The one that got away...

Ives Galarcep reports on Giuseppe Rossi scoring on his debut for Parma

I really don't have much of an opinion on Rossi, except for being fascinated by how much American soccer fans loathe him (check out the comments on Ives's blog).

First, USMNT fans are hypocritical if we attempt to criticize a player for switching national team allegiances from the country of his birth. After all, some of the biggest names on the USMNT have been imports. Focusing only on modern era players (sorry Hugo, Werner, and Joe), there is a pretty long list of US players who have spurned their native soil to play in the red, white, and blue. A few notables:

Freddy Adu (Ghana)
Roy Wegerle (South Africa)
Thomas Dooley (Germany)
Jeff Agoos (Switzerland)
Earnie Stewart (Holland)
Tab Ramos (Uruguay)
Brian Quinn (Northern Ireland)
Preki (Serbia)
Fernando Clavijo (Uruguay)

And of course this neglects to mention several imported flops (David Regis) and, of course, Brad Friedel (based on interviews you hear with Brad, it appears his hometown of Lakewood, Ohio is actually an outlying borough of Kilkenny).

Some of these soccer imports came to the US because they couldn't play for their national teams. Some had American connections. Some came for college or the way of life. Regardless, they basically wanted to choose the best footballing situation for themselves, and FIFA's rules don't make that too hard.

In the end, it isn't moral indignation that causes US fans to hate Rossi. It basically comes down to two reasons:

1) The position he plays -- we desperately need quality strikers, and he could help us immensely. If he were a right back, the sentiment wouldn't be so severe.

2) The country he's chosen -- his parents were first generation immigrants, so it's hard to berate the kid for choosing Italy, but the Azzurri already has such a wealth of skilled footballers, that it's a little like hearing that Donald Trump won the Lottery. You have to grumble a bit.

So basically, he's off my radar, but US fans should really give the kid a break.