Comments on: Subotic Almost German, McDonald’s Almost Scottish

By: David

David — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:55:35 +0000

I don’t think FIFA wll let Neven play for Germany. I think he’s going to play for Serbia, I mean who doesn’t want to play alongside Nemanja Vidic.

By: Dave Martinez

Dave Martinez — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:21:11 +0000

Oh wait. This guy actually has a REASON to want to play for another country. Our lose I guess.

But . . . .

I fucking HATE Rossi.

There. I feel MUCH better now.

By: Pseudinho

Pseudinho — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:30:53 +0000

We need to fight fire with fire. If that’s how things are gonna be done, then be prepared for all Brazilians whom have ever set foot on American soil to automatically become American citizens as well. Joga Bonita!

By: diana

diana — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 06:47:31 +0000

Play for the US at the junior levels, I mean. Typo error.

By: diana

diana — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 06:44:50 +0000

‘But if no one from the US is pursuing him, then it’s our loss.’
Juliet, I understand that even the DFB (the German FA) is taking notice of Subtoic given he applied for German citizenship. I’m not an American but for some reason back when last week’s Deutsche Welle’s Bundesliga Kick-Off did their own list of the future stars of the Bundesliga (Subotic was mentioned) and the voiceover mentioned something that he could play for Germany some day, my mind was screaming ‘No!’ straightaway. Maybe it’s because I remembered reading that he had already for the US at the junior levels. But then, one can change at the senior level for which national team does he want to represent.

It’s up to the football associations/federations to act. One has to look at the example of the Turkish national team. There are players who were not born in Turkey but they choose to represent Turkey. The Altintop brothers (Hamit and Halil) were born in Germany to Turkish parents and there’s Colin Kazim-Richards (who is actually Kazim-Kazim on the Turkish national team) who was actually born in Britain. I remembered reading Kazim-Richards qualified to play for Turkey through his Turkish Cypriot mother.

By: GS

GS — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:24:39 +0000

Juliet: the way Neven is handling this situation I highly doubt the US really cares. It would be our loss because it seems Neven is a great talent and could definitely contribute to the US…but one 19 year old kid who’s acting like a child isn’t going to get the national teams coaches coming to his doorstep begging him to play for them.

By: Juliet

Juliet — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:50:24 +0000

Well, maybe he was upset about being dropped. Perhaps if someone from the US goes and talks very nicely to him, he’ll reconsider. Seriously. Sometimes it works. But if no one from the US is pursuing him, then it’s our loss.

By: BMatthews

BMatthews — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:06:50 +0000

I don’t even think that the US can be as mad as Bosnia. Germany doesn’t even make sense. Try explaining this to someone who doesn’t already know the players.
A Bosnian kid played for the US youth teams, he moved to Germany and now he wants to play for them.
what?

By: Brooks Peck

Brooks Peck — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:26:07 +0000

Thanks for that adding that background info, Jan.

And yes, as the article quoted above states: “His caps at the youth national team level for US are non binding before he turns 21 on the full international level.”

But I believe there are some citizenship technicalities that must be met and a few other FIFA rules at work here.

I guess my main problem is really with what I perceive to be Subotic’s motives. As you said Jan, he came to the US at the age of 11, went through the youth academy and obviously felt enough of a tie to the country to play for its youth national teams. Now, to suddenly switch national allegiances once he goes back to Germany to play club football is what seems odd and a bit wishy-washy.

By: diana

diana — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:08:13 +0000

‘I think you can switch before you turn 21 or something, but I’m not sure.’
From what I remembered, it’s possible. I remembered reading Ivan Rakitic (Schalke) was playing for the Switzerland U-21 before he switched to Croatia at the senior level. Something like that. Correct me if I am wrong.

In the case of Subotic, I have to agree with you, Jan. By the time he turns 21 in two years’ time, he has to decide which country is he going to represent. He cannot turn back after that. Though I understand from according to FIFA ruling, one has to play his club football for five years in the country he’s based in before he’s eligible.