Recent news that Neven Subotic, a mainstay center back in the airtight Borussia Dortmund defense, has opted to play for Serbia instead of the United States made me want to rip my hair out. I have been following Neven for the last couple of seasons with the help of "Yanks-Abroad.com," and if there is one thing I know, it is that this 20-year-old kid is fantastic. In 17 appearances for Dortmund, he has 5 goals. Let's review. 20 years-old, a strike rate most strikers would envy, great defender, starts in the Bundesliga, and American. I guess I shouldn't be as surprised as I am seeing as if I was given that list of 5 adjectives and asked to pick out the one that didn't fit it, I would choose American.
Since Neven has refused to talk to the media about his decision, the reason why he opted to play for Serbia, a country he has never lived in, is merely speculation. This article did nothing to assuage my rage towards the USMNT coaching staff, but at least it shed some light on the subject. It is the best piece of literature I have read on the subject.
If you are indeed reading this, Neven, all I can say is good luck trying to wrestle a center back spot from Nemanja Vidic or Branislav Ivanovic. You might have had more luck if you had just stuck with the US. Also, don't be surprised if Nemanja breaks your legs during practice for fun.
that's unfortunate. he won't get free rides to the world cup anymore
ReplyDeleteAlthough he is yet to speak about it, the most likely reason that Subotic chose Serbia was that he was cut from the US u-20 squad a little while back. I am sure that the USSF is now very aware of this, as a similar situation occurred with Mexican international Edgar Castillo. To add to the list, the best ever American field player IMO, Guiseppe Rossi, was born and raised in New Jersey, but has chosen to represent Italy. Imagine how could a potential US team could be with the 3 players listed above...
ReplyDeleteThe USSF has to get down to the root of the problem. IMO one of the contributing factors is the lack of sophisticated infrastructure for young players to develop in the country. The USSF has put a huge amount of time and money into improving the youth system, and the end result has been the new Academy structure, which is too new to really judge yet. The problem I speak of was certainly a problem when it came to Rossi, who moved to Italy in his young teenage years because the competition here was not good enough for him. The system also failed when it came to Castillo, who slipped through the cracks rather literally and landed up in his parents' native Mexico. In the event that you think the USSF has picked up its act when it comes to the youth picture in this country, there is strong evidence to the contrary. I have personally played against a number of top youth prospects with foreign ancestry who plan to move out of the country to pursue their careers. I am not talking about just anyone either...these kids have attracted interest from clubs like Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and Bayern Munich. If you dont believe me click the links:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=575144&cc=5901
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=571292&cc=5901
Bottom line: If we want to keep our top players, we have to give them reason to stay
ESPN SoccerNet article on Joseph Gyau
ReplyDeleteESPN SoccerNet article on Charles Renken