Giuseppe Rossi's agent thinks he should've played for USA

There are many subjects that get American soccer fans riled up. At the top of the list is surely Giuseppe Rossi's decision to spurn the United States, the place of his birth, to play international soccer for Italy.

Born in New Jersey, it appeared as if Rossi was set to become the USA's first ever legitimate world-class player. Sure, the USMNT have had a few great talents in their history, but they've never had that one guy that has gone on to star for a huge club and accomplish things at the highest levels of the sport. Rossi was supposed to be this player.

He eventually broke USMNT supporters' hearts when he instead decided to pledge his international future to Italy.

The striker has been public enemy No. 1 for many American soccer supporters ever since. They believe that he should've been the country's chosen one and he should've represented the USA at the international level. When he turned down a pre-World Cup camp invite in 2006, the writing was on the wall that the talented Rossi wanted to play for Italy and that's what he did.

Ten years later, it turns out that the fans aren't the only ones who believe he should've picked the USA over Italy. Rossi's own agent, Andrea Pastorello, told Radio Bruno that his client should've played for the USMNT instead of picking Italy.

"In hindsight, going back to when he chose between representing Italy or the USA, we should have chosen the USA."

Rossi has had many injury issues that have derailed his once promising career. He still has a fairly successful resume as a profession soccer player, but the injuries really prevented him from living up to the potential everyone knew he had.

It's too late for him to go back and change his decision. He's burned many bridges between himself and the American soccer community not only with his decision, but with the way he conducted himself on the field when the two countries met at the 2009 Confederations Cup.

Who knows how his career would've turned out if he had picked the USA instead of Italy? It could very well have ended up the same way with another promising talent being lost to injuries. The USMNT have had their fair share of painful examples of that over the past 10 years.

So, thank you Giuseppe, for helping us avoid another tragic career.