Najar Chooses Honduras
by prindi10002 on Apr 6, 2011 7:00 AM PDT
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PrintWe as American soccer supporters can not be happy about this. But I can't say I didn't see it coming. From day 1 Honduras courted Najar and constantly pressured him to choose Honduras. It seems to me that US Soccer did very little to sway his favor. Some may say this was the US Soccer's tactic - the quiet sale. I say that's rubbish. US Soccer needs to step up its efforts to sway young, talented players who have the option to play for different nations.
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The US will be fine without Najar
Honestly, I think there’s an argument to be made that the US can’t make the next step to elite status unless they have some other countries in the region who are legitimately talented and can push them. If the only team that really challenges the US is Mexico, then they’ll have maybe 3 games against them every cycle, and I don’t think that’s enough tournament games against really talented teams. We need Honduras (and Canada and Costa Rica and El Salvadar and everyone else in CONCACAF) to get better or I don’t think the team is ever really going to get to be elite.
Plus, maybe I’m just crazy, but I don’t think we should go handing out citizenship to people just because they are good at sports. He’s a Honduran citizen and not a US citizen, so he’s playing for Honduras. It’s almost silly to suggest there’s a choice. This isn’t a US citizen who had to jump through hoops to play for someone else.
Granted, Najar is a Honduran citizen but I don’t think it’s silly or unreasonable to think that someone who has lived in Virginia for the last 4 years of his life, attended a US high school and verbally hinted that he may play for the US, might acutally have a decision to make. To me, Najar’s situation doesn’t sound like “handing out citizenship” at all. It sounds like the typical American citizenship dilema — someone who has lived here for a few years, received the benefits of our government (schooling) and has been employed by an American business should be a candidate for citizenship, right?
It’s not as if Najar was plucked straight out of Honduras yesterday. Further, if you pay attention to world football, these types of decisions go on every season in every country — so it’s not like the US would be pursuing a differnet agenda from any other country.
And while your dream of a stronger CONCACAF is ideal, it’s not realistic (at least anytime soon). That being said, I’d much prefer the US fielding a stronger team then to wait for other CONCACAF nations to raise their level.
you want to see a bunch of non-nationals become citizens to play for new nations?
Pay some attention to Arab Gulf State national teams.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
Najar was born and has lived most of his life in Honduras
Does it make sense that he would be on track to someday be a US citizen? Sure, but on the normal timeline, there’s no way he would be involved for the 2014 World Cup cycle, and then you start conjecturing about what the US depth chart is going to look like in 2015 and beyond.
And by 2016, Najar could be out of soccer due to injuries or whatever, and if he spurned Honduras now, he could throw away any opportunity at international soccer all for a chance at maybe making the USMNT for the 2018 World Cup. By far the best decision for him to make, no matter what US Soccer was going to tell him, was for him to choose Honduras. He’s potentially a starter for them in June in the Gold Cup, and a significant contributor for 2014 World Cup Qualifying.
by ubelmann on Apr 6, 2011 2:52 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs
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