The US women could have a situation that could resemble Rossi on the men's side. Looks like Leah Fortune was born in Brazil to parents from the United States. An article on ESPN Soccernet indicates that she was born in Brazil and lived there until she was 2, but then moved back to the United States. She is playing with Brazil on their U20 team and talks about how she enjoys playing for Brazil. She is part of the ODP Program, for Region II, but I don't see that she is part of the National Team pool. It's not clear if she is comparatively as good as Rossi but it would be interesting if the US looses a player they want, to another country. I know a number of players have played for Mexico and other countries, but they weren't going to make the full US Women's team. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=518405&cc=5901
I was more interested in the fact that a Chicago youth team has a partnership with a club in Brazil. Is that common, particularly with girls' teams? As you say, there have been a number of women with dual citizenship playing for countries other than the USA. I think this player probably falls into the same category in that she's able to play for the Brazilian U20s but is not talented enough to make the USA U20s. Good for her for finding a place to play. It is good for the game overall that she seems to be building fan support for Brazilian women's soccer. She hasn't reached the point where she's actually cap tied (or at least not according to the article). If, long term, she is good enough to make the USA squads the money and Fed support is better here. Where she ends up playing her college ball will tell a lot, imo.
her father coaches the u.s. u17 girls team. so there is no way she is being overlooked. maybe she's not good enough to play for the u.s. from the article:
The US was practically begging the supertalented Rossi to wear the US shirt. This is very different and nothing new on the women's side. As the other countries around the world start to develop their women's football program, more and more of these US kids will be wearing foreign uniforms. Mexico, Philippines are doing it now. More to follow since players don't develop at the same rate, a lot of unwanted US kids would end up as talented as the USNT players but will never wear the US shirt.
Here's a video of Leah playing with Brazil--well doing a flip throw. Good for her. If she can help improve the popularity and acceptance of girls' and women's soccer in Brazil, I'm all for that. I will be interested to see where she commits to play college soccer. Anyone know who's recruiting her? She is a junior, right? I am really interested that the club has a youth club partnership in Brazil (Team Chicago Brazil), according the the soccernet article. Anyone know more on that? I didn't see anything listed on the Team Chicago page. Do other girls clubs have such affiliates? Her dad, Hudson Fortune, has a bio on Team Chicago club page.* It says he was the head coach at Bradley prior to starting Team Chicago. The USSF site lists Kazbek Tambi as the U17 head coach and Tad Bobak as the U16 coach. I didn't see assistants listed for either team, which is disappointing. *Warning, take care of your retinas--wear sunglasses. No webpage should have a bright yellow background and blue font.
According to cbg2004's spreadsheet on the college forum, she's committed to Clemson. Class of 2009 Recruiting
One word: Jailbait. DISCLAIMER: Don't Google "jailbait" unless you want to see some really disturbing things that will have the FBI knocking on your door.
here a very good story about a u14 girl play for the u17 mexcian chech it out Http://cultureofsoccer.com/
There is another American girl playing for the U 17 Brazil national team. Adriana Rodrigues a midfielder player from Florida just play the South America tournament in Chile for Brazil and she got 3 caps 2 as starter {Peru, Argentina}. She was born in US with Brazilian parents and she is also a Florida state ODP.
This may sound mean, but... did you read this before you clicked on the "Submit Reply" button? I'm sure the above quote is not truly oxymoronic, but it sure comes close.
I agree but I disagree when you say talented, there is another American girl playing for the U 17 Brazil national team and she is a very talented and skillful midfielder player from Florida, Adriana Rodrigues is a Florida state ODP player.
the question wasn't whether she is talented and skillful. it was whether she is talented and skillful enough to make the u.s. team. this is a very large country with untold numbers of girls playing soccer and quite a few playing it with talent and skill. many of them will not be good enough to make the u.s. team in their age group, and may choose to play for other countries. leah and adriana are probably in this group.
Newsouth probably knows if she is still good enough for the full Brazilian NT or if that career is over.
She started her college career at UTexas, but has transferred to Lee University: http://www.goleeflames.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=18 http://www.texassports.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=2709