Rossi Talks Back

In some ways, I feel like I've known Giuseppe Rossi a long time, but I've just really known about him. 

He was almost an urban soccer legend - a Jersey boy with preternatural skills who left youth soccer in the area (where he played with the likes of Danny Szetela) to join the youth team of Parma, and later, Manchester United, Villarreal and Fiorentina. That's quite a tour of top teams in the world's top leagues. 

But it wasn't all success and happiness for the striker. Rossi suffered a series of injuries that left him heartrendingly just on the outside of Italy's World Cup roster not just once, but twice, in 2010 and 2014. He might never play in the tournament. 

It goes almost without saying that he likely would have played in three World Cups for the land of his birth, but that's a scenario of the road not taken, and his career is an impressive one nonetheless. 

In fact, he's got a book out about it now. Note the shout-out to a Jersey legend in the title. I've got to say, as a former Lit major, that I love all the references to American classics in the chapter headings. 

I wrote one of my first ESPN.com articles ever about Rossi, and a few more related to him since. Still haven't spoken to the man in person, but today, I did hear from him. 

A slight chance

So this snowball rolls into hell. . .

Years ago, I wrote a story about Guiseppe Rossi, an American kid who was raised by a soccer coach father who taught him to love the country of his heritage, Italy. Rossi was so talented, he was able to move back to Italy at 14 and start a professional career there. He went on to sign with Manchester United. Now he plays in Spain.

Because of his parents, Rossi is eligible to play for Italy and has in fact featured for their youth national teams numerous times.

FIFA rules say that a player can switch to the country of their birth if they've only played for youth teams of another country, but that the move can only be made once. It also has to take place before the player turns 21. Rossi is nearly there - his birthday is in early February.

Last year, Luis had the scoop about U.S. coach Bob Bradley, who is from the area of the country where Rossi grew up, keeping in touch with Rossi. That left the slim possibility that perhaps Rossi was still considering the U.S. as an option.

But the deadline is almost here, and it doesn't seem like an eleventh-hour change of heart is going to happen. Perhaps that's why Bob seemed a little testy when I asked him about Rossi.

I'm not one to worry about the decisions of players. As individuals, they should choose what they want to do. I'm mystified at those who rail at Rossi for playing for Italy, just as I'm puzzled by those who decry Landon Donovan's choice to play in MLS. One's life belongs to no one else.

I still stand by my call in 2005, though. Rossi is a very good player, but not so superlative that he's an automatic choice for Italy, especially when political elements seem to come into play in selection. If Rossi hopes to play in a World Cup, choosing the U.S. team is a safer bet.

I don't think he'll do it, though. I find a kind of poetic irony in the fact that it's likely that both U.S. fans and Rossi may one day rue what might have been had his choice been a different one.