FanPost

Fanpost of the Week: International Recruiting is Crucial for the USMNT

Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports

Editor's Note: This Fanpost of the Week focuses on why the United States should continue its focus on the international recruitment of potential players.

With the chaos of the US Soccer presidential election done, at least for now, it's time to take a look at some areas where Carlos Cordeiro needs to improve the US if we want to be a force on the stage that is the men's World Cup. The first area I want to look at is the simplest, but perhaps the most controversial: recruitment. Yes, the idea is abhorrent to some fans of the USMNT, the idea that people don't feel patriotic enough to just commit to the US, but it's a lot more complicated than it seems. I'll lay out why we need to recruit and why the US if failing and what to do about it.

Understand the FIFA Rules of Eligibility

The rules for international eligibility can be found in the document below on page 72.

FIFA Statutes 2016

The rules relevant to the United States are primarily in section 6:

a) He was born on the territory of the relevant association;

b) His biological mother or biological father was born on the territory of the relevant association;

c) His grandmother or grandfather was born on the territory of the relevant association;

d) He has lived continuously on the territory of the relevant association for at least two years.

So, in short, by these rules a player may have as many as 8 different countries vying for his attention, how? Let's break it down:

  • Player was born in country 1, therefore satisfying part a).
  • Player's mother born in country 2 and father came from country 3, satisfying part b) 2 times over.
  • Player's maternal grandmother was born in country 4, maternal grandfather was born in country 5, paternal grandmother was born in country 6, paternal grandfather was born in country 7, thus satisfying c) 4 times over.
  • Finally the player moved to country 8 two or more years ago, satisfying part d). One caveat to note here, this must be a legal migration with citizenship, FIFA generally does not count illegal migrants for this purpose.
These rules do change slightly in part d) if a player wants to switch nationalities; in that case the player must be a resident for 5 years after reaching the age of 18. With so many ways to qualify to play for a country this leads us to one obvious conclusion...

Almost Everyone is a Dual National

The FIFA rules that I talked about above mean that a player often has wide latitude in what national team they can play for, this is particularly true in the United States, a nation of immigrants. Right now, roughly 40% of the US population are 1st or 2nd generation immigrants (source), meaning that they weren't born here or one or both of their parents weren't born here. Sociologists generally aren't interested in 3rd generation immigrant tracking, so I can't find good data on that, but think for just a moment, how many people have a grandma or grandpa from another country. Most of us know someone with traditions from another country, passed down from either parents or grandparents. The fact of the matter is that almost certainly the majority of the US would qualify for one, or more countries under FIFA rules by birth or migration. Here's a few all-American men who could have played for other nations that may surprise you:

Landon Donovan

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Yes one of the greatest and most beloved soccer stars this country has ever seen could have played instead for the red, white and maple. Donovan's dad was a semi-professional Canadian hockey player by the name of TIm Donovan.

Tim Howard

tommother.0.jpgThat's Tim Howard with his mother, Esther Howard nee Fekete, an immigrant from Hungary. Somewhat ironically, given his earlier comments on dual-nationals, Tim Howard is himself a dual national and could have been one of the best keepers in Hungarian history if he wanted to play for Hungary.

Christian Pulisic

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The wonderkid from Pennsylvania has a grandfather from Croatia and the European minnow tried to cap tie him, but he rejected their advances and then joined team USA. What if Pulisic was just a little more fond of the "old country" or someone told him he had no place in the USMNT.

DeAndre Yedlin

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Yedlin's mother was born in Latvia, while the young Newcastle star never seemed to be in danger of slipping from USMNT hands, it's worth noting he had options.

Eric Wynalda

wynalda1.0.jpg

The controversial former striker has a Dutch grandfather, so if he was good enough he could have been part of the Oranje. Granted, Wynalda probably wasn't good enough, but if he was we might be talking about how many goals he scored for the Dutch instead.

There are, of course, more examples, both of players that eventually played for the red, white and blue and those that opted for other countries. If all of our dual nationals had opted for other countries, the USMNT would not be nearly so successful as it is today. There aren't as very many players without options on the world stage, and even the most American of players isn't necessarily American in FIFA's eyes.

Picking a Country Isn't Easy

In the world of international football, when you have options on who to represent, the decisions aren't as clear cut as some like to paint it. There are considerations far larger than simply "what you feel like in your heart", true for some players it really is that simple, but not everyone is that nationalistic. As this wonderful article on this very site outlines, many "Americans", and for that matter, citizens of other countries too, feel ties to more than one country, they feel both American and something else. Sometimes nationalism is enough, Lionel Messi famously had a chance to play for Spain instead of Argentina, where fans have not treated him well, but he has stuck with the nation of his birth, but even he has limits, after the loss in the Copa America Centenario Messi briefly retired from the national team, apparently in protest of the poor results and well known problems with the team. So what else might be relevant? Money and appreciation, the same thing that all employees want. Now some people might argue that national team members are not employees of their respective national teams,but the fact is that in most ways, they are. They get paid by the national team they're on, they have a boss (coach) and they need to be on time to work (training and games); sure they're more like independent contractors, but they're still employees of a sort. So let's take a look at those motivators in depth a bit more.

