Diego Fagundez makes Uruguay roster, will be ineligible for USMNT

Any chance the United States had of nabbing Diego Fagundez is just about dead. The New England Revolution midfielder was named to Uruguay's roster for the South American Youth Championships and he will be ineligible to play for the U.S. as soon as steps onto the field in that tournament.

The Americans' chances of getting Fagundez were already slim. He was named to Uruguay's provisional roster for the South American Youth Championship and has been in training camp with the team. That made it pretty clear what his intensions were and it was just a matter of making the team and playing in a match to cap-tie him. Now that he's on the final roster, being cap-tied appears to be inevitable.

Fagundez moved to the U.S. when he was five years old and is a product of the U.S. educational and soccer system. He went to schools in the U.S. joined the Revolution academy and, eventually, was their first homegrown signing. But despite all of that, he did not receive his green card until 2013, which means he is not eligible for citizenship until 2018. He has expressed a desire to play for the U.S. before, saying that while he was born in Uruguay he also felt American, but asking him to wait until 2018 for the possibility of being called up was always a stretch and you can't blame him for picking Uruguay.

Unfortunately for the U.S., because he is not eligible for the Americans right now, if he plays for Uruguay he will not be eligible to make a one-time switch to the U.S. in 2018. The one-time switch is only available to players who were eligible for the country they want to switch to when they played for their first country, which won't be the case with Fagundez.

It's a shame that the U.S. is going to miss out on Fagundez. He's the type of technical and creative player the U.S. has struggled to produce and he is a product of the American system. Even after a disappointing 2014 season with the Revolution, he is still the same player who had 13 goals and eight assists as an 18-year-old in MLS and he almost assuredly would have been on the U.S. U-20 World Cup roster. Instead, he will play for Uruguay.