Where should loyalties lie?

Hello all,

I hope you are enjoying this beautiful spring, and if its anything like what we are getting in Tucson you don't have any excuse to stay inside. El nino, or la nina, whoever, finally decided to skip town and what we are left with is a seemingly never ending streak of perfect days. On to today's topic. With the 2010 World Cup coming up in a few weeks, I figured it was time to get going and give you guys some literature to feed on. Today I am going to be discussing race, ethnicity, and culture, and how often the lines can be blurred for the sake of adding offense to a team.

Historically, the World Cup is an event where 32 countries gather their top soccer talent, hoping to be victorious in one of the most spectacular sporting events on the calendar. Every tournament, we are treated to games featuring teams across the globe from one another, and we all witness the contrasting styles of play. Whether its the 2002 Korea-Italy game, or maybe Ecuador over Poland in 2006, there is such a diverse palate of uniforms, chants, hairstyles.(google "Taribo West", and after that google "Jeff Agoos 2002") If that still isn't enough, every European side will feature enough mullets to make you think your at a John Deere convention.

Goofy stuff aside, the world is a shrinking place, and now more than ever people are moving from one part of the world to another in search of a better life. This is awesome, and in this man's opinion speaks to the American dream translating across international borders. People should be willing to accept others for what they bring to the table rather than an antiquated perception. In soccer (I won't call it football, sorry) we are beginning to see by-products of immigration. Germany has featured several players of Turkish, Ghanian, and Nigerian extraction, notably up and comers Mesut Ozil, Jerome Boateng, and Dennis Aogo. All three of these guys were born in Germany, raised in Germany, and by all accounts should be considered German. The United States features several players who are either the sons of immigrants or immigrants themselves. (German midfielder Jermaine Jones, the son of a G.I. who spent a few years as a child in Chicago, just missed the cut for the States).

Unfortunately, the lines are beginning to be blurred, loopholes are being found, and players are finding international duty to be an offshoot of club soccer. Personally, I am of the belief that you either play for your country, or you give yourself a chance to play internationally if suiting up for the home side isn't realistic. So I can't be mad at Englishmen Emmerson Boyce since he decided to play for Barbados, or Colin Richards (Kazim Kazim) for donning the red and white of Turkey. However, there are some players who just don't quite seem to grasp the concept of international soccer. I am going to provide several examples of players who have (or had) an option to don the country which raised them, and either opted to play elsewhere, haven't decided, or made the tough call to stay home. Let me know what you think.


Quincy Owusu-Abeyie: Better known as Quincy, this 24 year old winger was born and raised in Amsterdam. Quincy played in the youth system in the Netherlands for his whole career, and had a prolific spell on their under-21 team. However, when it came time to select where he would be receiving his international caps, rather than donning a loud, flashy Orange kit Quincy opted to ply his trade for the "Black Stars" of Ghana. (Which brings me to another google search: team names of soccer teams. Seriously, do it right now) While I have no issue playing for a nation you are eligible for, it doesn't sit well with me that young Quincy has opted to play for a country that he had never even been to before suiting up for its all-star team.

Mario Balotelli: Super Mario was born in Palermo, Italy to Ghanian parents. His parents quickly abandoned him and he was adopted by an Italian family. Due to a loophole in the Italian citizenship policy, which strangely wasn't so slow for Brazillian Amauri, Mario was not an Italian citizen until he became 18. However, he attended Italian schools, speaks Italian, and is clearly well-versed on Italian culture. While the 19 year old is regarded as possibly the top teenage soccer prospect on earth, the Internazionale striker has yet to be well-received by his own people. While it certainly doesn't help his cause that he is a drama-queen and seems to take a page out of Terrell Owens playbook, the troubles of 6'4 Balotelli are no doubt exacerbated by incredibly disgusting fans. Several of his games have been stopped while he was serenaded by the "There is no black Italian" chant. Once this kid gets his head screwed on correctly, and I think that he will, nothing would please me more than watching this Afro-Italian shutting a bunch of bigoted psychos up for good.

Owen Hargreaves: Owen just recently returned to the pitch for the first time in many moons, completing rehabilitation following an october 2008 knee injury. The clever, end to end midfielder is a mainstay for his club, Manchester United, and the English national team when healthy. Theres only one problem: Owen is from Calgary. As in, Canada. He is the greatest player ever to rise through the ranks of Canadian soccer, and never even gave a thought to playing for that big red leaf. Truth is, his original plan was to play for Wales (his father is Welsh) but they might be a sorrier club than the Canadians. To this day, Hargreaves is the only player to play for England without living there, achieved in 2001 before he came up with Man U. (Another funny soccery thing to say). Am I the only one who thinks he should have sucked it up and made his country better, like Ryan Giggs did when he opted to play for Wales and miss every world cup since the 80s? You tell me.

