Footie - 2008-2009 Season

[SpicyMcHaggis]

Originally Posted by akhhorus

I wouldn't compare the situations. Adu came over here because his mother wanted to escape Ghana. Rossi moved to Italy only for Soccer, but still tried to get on the US NT(maybe) when it didn't look like he could make the Italian NT.

Exactly. So Adu is actually worse. At least Rossi is of italian descent (neither Adu nor his family had anything to do with the US before moving there), and he moved to his "new" country for soccer-related reasons.

Originally Posted by akhhorus

Generally, this is the case: surplus players or players with an ethnic link to their other country play for someone else all the time. I wouldn't put Rossi in this category because he flirted with both sides looking for the best deal.

Which is the exact same thing that every other player does. See Amauri, Taddei, all those brazilian players that play in Russia and have a russian (or eastern european) passport. The same thing happens in every sport (Hakeem won a gold medal at the Olympics for you guys!!).

[dj_stouty]

Originally Posted by SpicyMcHaggis

LOL

There are about 500,000 examples of players in the world who have 2 citizenships and choose to play for one or the other (Klose and Podolski are a good example, but you also have almost every single south american playing in Europe, like Marcos Senna for example).
Dont take this the wrong way, but the only reason you (not you specifically, but you americans in general) are making a big issue out of this is that outside of him you have nobody remotely good on the U.S. national team. I'm not sure if it's more lame or sad.
I'm curious to know what your thoughts are about Adu playing for the US...

The US team should have gotten progressively better during the past decade; but sadly they haven't. While I think Howard, Donovan and Dempsey (and eventually Alltadore) are all very good players, I just don't think this collective team will make any splashes in the next world cup. I look back to the older US teams that were made up of Harkes, Pope, Friedel/Keller, Agoos, Cobi Jones, Reyna and McBride...and I just don't see this current squad being any better talent-wise and certainly not as fluid overall.

[SpicyMcHaggis]

Originally Posted by dj_stouty

The US team should have gotten progressively better during the past decade; but sadly they haven't. While I think Howard, Donovan and Dempsey (and eventually Alltadore) are all very good players, I just don't think this collective team will make any splashes in the next world cup. I look back to the older US teams that were made up of Harkes, Pope, Friedel/Keller, Agoos, Cobi Jones, Reyna and McBride...and I just don't see this current squad being any better talent-wise and certainly not as fluid overall.

I agree. You have a bunch of decent players, but nobody that even comes close to being a star. That's why the Rossi situation is causing so much discussion.

[akhhorus]

Originally Posted by SpicyMcHaggis

Exactly. So Adu is actually worse. At least Rossi is of italian descent (neither Adu nor his family had anything to do with the US before moving there), and he moved to his "new" country for soccer-related reasons.

I disagree. Adu came to the US not for soccer, and even after Arena and Bradley refused to add him to the squad, he didn't take Ghana's invitation to play for them. Rossi acted like a true son of New Jersey and tried to get the best deal possible(his story is that he's only playing for Italy because Arena refused to promise him a starting spot). He doesn't care about the US or Italy, he cares about himself.

Originally Posted by SpicyMcHaggis

Which is the exact same thing that every other player does. See Amauri, Taddei, all those brazilian players that play in Russia and have a russian (or eastern european) passport. The same thing happens in every sport (Hakeem won a gold medal at the Olympics for you guys!!).

I think you're not understanding what the complaint is here. No one is criticizing the system in which players can play for another country, Rossi's name is just mud here for the crap he tried to pull.

[akhhorus]

Originally Posted by SpicyMcHaggis

I agree. You have a bunch of decent players, but nobody that even comes close to being a star. That's why the Rossi situation is causing so much discussion.

Even if the US had Rossi, that doesn't fix the GK situation. Any success for the US in soccer has been because their defense and Goalkeepers could dominate a game, and they haven't found a replacement for Friedal and Keller.

[RedskinsDave]

[SpicyMcHaggis]

Originally Posted by akhhorus

I disagree. Adu came to the US not for soccer, and even after Arena and Bradley refused to add him to the squad, he didn't take Ghana's invitation to play for them. Rossi acted like a true son of New Jersey and tried to get the best deal possible(his story is that he's only playing for Italy because Arena refused to promise him a starting spot). He doesn't care about the US or Italy, he cares about himself.

Very wise move by Arena.
And as for caring only about himself, that is also a character trait that about 99% of soccer players share. How is his situation any different from Amauri, Camoranesi, Marcos Senna, etc. etc. etc.? The fact that Adu didn't accept Ghana's invitation might have something to do with the fact that Ghana isn't exactly a world power in soccer (although they have some good players), and he knew he would get to play for the States sooner or later, and that would have given him lots more visibility (which ovbiously has happened since we are talking about him even though he is a completely irrelevant player in the grand scheme of things).

Originally Posted by akhhorus

I think you're not understanding what the complaint is here. No one is criticizing the system in which players can play for another country, Rossi's name is just mud here for the crap he tried to pull.