Money Ain't A Thing (Except When It is)

So when we're discussing money in the context of national teams, we aren't talking about direct pay, but rather side benefits like endorsement deals and increased visibility. National team players are paid, but for men's teams at least, that pay isn't very significant compared to their pay from their clubs. Club pay increases for players that do well in a World Cup, since everyone saw them, the demand goes up. If you don't believe me, simply look at Keylor Navas' trajectory after the 2014 world cup saw him jump from Levante to Real Madrid on a six year deal worth vastly more than anything he had made before. The other side of the money equation are endorsement deals, players that have a good World Cup are a lot more likely to get major endorsement deals, a great example of this is Mesut Ozil. Ozil is a great player, no doubt, but would he be in this commercial without a great World Cup performance?

Link to video because SBNation is being dumb

Probably not. A national team appearance and a World Cup appearance in particular leads to more money, and if you have a chance to play for a potential contender in a World Cup, even better. International appearances eventually turn into paydays if you do well, so there's big incentives to pick a relevant team that gets attention on the world stage.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

People like to be liked, this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, but it's a simple fact that many employers forget, even national teams. Players want to know they're a valued member of their national team and that coaches are interested in getting them on the field. Exactly what respect means to different players tends to vary, but generally players want what most employees want: a positive work environment in which their feedback is valued and their effort is appreciated. Beyond the usual considerations, communication with the head coach or technical director is key to ensuring that players know they're part of the team. Not being called in for a critical game, being unsure of where you stand and simply not being treated well can all turn a player away from a team.

So What's Wrong With the USMNT?

The Jonathan Gonzalez saga is instructive in a lot of the ways the USMNT is stumbling. If you haven't listened already, it's worth a listen to the Max and Herc podcast on the issue: How the US Lost: Gonzalez This article from this site also lays out why Gonzalez left in a shorter, more concise form: Jonathan Gonzalez Explains Decision A few things stick out, the biggest is how little Mexico spent to woo Gonzalez in monetary terms, a nice dinner for his parents in Mexico is less than $100 US. Asking his coach to talk to him about joining El Tri? Basically free (maybe you owe the coach a favor down the line). Coach Juan Carlos Osorio called him, which again costs virtually nothing...and that's it. Even more shocking is how little the USMNT did to counter this charm offensive, Tab Ramos had sent a few texts, but nobody called, nobody visited, nobody checked in. US news organizations warned that Mexico was going after Gonzalez, (such as this article) and it's absolutely criminal that the USMNT did nothing to try to stop this. You can't argue that this was some guy who didn't "feel American", he had played for the USMNT in the youth setup, he speaks fluent English and he was born in the US; he's as American as you can get. Does the World Cup factor in to the decision? Almost certainly, World Cup appearances equal cash and Gonzalez has a real chance to be a starter for El Tri in Russia. But you know what was really lacking? Respect. Communication and indications that the USMNT really valued Gonzalez never materialized, so all Mexico had to do was show that they valued him and wanted him on the squad. Dinner and a phone call got Mexico a world class defensive midfielder.

So How Do We Fix It?

One thing that nobody can argue Jurgen Klinsmann failed at for the USMNT was recruitment. The German coach would call players, fly out to see them play and just generally ensure that players knew he wanted them in the squad. Contrast how Jonathan Gonzalez was treated compared to Julian Green, a quote from this article:

He told me that it’s not just about the World Cup," Green said. "He told me about the future, about the next four or five years. It was a nice conversation, I liked it and that’s why I made the decision.

A nice conversation, that's a key phrase. It comes through as well in this artlcle about Aron Johannsson:

To get a call from a legend and the coach of the U.S. team, it was really special. He showed me interest for more than a year. He kept calling me and telling me that he really wanted to see me play for the United States. The more I thought about it, it was a huge opportunity.

Again, Klinsmann personally called and spoke to his prospects. Go back to any interview in which a dual national was recruited by Klinsmann and you'll hear the same thing, something along the lines of "he spoke to me and convinced me that it was a good idea." You might argue about Johansson or Green, but how many other players were recruited or were prevented from going elsewhere by a simple phone call? We don't know for sure, but the list of players that got their first start for the USMNT includes the like Bobby Wood and Deandre Yedlin, still some of the best players on the team, got their start under Klinsmann. Again, it comes down to respect and communication and the USMNT needs to get back to personal calls and visits by key figures again.

So what about money? How does the USMNT get players more money? Well, actually making the World Cup is a big one (still hurts). But also playing in tournaments like the Copa America and having a good showing is crucial too; as much as we like to call games like those a "money grab" or greedy, the fact is they work in multiple ways. Not only do they generate more money for US Soccer, they also generate more headlines, more attention and more interest in USMNT players, which equates to more money for the players.

Conclusion AKA TL;DR

With FIFA rules being so broad, and with the US being so diverse, casting as wide of a net as possible is crucial to building a quality group of players and it is one of the United States' key advantages. If the USMNT wants to really be a world class footballing nation it needs to recruit players. Recruiting is not optional, because if you don't recruit others will recruit "your" players thanks to the broad FIFA rules that allow it. The cold hard facts are that money and respect are far more important to recruiting players than national pride in the modern world. Jingoism and nationalism have no place here, not because they are abhorrent (though they are) but because they actively hinder you in your efforts to improve. The nations that don't, or can't, recruit, fail; so the USMNT need to make sure they don't fail.

This is a FanPost written by a member of our blog's community. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the feelings or beliefs of the blog itself or the staff.