy, the law only provides for a couple of these naturalizations per year IIRC) it'll take him five years to get his citizenship. Plus, he's pretty much tied to Ireland.
And even then he is still tied to Ireland as he played for them in a FIFA recognized youth tournament at a time when he had no claim to US citizenship.
Not that it would matter since he's cap-tied to Ireland, but he's been living here pretty close to 5 years...
It doesn't matter how long he's been living here. He's only NOW getting his green card, which means he's a good 5 years out from citizenship.
This is probably worth looking into to confirm for the fed. I checked and he never appeared for Ireland in WYC or the U17s. Ireland made it in 1999, the year he'd be going, but he was not on the roster. It would be worth it to the fed to double check. Still he's several years from citizenship. Dema got his green card in 2001 and still isn't eligible so...
He was left off the roster for the WYC but played in the qualifying tournament. He also made at least one appaearance for Ireland in a UEFA U-21 qualifier...those should disqaulfy him from playing for the US.