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Saw him play the last few games for Dortmund. Awesome defender. Very aggressive.

I think he's made it quite clear that he does not want to play for the US. What a shame.

This is where Bob Bradley needs to step in and help resolve what happened with Neven and the comments made by Coach Rongen. I believe that is the issue - not being called in for the U-21 World Cup and comments by the coach as to why he wasn't invited.

IF the senior squad does not get Neven - it will just continue to prove that there is blatant mismanagement by USSF. We will continue to lose dual-citizenship players because of the mistakes USSF will not fix.

From Wiki...

While he has made appearances for the USA U-20 team, he was not selected to play in the 2007 U-20 World Cup. He is eligible to represent the US, Bosnia and Herzegovina (by birthplace), Serbian national football team (Serbia or Croatia (his country by ethnicity).[1] But he requests German citizenship. When Suboti?? became a German citizen, FIFA will decide if he can play for Germany.[2]

Verdict...the USMNT messed up. While I always try to be optimistic regarding the USMNT...this is just a crime. We have a ton of talent but it's not always given the chance...see this case as a perfect example.

He isn't playing for the USA. If he didn't choose us now, he won't ever. To be honest, I don't want anyone playing for my country if they are willing to straddle the fence and evaluate his best option. To me playing for your country is a patriotic thing.

I will go a step further and say Subotic is worse than Rossi. At least Rossi made his intentions know and is playing for who is in his heart. Subotic is just waiting for his best option.

Jozy and Giuseppi up front, Freddy, Landon, Maurice and MB in the mid, Gooch and Subotic in D with Howard at Goal...The US has some awesome potential. Unfortunately some choose not to represent their country ahem (Rossi and Subotic this means you). What a shame because they could become part of what could be a groundbreaking US team in the World Cup. With that lineup the US would be a tough draw IMO.

Cmon guys, he's a 19 year old kid who is starting and excelling on a competitive Bundesliga squad. And the U.S. left him off the U-21 team?
The blame here is not with Subotic but with the USSF.

As long as Gulati is unwilling to let great coaches (Klinsmann) have the necessary power to turn our country into a soccer power, the players that could represent us will not want to play for this country. We will be subject to Arena ball and now Bradley ball, where we defend, defend and defend some more and hope the world soccer powers (Spain, Argentina, Brazil., etc) won't score against us. It's a damn shame that we don't even recognize talent when it is right in front of our face. Seriously, who the hell are these guys running our federation. 2006 WC should serve as a reminder that we have a long way to go and now in 08, we have not made any progress to move up to the upper echelon. Not hiring Klinsmann was a major mistake and we will most likely witness the same type of meltdown in 2010 because we fail to recognize guys like Subotic and omit them from the under 21 WC. It's a damn shame on the entire US soccer federation.

Rossi was born in NJ. Subotic was born in Bosnia I think. Subotic wasn't born here in the USA. He was raised here.

Of course he has a tough decision.
Also, the German citizenship is probably more for Dortmund's ends than his. When he gets the German citizenship, he will no longer take up a non-EU slot on the roster.

Who cares anyway? Plenty more good players will show up - if he doesn't give a crap about the USA why should we care about him? The answer: We shouldn't. Move along, nothing to see but another selfish player who's probably over-rated anyway.

Being a starter for Dortmund says something

I could not agree more with Zizou and Passiones any more. It's really a shame, since the USSF has no real youth development program, tons of talent will go unnoticed and go elsewhere. Without any investment into the youth programs, the USSF future looks very bleak.

He is a talented player. If he wants to play for Germany, let him. It is his choice after all.

all the people ripping into the USSF:

i agree they fouled up, but things like this happens.... people got on Nowak when he left off Rogers and Feilhaber off the olympic quals... but the fact remains, while they were better players, they may not have been in form or were out performed by others... when selecting squads you cannot base your decision on who they might turn out in the future, but rather their form now....

rogen should have chosen his words better, but simply put, what he said wasnt bad... saying that the kid hasnt developed enough yet to make the roster is poorly stated.... but at the time he was a relative noone and may not have been in best form at the time... its easy to look back and see the mistake, but when the choice had to be made who are we to go against Rogen who sees these kids play day in day out for quite a long time???

truth be told, Rogen shouldve worded his response better... Subotic is awaiting german citizenship and hoping to play for germany...thats a fact, regardless of how political the kid is (political in soccer)... claiming to focus on his career and not knowing which national side he wants to play for is the best response he can give while awaiting the verdict about elegiblity on germany.... when that falls short, he'll most likely pick the US, simply b/c of his youth play and our constant availability into the WC...

