There have been numerous reports( mostly out of Serbia) about Neven Subotic's decision for who he will devote his international career to. A month or so ago a random report out of Serbia said he had chosen Serbia. That was deemed untrue. More recently a report from the Serbian national team coach had stated that he was playing for Serbia. That rumour was quashed as well.
However this nex one seems too official and formal to deny. It's been stated that Subotic himself said he sent the international transfer papers to Gulati and that Serbia has given the appropriate papers to FIFA. U.S. Soccer fans having been waiting for the decision and if this stands true than it might get ugly.
But why?
In my honest opinion our center back pool has all the essentials. A solid starting pair[Bocanegra/Onyewu] , a backup[DeMerit/Califf](if necessary a back up for our backup[Conrad]), and some young up and coming players to fill in in the future[Parkhurst/Goodson, Orozco/ Marshall vice-versa and whatever].
Now I'm not going to say that Subotic as a central defensive prospect for the U.S. isn't somewhat exciting. He was a hit for Mainz and will/is be huge for Borussia Dortmund. He's dealt with some of the best strikers like Luca Toni, Miroslav Klose, etc. Lets admit it, an aspect of his game is his marvelous ability on set pieces. As if we didnt already have a relatively young talent who can do the exact same thing.....anyone seen Oguchi Onyewu?
Anyways its easy to blame people like Thomas Rongen and Sunil Gulati for not pursuing him earlier or insisting on his playing for United States Youth teams. While some of his decision(should it be true, again, this is just a report. things happen) may be based on things like that, be real, the U.S. can't win every player just like the USMNT cant win every game. Players like Rossi who had their mind set that they were going to play for a certain country do come along. Sometimes the pull of a home country and pride can be the 'winner'. If thats the main reason, can you blame him?
Post your thoughts below.