Giuseppe Rossi: Honestly, this kid is the reason why I wrote this column, and I will do my best to keep it to relevant information. Young Giuseppe was born in Teaneck, New Jersey. While I am not a huge fan of New Jersey, it is safely within the confines of the United States and therefore it is a great place. His parent's were immigrants from Italy, who settled in the United States in search of a better life, eventually settling in the Jerz and teaching English at a local high school. Somewhere around the time he was a teenager, his father (a soccer coach) noticed his kid had game and opted to move him to Europe to maximize his potential. They moved to Italy, but he was immediately snatched up by Manchester United, where he made his debut, before moving on to Spanish side Villareal. By my scoring, he lived in the United States around 12 years, plans to live there after his career, trained in England, and earns stacks in Spain. I get that he feels a certain bond to the Azzurri. Outside of Brazil they are the best team of all time. Every time they play on TV that annoying girl you know that studied in Florence or wherever for 3 months puts up Azzurri statuses. They have a much larger profile. But buddy, your teammates call you "America" for a reason. Giuseppe has a Jersey accent, dedicated his goals against the United States to his 'boys' in America, has avoided the Eurotrash mullet, and dresses like that kid in your high school who always tried to flash gang signs in pictures. Your an American, Giuseppe. It wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't so good. This is a guy who has the potential, had he chosen another path, to make soccer cool in the United States, get more games on TV, and sell those weird socks that soccer kids love. This is a guy who can take on teams like Brazil, England and Spain, and single-handedly swing the outcome of the game. But hey, he 'felt Italian on the pitch'. Whatever, man.

I also find it puzzling that Azzurri fans are so quick to accept a kid who hasn't spent more than a few months of his life in Italy as one of their own, but not a guy who was born in Italy and has literally spent his whole life there. Let's hope Super Mario can change that soon.

Osaze Peter Odemwingie: Born in Tashkent to a Nigerian father and Russian mother while it was still a part of the Soviet Union, the Trey Songz lookalike spent most of his childhood in and around Moscow. He got his start in the Belgian league, moving quickly up to Lille, where he rose to prominence. Osaze is a burner on the wing, who keeps any defensive back on their toes with his deft touch and 'pace' as they call it across the pond. When it came time to pick his international team, he opted against the country of his culture, birth, and where he plays now for the Nigeria Super Eagles. Similar to Quincy, the first time he arrived in his 'country' was for a soccer game. Russia is a country that struggles with xenophobia, neo-Nazis and all around ugly racism. With the success that Victor Keirou and American journeyman J.R. Holden have had on the basketball courts for Russia, it isn't a huge stretch to think that Russian fans would accept one of their own as, well, one of their own. On the football side of things, Osaze is the type of guy who makes the difference between making the World Cup and sitting at home in Siberia in June.

Kevin-Prince Boateng: KP is the brother of previously mentioned Jerome Boateng, who will suit up for Germany in a month. A fiery character who sports maybe the best neck tat in European sports, the Prince has chosen a different path from his brother. Struggling to find his way on the wing for his native Germany, and never appearing in a game, this Boateng has opted to play for Ghana, where his descendants are from, internationally. In a wild turn of events, Germany plays Ghana in group play, which could make the Boateng's the first pair of brothers to face off in the World Cup. I have no problem with his decision, as he was never going to play for Germany, and this is his shot to play a few more games in the summer on ESPN. The only thing that I am concerned about here is the Ghanian federation's tendency to poach players on technicality from other countries. This tactic was used with Quincy, the retired German Otto Addo, and they attempted to lure Balotelli and the kid below over to the Black Stars.

Freddy Adu: Europeans love using Freddy as a retort when we complain about Giuseppe. Here's the difference. Freddy moved stateside from Ghana when he was 5. He came up in American schools. He became a pro in America at 13. He dated that girl JoJo for a few years. If he isn't American, I don't know what is. Freddy hasn't had the success many predicted, but he is still 20 and has time to blossom. Roasted, critics.


Obviously, these guys can play wherever they want to. I just wish that the idea of country was taken a little more seriously. Again, I get the moves that Boateng, Kazim, Emmerson Boyce, and countless Brazilians who moved to Croatia, Japan, or Mexico did to get themselves on the pitch more, but guys like Rossi and Hargreaves are unforgivable.