Rossi was born here; his game would not be what it is if he hadn’t been here. It also seems to me that Rossi would have chosen the US if he was deciding between the US and, say, Guatemala, or Albania, or some other country we’re clearly better than. When you’re picking your national team based on which one is better, you’re not really following your heart (as we were told he was doing). I’ve just never bought the idea that it was purely an emotional decision. It’s more lucrative to play for Italy, and more likely to garner you more fame.

Subotic was only US-eligible by a series of flukes. Frankly, if he had chosen to play for the US, it would have been perhaps a more egregious version of what Rossi did. At least Rossi had a real connection to Italy; Subotic’s family could have easily fled to England or France instead of the US. I was disappointed he didn’t want to suit up for us, but in his shoes I can see why he felt the connection to Serbia much more than he’d feel one to the US. The cloud hangs over his decision because, unlike Rossi, he did play in the US youth set-up. I guess that should also be galling in it’s own way, but I’ve never found myself feeling let down by Subotic’s decision from a moral standpoint, while Rossi’s decision has always bothered me.

With Hoyos, I can see why he chose to accept the Argentine invite but not the US invite. He’s trying to crack the Estudiantes first team; generally speaking, you don’t lose your spot at a club when accepting a call up to your youth national team. However, there’s a big difference between heading to the US for a camp and driving like 30 miles to one (La Plata is about as far from Buenos Aires as DC is from Baltimore). There is also the very real possibility that coaches at Estudiantes expressed concerns about US methods; we’re still not exactly respected in the coaching department by other powerful countries.

Word. Solid points on all counts. Hadn’t thought about Hoyos’ situation like that. Yanks Abroad stopped covering him because they seem to think that the lad has picked the bad guys over the good guys, but based the two posts above, yours and mine, I’m sure it’s more complicated than that.