Otergod - I follow your points...BUT the USSF is misguided. The philosophy as far as youth development is horrible. It STILL uses ODP, acadamies, etc...to pull from a middle class, white talent pool...I'm sorry but that is still the reality. There were plans to get other talent - those have gone unfulfilled...shouldn't there be an all out assault on the urban / city populations? Targeting immigrants, etc.? Or how about the dual citizens that are Mexican-Americans but unscouted? - Oroczo is the exception, not the rule.

The fact is - USSF lives in the late '80s, early '90s...as far as player development.
We are a melting pot of many, many people...yet every other country in the world somehow has a Brazilian on their team and we don't (not saying that's a good thing, just odd given the make up of our country)...I know this can lead to a big, huge debate (which I'm not trying to do)...however, all I am saying is the USSF does not learn from mistakes they make.

What would be so bad about having a soccer guy, someone that played, or coached as the president? Yes - the talent pool is greatly increase and I know it will just take time BUT you cannot sacrifice certain things.

Understood - at the time Subotic might not have been in form...but what about now? We focus on the overseas players...then maybe we should be taking a better look at him. Instead of making it a given that Bocanegra, Gooch, etc. are the core of the defense.

If I had to pick between 4 countries, I would take my time. He was born in one, parents are from another, raised in two. That's rough.

I still think the German passport is more for Dortmund's benefit.

Good point Chaco. I don't think there's anything wrong with having love for both your country of origin as well as your naturalized country. However, as long as he is upfront and doesn't string anyone along, who can blame him. Most all of us can identify with our families countries of origin even if we are proud, flag waiving Americans. In fact to say that you have to turn your back on one to prove your love for the other is scary...

I also agree with the points being made about the USSF. We wouldn't be having these discussions if the program had more attractive coaching, development, exposure, etc; Doesn't take much thought when you're choosing between a Ferrari and a Hyundai.

QUOTE(#16):

Originally posted 05:37 PM ET  09.19 by Zizou10

What would be so bad about having a soccer guy, someone that played, or coached as the president?

Alexi Lalas? He did a pretty good job for the Galaxy.

The problem with the American mentality soccer wise is that they think along the lines of the other sports here like football, baseball, basketball, etc, pushing kids towards the NCAA. They should be working with the MLS to develop programs and initiatives at the grass roots level. Seriously, have you ever heard of a kid coming out of the NCAA and going onto be a world class player? 21-22 is too old to be starting your pro career. Edu is the exception, not the rule. Soccer by and large (and excuse the stereotype) more of a rich white sport in the US. Inner city kids don't play the game unless their parents push them into. Why can't the USSF working with the MLS in their home cities, reach out to this segement? With a pop of 300M you're telling me you couldn't find a few diamonds in the rough? It's good for USSF because they're bringing through better players to compete on the world stage and MLS can gain some credibility as a league that develops good young talent (That they can in turn sell on at a tidy profit, putting money back into the league and the USSF to continue these grass roots efforts). I know MLS has this isolated arrogant mentality and the USSF sometimes acts like their poop doesn't smell either, but its crazy for a country of your size to not produce a single world class player right now.
This kid is right to take his time. I think a lot of people are out of line to criticise these kids for not wearing the US colours. To be fair, Freddy Adu turned down Ghana to stick to playing for the US at the last world cup and he's in the same spot as this Subotic kid. Being turned down for the U-team is a big deal to a kid's mentality, in hockey Brett Hull was cut from the U20 Canadian team and was quickly snapped up by the USA since he grew up in Chicago. When Canada came calling later on, he turned them down because he felt a sense of loyalty to the states for giving him his chance and wanted to prove to Canada that they made a mistake. Maybe this kid has that "stick it to you" mentality.