If that's the case fine, but it still doesn't change the fact that it is extremely lame. (And I was originally responding to a post that said that Rossi should give up his U.S. citizenship, which is absurd).

Originally Posted by akhhorus

Even if the US had Rossi, that doesn't fix the GK situation. Any success for the US in soccer has been because their defense and Goalkeepers could dominate a game, and they haven't found a replacement for Friedal and Keller.

Oh, I definitely agree that with or withour Rossi, the US's situation doesn't change all that much. Instead of having a bunch of decent players they would have a bunch of decent players and one very good one. We've seen how that is working for Sweden, how it worked for Ukraine, Wales, etc. etc. etc.
What i meant was that if you guys had a NT as good as the top teams in the world, you wouldn't be making all this fuss about it. I can guarantee you that over here, absolutely noone would have been devastated if Rossi had chosen to play for the U.S. He's a very good player, but not somebody that's gonna make a difference between having a chance to win a World Cup or not having it.

Originally Posted by RedskinsDave

Only Judas? Not Hitler or Satan?

[akhhorus]

Originally Posted by SpicyMcHaggis

Very wise move by Arena.
And as for caring only about himself, that is also a character trait that about 99% of soccer players share. How is his situation any different from Amauri, Camoranesi, Marcos Senna, etc. etc. etc.? The fact that Adu didn't accept Ghana's invitation might have something to do with the fact that Ghana isn't exactly a world power in soccer (although they have some good players), and he knew he would get to play for the States sooner or later, and that would have given him lots more visibility (which ovbiously has happened since we are talking about him even though he is a completely irrelevant player in the grand scheme of things).

There's caring about yourself, and there's deciding between which country to play for. If memory serves, Cam, Senns and Amauri didn't go through any manipulative dramas trying to play both sides against each other about who they would play for.

Originally Posted by SpicyMcHaggis

If that's the case fine, but it still doesn't change the fact that it is extremely lame. (And I was originally responding to a post that said that Rossi should give up his U.S. citizenship, which is absurd).

Well, to be fair, Dave thinks that about everyone from New Jersey(who can blame him).

Originally Posted by SpicyMcHaggis

Oh, I definitely agree that with or withour Rossi, the US's situation doesn't change all that much. Instead of having a bunch of decent players they would have a bunch of decent players and one very good one. We've seen how that is working for Sweden, how it worked for Ukraine, Wales, etc. etc. etc.

We're happy to make the 2nd round of the WC right now lol

Originally Posted by SpicyMcHaggis

What i meant was that if you guys had a NT as good as the top teams in the world, you wouldn't be making all this fuss about it. I can guarantee you that over here, absolutely noone would have been devastated if Rossi had chosen to play for the U.S. He's a very good player, but not somebody that's gonna make a difference between having a chance to win a World Cup or not having it.

Absolutely not. They need to fix their traditional strengths before they can think of improving the overall team.

[SpicyMcHaggis]

Originally Posted by akhhorus

There's caring about yourself, and there's deciding between which country to play for. If memory serves, Cam, Senns and Amauri didn't go through any manipulative dramas trying to play both sides against each other about who they would play for.

I don't know, I may not recall correctly, but I remember Camoranesi and Amauri especially doing exactly the same thing. What I don't understand is why the heck would Rossi have had doubts on which NT to choose. That's like somebody not being able to choose between the Dream Team and the Italian backetball NT.

[fent]

Originally Posted by SpicyMcHaggis

I don't know, I may not recall correctly, but I remember Camoranesi and Amauri especially doing exactly the same thing. What I don't understand is why the heck would Rossi have had doubts on which NT to choose. That's like somebody not being able to choose between the Dream Team and the Italian backetball NT.

one of the rumors going around is that the Italians told him he wouldn't make the team much less be a consistent player and he wanted to play.

[SpicyMcHaggis]

Originally Posted by fent

one of the rumors going around is that the Italians told him he wouldn't make the team much less be a consistent player and he wanted to play.

That's a load of crap.
I can assure you that everyone here knew he was an extremely promising player when he was with United, and when he played half a season with Parma and saved them by himself there was absolutely nobody that didn't think that he would wind up on the NT sooner or later. Actually, everybody here is pissed that he doesn't play in Serie A.

[akhhorus]

Originally Posted by SpicyMcHaggis

I don't know, I may not recall correctly, but I remember Camoranesi and Amauri especially doing exactly the same thing. What I don't understand is why the heck would Rossi have had doubts on which NT to choose. That's like somebody not being able to choose between the Dream Team and the Italian backetball NT.

Amauri's been coy about who he wants to play for, but he hasn't been openly fighting the Brazilian NT coach. Rossi has been fighting(and still is) US soccer and Bruce Arena for "snubbing" him.

[BigCountry]

I feel really bad for Landon Donovan. With all due respect to everyone else he's practically all alone out there.

[BigCountry]

You heard it here first. Egypt over Italy.

[BigCountry]

Originally Posted by BigCountry

You heard it here first. Egypt over Italy.

In the illustious words of Jamie Kennedy, I'm the shiznit.